Carnage in Space: Crucible Reviews

This game was something i decided to try after a youtube video from Shady Cicada, who wrote some of the music in this game. I saw it and wanted to give it a try, and found it to be an enjoyable experience. I wanted to write a review to give some feedback and point out some of the bugs i encountered during my play time in hopes that the developer might notice, and i will update the review to throw in more bugs if i come across them. But now it's time to move on to the actual review. Mini disclaimer: I have not fully beaten the game as of yet, i am still in my first play through of the Nightmare path, although all i need to do is beat the final boss. Movement: The movement in this game is a bit of a mixed bag. it has its moments where it feels clunky and stiff, but it has more moments where it feels good. You got the typical 2d combat platformer kit of the dash and double jump, but from the little bits i've seen so far, each character gets their own special flavor of dash. I am going to be completely honest, most of the issues stem from the layout of areas, particularly this one funnel you need to maintain a wall jump climb between two walls that move up and down, AND manage your distance between rows of spikes that can and will send you back to the bottom if you get hit by them. Combat: Starting with the controls, combat is relatively simple, you got a melee (bound to J), a gun (bound to K), and a dodge/dash (bound to L). depending on the melee weapon you are using, you can get different moves that require a combination of inputs, typically hitting melee while holding down in the air Each character has an array of weapons they can purchase using currency you earn in missions. there are also purchasable upgrades that can change aspects about them, and there is an incentive to search levels for Nanotech upgrades, which you can slot up to 3. The combat in this game is a mixed bag depending on the enemies you are facing. Enemies are diverse in roles with specific purposes that can fundamentally change how you should approach in some cases. Some of these enemy types do this well and i have no issues with how they are implemented, Some of them are the explodey rolly pollies, who i wish would roll into the fires of hell (I beg of you to lower their health, it shouldn't take 2 shots from the shotgun or an entire melee combo to kill them, especially for how disruptive they are) Bugs: I have not run into very many bugs to my pleasant surprise. The game is in a very polished state and runs great. however, i have ran into two bugs, one of which being a somewhat major issue during my playtime so far. one of these bugs is related to the way some boulders interact with the rafts in Chapter 3, where the boulder gets stuck and keeps spinning on the raft while being locked into place. If you stand next to the spinning boulder on the raft its stuck on, the game will sometimes teleport you backwards in the level. its not a crippling amount of distance, you can get back in less than ten seconds, but this is something that should be looked into. as for the other bug, it is a lot more serious and can potentially impact the ability to play the game. in the final boss fight for Nightmare, the boss has a move where they sweep across the bottom of the screen from right to left or vice versa, but sometimes the boss bugs out, and what i assume is a segment of the boss spawns and engulfs the entire lower floor long before it is supposed to, then it goes, which shows the head and rear of the boss, with no connecting body between the two parts. Overall, this game is an enjoyable experience with a few issues. But the lone Developer has been working on this as a passion project, so it's understandable that some things slipped through the cracks. I personally say it's worth the ten dollar price tag, but ultimately its up to you.