The Hopebringer Reviews

This game needs some work. Love the concept though!

I am impressed with The Hopebringer. It has most of the things I like in a game and it seems the developer intends to continue development and address the things that are lacking. I bought this game because it looked like something that had potential and I wanted to support the developer even in a small way. Overall, it has exceeded my expectations. I can understand the negative reviews because the game lacks things that make for a fun and interesting game, such as a story or even open areas to explore. However, it is a really solid foundation to add to in the future. If you are looking for a game that has hours and hours of gameplay or a lot of content, you will be disappointed. My review below will be about the current state of the game, not what it might become. On the positive side: The inventory pictures are quite interesting and some of the best I have seen in any game. The character and monster models are quite high quality, and as good-looking as you would find in a modern AAA game. The VFXs are well done. The game has a retro feel to it and is a lot like Diablo II. The interface is well thought out, with some minor quirks. Parts of it could use a re-skinning, but overall it works. There is a decent variety of weapons and monsters to fight. Maybe enough for at least the better part of an “Act” in a game like Diablo II. The game has all or most of the controls and interface features you would expect. It feels fairly stable to me and while there are some bugs; they didn’t feel game crippling or even that common. I have an i9-9900K and a RTX 2070 and I can run the game at max setting using a 4k monitor with no issue. On the negative side: The quests feel like small side quests, or like the start of a bounty system and not a main quest line. Each is limited to a small area that is not interconnected with any of the other areas. The terrain is a completely flat plane and feels barren without a lot of the stones or vegetation it should have. There is no map or easy-to-read compass to tell you where to go or show where you have been. It’s not a major issue yet, since the game is so small it creates only a little puzzle, but I feel if the maps were any bigger, they would quickly become an impassable maze. My biggest complaint, however, is that there is probably enough content for the developer to have made something like a single “Act” from a game like Diablo II which while short would have made the Hopebringer feel like a completed game.

Game is worth checking out. In its current state, it is a discount Diablo clone made with next gen technology (UE5). Needs controller support. I would recommend to the developer, to consider Diablo II Ressurrected's controller scheme. I really enjoy it. It is basically perfect for the genre. Also, the way the levels are designed, I actually enjoy. There is a kind of sense of a throwback to old arcade hack and slash games for me. Also reminds me a bit of a game for mobile called "Hero Adventure". I think your game could actually put a cool twist on this genre by combining some of the autofiring mechanics of a game like that usually reserved for Arena survival games, but could be added to a good old fashioned ARPG like this through legendary item attributes and other equips and familiars that could be added. Projectile novas bouncing off of walls and ricocheting between enemies would be really cool and I think could be implemented to your build without too much radical overhauling of your game design...I could be wrong.

Little rough around the edges, but as an ARPG, it's actually pretty good. Give it a go.

I found this game to be rather boring with some poor optimization. To begin with, the graphic settings do not save and constantly change when going back into the settings. Some of the controls also do not save when remapped. There is also no manual save and the game only saves what you accumulated during a level. However, it does not save your location because each time you start the game you are placed back in the same training area. Voice acting is also computer generated and quests are very simple such as destroy so many of these, kill this many enemies, and find this item. Levels are also extremely bare and are designed in the same maze-like format where you are constantly impeded by fences and walls, which can get frustrating trying to get out of these mazes. There are also bugs such as enemies getting stuck in the terrain and other characters getting stuck running below ground. I also experienced some random frame rate drops in 4k resolution using an RTX3080 and i9 processor no matter what I selected in the graphic options. Playing this game for a while also caused my pc to overheat with temps around 85 degrees Celsius. Overall, the entire experience felt very low budget, outdated, and dull. I therefore cannot recommend this game at this time as it needs a lot more work for sure.

Having been involved in the games industry briefly several years ago I can tell you that making a game is not easy and requires a lot of work, This game is WAY better than most I have tested out in the indie dev scene. OK it's a bit janky but that is to be expected of 99% of small indie devs Including games I have made :D But what we have here is an excellent foundation that is certainly fun for a few hours of game play and it is worth the asking price. I have much more expensive games with less playtime. I have seen none of the bugs that others have mentioned so I can only assume they have been squashed. What I will say is, this game, if developed from the excellent foundation it has. could turn out to be something special. I like to support small indie devs if the genre of game interests me and this is one of those games I hope will keep being developed until it's a bit more fleshed out. Some I've backed do turn into much better games, some don't but it's always worth supporting the little guy IMO. The game appears to have regular updates and IMO this is one of those games worth investing in if you like the genre. At the moment there are several solid hours game play in here and with more updates this could become a hidden Gem. So if you are on the fence I'd say pick it up and give it a go. It's already fun and could become something worth way more money than the cost of entry. Devs can only make games if they sell enough to keep developing them and all too often people say "not a bad game but but wait for a while" IMO if you like the genre and the price point buy it and keep your fingers crossed that the game gets more content and polish then you will get way more than your moneys worth and can tell your mates "I supported that guy when he only had a handful of reviews" Even if it doesn't and stays the same it's worth the asking price IMO. As an ex game dev I can tell you that every sale matters to the little guy and every positive review is great encouragement as is constructive critisism, so if you do try it and like it tell the world here in a review. A solid 6/10 with a real possibility to get closer to that 10/10