City of Springs Steam Charts & Stats

Writing this from the start of chapter 3, playing hard mode, close to release day. The game is extremely rough and needs a QC run-through, but no game-breaking bugs, cool concept, and is a "thumbs up" from me. The world is impressively large and well decorated, main/side quest NPCs and stories are good, all dialogue is voiced, the combat is generally engaging, exploration is rewarding, and controller support is golden. Further, the core of the combat is engaging, the small customization for bots is very welcome, and the stealth sections are generous about detection timers. I plan to play the game through to the end. I don't think I'll replay it in its current state, but if parts were changed/improved, I'd be happy to play it again. I'll list my issues + feelings in detail below, then some parts I like the most. I see something very good in this game, and I think the changes needed aren't too hard to make. The progression of the bots in the game is way, way too slow. It took 3-4 hours + chapter 2 to unlock my first bot beyond the starters - it was simply too expensive to buy 1 ability (1-2 hours in) and 1 new bot, with completing side quests and hunting for loot, fights, etc. Even now, some 9 hours in, I have ~2/8 bots unlocked and 3/4 abilities unlocked. Enemy abilities are too strong. One enemy ability damages all player bots (even after the cast timer ends!!), killing all swarms and crippling any non-shield unit. Another hits all nearby player bots and basically kills any non-shield bots. A final enemy ability insta-kills (only) shield bots and seemingly recharges as fast as my shield bot. Any enemy with these is as hard as the chapter bosses. There's strategy in what bots I deploy against my enemy, but 85% of my fight is dealing with the sheer amount of ability damage spam. Less problematic, enemy bot variety also scales too fast. I had an enemy use 5 different types of bots and 3 abilities when I had the starter bots and 1 ability. Player abilities are bad. I'm okay with abilities having a high unlock price, being available at random, being available in very limited amounts, and still having cooldowns in combat. I don't like how, at all these drawbacks, they are all medium AoEs and weak for what they do. Heal (and heal bot): enemy abilities instantly kill the shield bot and swarm bots, so 2/3 or 1/2 of my fleet never benefit from heal. Damage: only good for killing enemy swarms or for partly defending from direct attack. Slow/Fire rate: my main problem is the enemy's abilities insta-killing my bots, so these are little value to me. Other nitpicks. The tutorial and early chapter 1 have the only typos I've seen in the whole game. Bots can be modified, but it feels like there's a "correct" mod. (I run HP-Hammer and FireRate-Swarm, other mods don't seem to perform nearly as well for each on these two.) There's no unstuck button. The jump + animation are really awkward. The bandage wrapping animation in combat is weird. The elevator/teleporter unlock animation is unskippable. Enemy stuff is spawned in during quests, including in areas I cleared previously. Near the end of chapter 2, an escort mission with B. has him start at a snail's pace. Good stuff. All the different types of bots feel different and useful. Shield bot (when it's not insta-killed) is my best unit. Enemy mortar bots kill an entire swarm in one shot, I want that! The chain gun bot annihilates things. Swarms are really, really good for adding damage to an advancing setup, or for sacrificial fodder to save my bigger bots at key moments. Heal/damage abilities feel really, really good when they work and clearly have the power to change the tide of battle by 1-2 health pips at least. I like all the animals running about, and especially that there's a quest line of catching some guy's chickens. Quest items/NPCs are within 50m of an elevator 90% of the time, huge feel-good time-saving reward for exploration. I like that the bot unlocks and character upgrades are different currencies. The minimap is stylized and useful. One of my last quests was a "hot potato," which shows I'll never know quite what to expect for the next quest. Other than some visuals, the game outperforms the majority for how few bugs there are. There's also just something about the game that's really nice, I can feel that a lot was poured into this game.

An absolute steal full price or on sale, amazing depth and clean graphics. I always want to support people trying something new, and they did a good job on the unique combat system. Give it a look, you will not be disappointed