The Monster Within Reviews

As some already said, I liked the art style and concept. I also tried to love the game, but it's sooooo underbaked, sadly. And with the dynamics I see from devs, there are almost no chances the game will be done. The idea, visuals and writing are great: I can really see the effort behind it. But here's the list of lacking things: [list] [*] The “filling the comics” idea released with a huge stretch: it's not about most effective placing or certain order, not about some kind of story to be created. Split pages don't matter as well. [*] As follows, there are no bonuses for cards being placed in a larger section (that could make sense). It's just visuals, and when placed, you barely can ignore the absurdness of what is “drawn” [*] Illustrations looks great only while on cards. You won't see 'em like so anywhere else. When placed in a book, they got scaled without the proportions saved, and you will see only freakish part of the whole illustration. (Basically, you can see how it works with screenshots here – and it won't be any better in the game, sadly.) [*] The whole mechanic of deck-building is really questionable. It's not a standard one, but I can't see any reason behind this difference and complexity (even so slightly made, but still). [*] There is really close to nothing is happening on the screen. Heroes just standing still for all the time; from time to time little text-bubbles will appear – but they're kinda lame and feeble (I even missed it happened for a couple of times). No fight and/or damage animations at all: a lil number will appear – and for about half of the fight I couldn't even figure out if opponent doing something or what exactly is happening. They have no cards on hands, no book to fill with “their side of the story,” no skills to apply (even with text or something). [*] Visuals in tutorial sequence or hero introduction are sloppy: animation is not polished, some texts have slightly different frame background than one they're placed on. [/list] And all this is really, really sad. You can see with the screenshots, there was a lot of work being made with pictures and art-style. There was a soul behind all these details, lil punchlines in writing and hero designs... But then they've lost it and the interest to the game, as it seems.