Source of Madness

This game is just as beautiful as it is confusing. The art style makes it very atmospheric which is fitting for a lovecraftian game. But this same art style hinders gameplay in so many ways... The biggest issues arise due to the fact that the games tries to be an atmospheric roguelite. It's not a good match as many gameplay choices which fit either genre rarely fit both. Among the design choices which fit the atmospheric genre but not the roguelite are: -Loose character & enemy movements which make combat and traversal a pain -Enemy design; they seem to be assembled from randomly generated parts meaning there's no real way to tell attack cues -Level design is dark and confusing, it could work well, but there's no use trying to explore and finding out the secrets as level design essentially go from left to right killing all enemies and on to the next level. As for the design choices fitting for a roguelite, but not an atmospheric game: -Pretty much no story of background of any kind, no character development to look forward to -Obliterating hundreds of enemies seem weird in a Lovecraftian universe game Finally the UI is seriously lacking: -Weapons descriptions barely state damage, but not if the item will charge or fire continuously, no mention if it's melee or ranged, no mention of whether charge will add more projectiles or charge a single powerful one... Same goes for usable items descriptions (no mention of which ones will hurt you if you're in range). -Hood resistance is so light I cannot say if it ever makes any difference. Oh, and unlockable upgrades quickly become extremely expensive. Sure you keep the blood when you die, but when a good run nets you maybe 1,000 blood and the next upgrade costs 30,000... I really wanted to like this game, but unfortunately, I uninstalled after a couple hours of just doing the same thing as the novelty of the aesthetics quickly wore off...

Source of Madness is a polarizing masterpiece drenched in haunting beauty. The grotesque art style, deemed by some as ugly or dismal, unveils a mesmerizing visual tapestry that captivated my senses. However, my enthrallment swiftly transformed into maddening frustration due to the perplexing mechanics of this game. With each death, progress vanishes into oblivion, leaving you to commence anew with a weaker character. Mastery is perpetually elusive as monsters' responses are designed to confound with an enthralling internal AI. The allure of procedurally generated levels fades beneath an imbalanced landscape lacking progression. Death looms ever-present, extinguishing the joy I yearned for. Detractors might deem this personal torment as my own inadequacy, but a deliberately cumbersome game is an indictment of its creator rather than its players. Dishearteningly, after striving for mastery in vain, I elected to sever ties with this game and reclaim my sanity via a refund.

Great artstyle already bought me. First contact was weird. A lot of things happened and in the end i am facing kinda ragdolized mobs which cannot hit me because of their limbs construction. But after few loops i learned that this is an illusion. A lot of times i felt lost in this game, like there are no points to go or how to return. After reaching moon we should be able to unlock anykind of shortcut? Or maybe after each great boss, like this giant wurm? Also, please rethink UI in inventory. Ugly and unreadable. There was also sometimes problem with clarity and how to see the difference between background and mobs. But maybe that was the main idea, to throw us in lucid dream? Game gave me a lot of fun, and if devs will improve few gameplay aspects, it will be an awsome adventure. Deffinitely waiting for more!

Everything is floaty: the floaty controls match the floaty monsters. You can't tell what the randomly-generated monsters do by looking at them, and he main character is squishy and there is no convenient way to recover health - so you'll end up kiting everything until it gets stuck on the scenery and can be picked off with the slow, short-ranged, weak projectile damage. This might have been "unique" and "creative" - but your build ends up being determined by what random items drop. Synergies between the main item and the jewel-slots are so rare that they won't occur at all in most runs. You might find a tier I item that boosts fire damage, but be forced to switch to a tier VII weapon that does magic damage. Even this would be okay if you could adapt your playstyle and still beat the first boss. But =most= of the weapons in the game are unsuitable for its combination of attack patterns. The armor varies wildly in quality and not enough of it drops relative to weapons for you to have any control. You can only equip 1 armor item which doubles as both damage mitigation and health, so there is no adjusting equipment and build toward each boss. Playthrough is linear - it's not really a Metroidvania. Nearly all power-ups are active, which personally I hate because I play these games on a wireless keyboard. And there are no hotkeys for equipment changes. Oh the art is fantastic - the best rendition of Lovecraft I've seen - but all of this is artificial difficulty. I think what they should change is to get rid of the Diablo-style loot system and instead let you craft gear to suit the build. I also think the progress should be like Salt and Sanctuary with the opportunity to journey to bosses and permanently defeat them. The journey to 1boss is like 2 hours and if you didn't find a good weapon and hood that time's a dead loss. The skilltree upgrades don't make you stronger for the next run (apart from the health jars).