20 Minutes Till Dawn Reviews

Great Survivor style game. Synergies are very fun and interesting to mess around with. There are definitely some balance issues with regards to the character and weapon synergies but the strong synergistic combos are really fun (summon synergies, reload synergies with the shotgun, and the deer character is broken).

Pretty good bullet hell with a good rougelike element. I particularly enjoy the art-style. You have to play it a few times ofc to unlock everything. like most rouges... you can get overpowered pretty easily. 8/10 looking forward to the next one.

i would definitely recommend you to play this game, the gameplay is simple but really fun and easy to pick up, theres alot of variety in terms of weapons and characters to pick and try different builds

Unbalanced, tedious, visually unclear. Visual clutter is the biggest problem of this game. It's good that this game was released, giving new ideas to other developers of the same game genre, but it's hardly an enjoyable piece of cake. There is nothing bad in trying this game out tho. I noticed there are only three basic archetypes: gunner, elementalist, summoner and usually you will need perks of all of them in any single run, otherwise it would be hardly a viable build. No distinguishable defensive/AOE/close combat builds. Metaprogression feels useful only in the most hard to get perks, expect 10 hours of grind before you will start to benefit from it. Very scarce variety of enemies. No working controller support.

20 Minutes Till Dawn — A Slick Roguelite That Runs Out of Steam Visually, this game nails it with its neon-soaked style and tight gameplay loops. The core action is fun, but it gets repetitive faster than most roguelites. There are some unique weapons and characters, but not enough variety to keep builds feeling fresh. The meta progression is weak compared to other games in the genre, which makes grinding feel more like a chore than a reward. I stuck around for 30+ hours just to finish the achievements, but once that was done, the content felt thin. Overall, it’s a decent buy at full price (even better on discount) if you like fast-paced, stylish shooters. But with limited depth and replayability, I’d rate it a 6/10 — good, but forgettable.

20 Minutes Till Dawn is an indie roguelike that delivers a compelling blend of action, strategy, and replayability. In this game, you control a character who must survive waves of increasingly difficult enemies for 20 minutes until dawn breaks. Unlike other games in the genre, 20 Minutes Till Dawn requires players to actively aim and shoot, adding a layer of skill and engagement to the gameplay. The challenge is intensified by the game's limited vision mechanics, where only the eyes of approaching monsters are visible until they enter your field of vision, creating a tense and immersive atmosphere. The game's progression system is built around gems collected from defeated enemies, which serve as both currency and experience points. These gems allow players to unlock new characters, weapons, and runes, each offering unique abilities and playstyles. The upgrade system is randomized, providing a fresh experience with each run and encouraging experimentation with different combinations to find the most effective strategies. This randomness, however, can lead to difficulty spikes, as certain runs may feel unfairly challenging due to the lack of ideal upgrades. Despite this, the game's design ensures that each session remains engaging and rewarding, with the potential for powerful synergies between chosen upgrades and character abilities. Visually, 20 Minutes Till Dawn employs a minimalist art style dominated by a monochromatic color scheme, primarily green and black, with accents of red and white. This design choice contributes to the game's eerie, Lovecraftian atmosphere, where the player is surrounded by darkness, and only the illuminated area around the character is visible. While this aesthetic enhances the mood, it can sometimes make it difficult to distinguish between enemies, pickups, and other important elements on screen, especially during intense moments when the action becomes chaotic. The audio design complements the visuals, with a haunting soundtrack that sets the tone for the game's dark and mysterious world. However, the limited variety in music tracks can lead to repetition, particularly during longer play sessions. Sound effects are effectively used to signal enemy movements and attacks, adding to the overall immersion. The game's sound design, while functional, could benefit from more variety to enhance the auditory experience. In terms of content, 20 Minutes Till Dawn offers a range of characters and weapons to unlock, each with distinct abilities that cater to different playstyles. The game's replayability is further bolstered by its three game modes: Standard, Quickplay, and Endless, each offering varying lengths and challenges. The inclusion of a Darkness difficulty system, which increases the game's challenge up to 15 times, adds depth for players seeking a more demanding experience. However, some players have noted that the game's content may feel limited over time, especially if one focuses on completing all achievements or unlocking every character and weapon. Overall, 20 Minutes Till Dawn stands out in the roguelike genre for its active combat mechanics, strategic depth, and atmospheric design. While it has some drawbacks, such as potential visual clutter and limited audio variety, the game's strengths in gameplay and replayability make it a worthwhile experience for fans of action-oriented roguelikes. Its accessibility and engaging mechanics ensure that each session is both challenging and rewarding, offering a fresh experience with every playthrough. Rating: 8/10

I got into this game right around the time I was playing Vampire Survivors. I was surprised it wasn't commented more or mentioned more frequently. 20 minutes after down scratches that same itch of "NUMBER GO HIGHER, BRAIN HAPPY". Great options for characters, weapons, playstyles. Interesting visuals and music as well. But the premise of "20 minutes" is great as well if you're a busy adult with busy adult life and want to play something that you can jump in quickly and progress into the game without having to spend hours and hours. Great recommendation if you like action games and you need quick game sessions.

It's fun but lacks the "wow" factor to keep me playing. It also has a large handful of problems in my opinion. Maybe it's just not suited to my tastes for some things, but objectively I think there are other problems that can't be excused by preference. Lots of stuff feels unfinished, including missing or convoluted UI elements. I found it very tricky to understand the upgrade paths, the language for abilities, and so on. Some things are unintuitive or incomplete in how they're written, and there are simple typos that show a lack of attention to detail. There's little enemy variety, character builds are not that versatile and the characters don't feel sufficiently different to warrant unlocking all of them. Honestly some of the playstyles for weapons can feel more impactful than some characters. I think it would have been beneficial to give each character an active ability to further set them apart and allow for a bit more skill expression. And then, I have quite a few complaints about the balance of the Rune system for persistent upgrades, and the actual in-game perks. Quite a few feel minimally impactful or downright useless. When you're presented with 5 choices and 3 of them aren't helping you, now you're choosing between 2 and that really limits the exploratory factor and variety run to run. After a while I knew which perks I was hunting for, and assuming I didn't get hosed my RNG my builds ended up looking 90% identical. All that said it's reasonably fun for a few hours and worth $5, but it has a lot of problems I just can't get over. Art style is cool if a bit dark and muddy. Gameplay loop is pretty standard but the manual aiming adds a bit more to keep you involved. There's a decent amount of stuff to unlock so you feel like you're meta progressing, even if some of the stuff is not the most noticeable. It's OK, but I'd recommend spending your time and money on other things unless something about this really captivates you.

very good game but requires mods to run well (on certain builds anyway) if you don't like mods you might not want to play lilith as i'm not sure if any ones computer can handle that

A good Bullet Heaven game where you try to stay alive for around 20 minutes, hence the title ;). It has some meta progression and no missable achievements. Completion takes around 25 hours. [b]Approximate time to 100%:[/b] Around 25 hours [b]Estimated achievement difficulty:[/b] 6/10 [b]Minimum number of playthroughs needed:[/b] You play it multiple times [b]Is there a good guide available:[/b] You don't need a guide [b]Multiplayer achievements:[/b] No [b]Missable achievements:[/b] No [b]Grinding Achievements:[/b] No [b]DLC-Only achievements:[/b] No [b]Speedrun achievements:[/b] No [b]Time-gated achievements:[/b] No [b]RNG-achievements:[/b] No [b]Does difficulty affect achievements:[/b] Yes, there are many achievements for the highest difficulty [b]Unobtainable/glitched achievements:[/b] No [b]Gamepad or mouse and keyboard:[/b] I played this with a gamepad 20 Minutes Till Dawn is a Bullet Heaven, like Vampire Survivor. However, there are some differences. The primary weapon is one that you shoot, so it's not automatic. However, if you go for skills during a run with summons, they will auto-attack. This was my preferred build overall. Additionally, the time of a run differs, with 20-minute runs instead of 30-minute runs. And you don't get killed at the end of a run, but you just have to kill the last boss to win a run. One thing I really missed was an upgrade/bonus to collect all the experience on the ground. There are abilities to collect it a bit easier, but not a special thing to collect it all. 20 Minutes Till Dawn has three maps in total and 15 difficulty levels. The first map has way easier enemies than the second and third. So, I went for difficulty 15 on that first map. You have to complete the other two maps at least once to unlock two new characters. Other new weapons and characters are bought with money that you receive after a run. This is also the currency for the skill tree. The game doesn't have complete controller support, as with a controller, you can't see the other skills that unlock when choosing a skill during your run. You also can't check the skills you already have without using your mouse. The first thing I missed the most, as quite an important part, is choosing which skill sets to add to your build. When you add a skill, there will be added two more skills from that same set will be added to the possible options that come up when you level. This can matter as you'll only have a select few of them—still quite a lot, but not everything. I would like it if it was possible to check out the upcoming skills and already acquired skills using a gamepad. For the achievements, you mostly have to win a run with every weapon and every character on the highest difficulty. My preferred character to get to the highest difficulty was Dasher, as her ability to run through enemies and kill them was such a lifesaver. During this phase, I also used the currency to unlock skills in the skills tree. After getting one spell in each rank, I used my money to unlock characters and weapons. After winning on the highest difficulty with Dasher, I did that first map a bunch more times with each character and switching up the guns as well. That way, I would always unlock a weapon and a character achievement if I won that run. After a while, it became a bit boring seeing the same enemies repeatedly, but the other maps were significantly more challenging. I'm glad that 20 Minutes Till Dawn is much shorter than Vampire Survivor, so it always felt like unlocking all the achievements was around the corner. I give 20 Minutes Till Dawn 3.5 out of 5 stars. [code]Do you enjoy games that don't have missable achievements? Check out this list on my website: [url=https://www.missitheachievementhuntress.com/games-with-unmissable-achievements/]Missi the Achievement Huntress: Games without missable achievements[/url][/code]