Monsters and Monocles Reviews

I just played through this with a buddy and had a blast. It's a lot like Enter the Gungeon but manages to create its own style of play with emphasis on different gameplay elements. Not only that, it has ONLINE CO-OP! In it's current state the game is rather short and may seem a bit overpriced as it stands but does offer multi-loop difficulty and loot adjustments. I think they have an amazing foundation for a true hit here. The kill streak power up system is really great as your firepower will increase, up to a point, with continuous kills. Small caliber machine gun bullets become Ryu Hadouken size blasts when you get in the zone. I can't wait to see more of this as it develops. (MORE GUNS AND MORE LEVELS PLEASE!) It is worth noting that the game ran with out a hitch in 4K resolution with very minimal lag through its entirety on my PC. If I had to give it scores right now it would break down like this: Graphics: 10/10 (Excellent, crisp, clean sprites and animations) Sound: 8/10 (Great sound effects for weapons but not much in terms of a soundtrack, a little more here would enhance the presentation and feel of the game) Value: 6/10 (Very short initial playthough time with price considered makes it hard to give the game anything higher than this) Fun Factor: 9/10 (Absolutely sound game all-around, good control, interesting map themes, co-op, variety of enemies, bosses, etc. Very fun game) Definitely check this one out!

What a good game ! If you like rogue-like, just as Enter the Gungeon, or Nuclear Throne, so you can just buy this game without any reflexion :D Weapon have a good feeling, and gameplay is also nervous (not as much as nuclear throne but just enough to get some fun) Probably if you are really good in this kind of game, this one will be easier for you. But it's still wip, so we have to wait the real launch. Also the multiplayer online is a real good thing (but don't have test it for now). This kind of game nerver have this possibility so it's great. One little default for now is probably that we don't really now when we are touch. It's not clear enough when you take damage. You should probably improve that. Anyway, it's a real good game, fun and it seems that Developper will add some content in the futur. So Thx for this game, i'm really enjoying it ! :D

its an awesome game and i bought it for myself and a friend. we had a lot of fun despite dying a lot XD the only thing i think is lacking is a way to get lives back. like if you kill the boss of the stage, you get 2 lives in multiplayer and 1 live in singleplayer. otherwise its almost not possible to finish 2 stages after eachother let alone trying to beat them all in a marathon

Player profile: I've played a few hours worth of solo adventure. I use keyboard/mouse controls. Overall: I really like the Gauntlet-style play, the variety of enemies and the procedurally generated levels. Despite a number of shortcomings (expected for early-access stuff), I would totally recommend this game for anyone in the mood for an arcade style dungeon shoot-em-up. Noteable things I appreciated: - The variety of enemies is great. I had expected variations on a theme across the "worlds," but was happy to encounter totally different concepts. - The map size of most levels is great. - The system changing the goal per level is a nice way to shake things up. - Vast assortment of items/weapons. - Weapon overheating system is (in general) used effectively to control scarcity Things I'm less keen on: - The game is currently permadeath which is a bit of a shame considering there is a home base of sorts and a number of things to collect. Adding some manner of save system would help immersion tremendously. It just feels like a missed opportunity to me. - Boss battles seem outlandishly hard by comparison to the standard levels, and with permadeath this gets immensely frustrating really quickly. - Health and damage items don't show stats of any kind to help the player gauge their value. (I may just be hankering for more RPG-style play that was not the goal of the developers.) - Keyboard/mouse controls are tricky to get the hang of. Especially controlling the camera as you move. - I hate to mention it because I’m sure it will get bigger as time/money allow, but it is currently a rather short game to play through. Note: This review is for the early access release, and probably won't be very useful as things change and improve.

Good game so far. Although I feel the camera needs some work on M&K, not sure about gamepad but it's really hard to control the camera. I'll be shooting down at ghosts and then one teleports behind me and there's nothing I can really do. Other than that, pretty alright game.

I was quite hyped about this game when NorthernLion reviewed it on youtube. I went on steam, bought it, and kicked back with a friend and started playing. In the beginning, it was OK. The graphics and gamplay was an obvious inspiration fro Nuclear Thrones. The gameplay was smooth, the guns are decent, and the 3 maps that were given are decent. That's it. Two months later, I found this game somewhere in my folder and decided to see if it had any changes. It had not. The gameplay is horribly short. The story... wait, what story again? The guns and pickups are repetitive. You lose EVERYTHING after you die, and there is no way for you to save your progress. Take the binding issac for example, the game forces the player to play over and over again to unlock more stuff. As you progress through more levels, you get more powerups, you get better tears, and you actually feel powerful. Yes, this game allows for you to use your coins to purchase powerups after you finish a level, but the powerup system is HORRIBLY linear and forces the character to choose, instead of having the unknown variable of obtaining a good or bad powerup. This game fails on all points of that. Although it may be true that this game has only been out for less than half a year, the first binding of isaac has WAY more content, and it costs less than half of this game. There is no objective whatsoever, and don't you dare tell me that the "quests" that pop up after every stage is an incentive for me to continue playing this game, because it is not. This game even fails to even incorporate a minimap, a key aspect in ANY rogue-like games. I am deeply sorry for whoever bought this game for more than $15 just to finish it in less than 2 hours. Unless changes occur, I stand by the fact that this game was one of the worst purchases I have made on steam.

First impressions are important, and this is a [u]good game[/u]. If you like Gungeon you will like this game. Despite being in early access this is a well rounded and somewhat polished game. While being in early access it does indeed lack some content and alot of pollish, as the game stands it is very enjoyable, challenging, and fun. Down below is a list of pros and cons as well as a video of gameplay. [h1]Pros:[/h1] [*]Fun gameplay [*]Good game design [*]Artwork and music good [*]Large variety of enemies and three bosses to fight (so far) [*]Controls are tight [*]Decently challenging [*]Many fun and unique weapons to choose from [h1]Cons:[/h1] [*]A few bugs [*]Not too much level and content to see (Early Access) [*]Not worth the money as it stands [*]Single player is lacking, better off playing with friends https://youtu.be/6uWXBzx0j8A

I'm very excited to see the progress of this game, it's already fun to play. The dev has been responsive and helpful when I've posted bugs.

They are terrible at communication. I wouldn't waste money on this until you are sure they will finish it as it seems they are just throwing it in the corner and forgetting about it.

[h1]200 character summary[/h1] Monsters and Monocles is a great rogue lite twin stick shooter with a lot of weapons, items, different biomes and random generated floors. You can play the game with up to 4 players locally or online. [h1]Story & Characters [b]7/10[/b][/h1] The game starts with a small intro without dialogue, so this is my intepretation of it, There is some Wizard? and when he opens a pot ghosts fly out and strange phenomenom happen. Then the 4 playable characters read about it in the news and decide they are the ones to fix it. I think the drawings are very nice, but how does that wizards mansion explain the forest, tomb or city, And how does it explain the Dog with a Gun? You do collect fragments every time you kill a book, 4 fragments create a page which tells a bit about the story, But they are cryptic at best. I hope they will put in a bit more lore, a bit more mystery to uncover. The characters are nice and unique, but they lack a backstory and some personality, Like a few one liners could tell a lot about a person, I also think 4 are not nearly enough for a 4 player game, There is a great diversity in shopkeepers and enemies, It is just a shame most appear in all levels. [h1]Gamemodes & Gameplay [b]8/10[/b][/h1] The game has 1 gamemode, Online and local are the same. You start out in the Airship and if you die anywhere all your progress will reset and you will start at the airship again. Here you can change your starting relics and upgrade them, You can trade in fragments for journal pages, and you can start a run by standing on a biome tile. You will spawn in level 1 of your chosen biome, The map is completely random but there is an arrow pointing to the exit. The maps are full with chests, enemies, NPCs and secrets. Enemies drop money and sometimes health pickups. Chests can contain coins, weapons items and even relics. Secret areas are mostly accessable by a ladder under a destructable prop or trough hidden paths, You mostly find big chests here and sometimes big tea pots which drop a lot of health pickups. Once you find the exit you enter level 2, If you find the exit again you reach level 3 and this is the boss. If you beat the boss soul gems will drop, These are like the currency you don't lose when dying The game currently has over 30 weapons, some are better than others, but it all depends on your preference and playstyle. There are over 20 items you can pick up in your runs, Most items have a good and a bad perk, Like Speed up, Defence down. but some are all good. Then there are over 20 Relics, They are rare but once you find them you keep them even if you die. You can carry 3 relics at a time and change which ones in the airship. When you beat a boss you return to the airship, You can then start a second run, Each biome you complete the game gets a bit harder, and if you completed all biomes without dying you can loop and do it again while the game keeps getting harder. [h1]Graphics & Soundtrack [b]8/10[/b][/h1] The game has a pixel style old english theme to it, You drink tea for health, The clothing is just straight from victorian times. I really like the graphics tho, And I especially love the 2 English themed levels, The Mansion and The City. The biomes look great, there is a lot of variation in props, some things are more generic props, but they are working on that to make the biomes feel more unique, The bosses fit the biomes, but the enemies could fit better. The enemies do look great, The game really has some great pixel art. The soundtrack might get a bit repetitive over time, It has a nice soundtrack but it just has 1 track for each biome, one for the shops and one for the airship, more music would certainly help the game. [h1]Performance & Support [b]8/10[/b][/h1] The game runs very well, Everything just works, It is locked to your framerate which is a bit of a bummer, Adding some extra fps settings allows people to play it on extremely slow hardware and it would also make it more future proof for when 480Hz will be the default. Still I had no crashes, no bugs, no nothing, It just works great. [h1]Endgame & Replayability [b]9/10[/b][/h1] The game scores well in replayability, The Relics which enable you to customize your starting character, The multiplayer modes, The different biomes and procedural generation makes this game one to be played over and over again. [h1]Improvements[/h1] The multiplayer camera definitely needs to get fixed, It is not consistent, Sometimes people walk off and the screen follows them leaving the others off screen, and other times they just walk off the screen while keeping focus on a certain area. Preferrably the camera would zoom out till a certain level or the game would switch between shared and split screen like seen in Streets of Rogue. 4 playable characters is also the bare minimum, We should have more playable characters, Maybe unlockables? Random generation is a great thing, But it feels a bit too random, I sometimes get entire levels without any weapon chest, Or sometimes I get completely overrun in the first room I enter in level 1-1. I also notice I get a lot of the same items in some runs, Like I don't need a third copy of that item I can't pick up anyway. Or maybe let us scrap items/weapons we don't want to use for cash like we see in Dead Cells. Custom seeds would also be nice to create a more consistent experience. I want to see what an item does before I pick it up, or give me the ability to drop items, I understand the witch with the 3 pots should remain a non droppable mystery because you drink it, but I think pickups should be droppable, And a small dialogue box with the effects would really help a lot of players. More Items would also be great. More Enemy variation between biomes, I see a lot of enemies being reused in all biomes, unique monsters would make the biomes feel a lot more special, Surely we also need more biomes itself, I especially love the mansion and the city, But the other 2 are great too, They are more open than the ones I like, I think it is nice there is also a difference in how rooms generate between the biomes and I would love to see that more. [h1]Early Access[/h1] The game is in Early Access, And it has been for a long time, They had a bit of a rough patch, But they got a new programmer and they are now keeping the community up to date with a monthly report. The game is amazing already, But you can see it still needs a lot of work. [h1]Conclusion [b]8/10[/b][/h1] It is a great game, even in its current state it is well worth the money, Especially if you like twin stick shooters, The game is a true unforgiving bullet hell rogue lite. It has bunch lot of unique mechanics, nice graphics and a great diversity in weapons and enemies. The game surely has the potentional to become a masterpiece. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35216846/][h1]Follow my Curator Page for more Reviews like these[/h1][/url][/quote] [h1]Game Info[/h1] [table] [tr] [td]# of players[/td] [td]1 - 4 Players Local and Online[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Steam Cloud Save[/td] [td]Working fine[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Controller Support[/td] [td]Yes, Xbox One Bluetooth Working[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Achievements[/td] [td]Not yet implemented[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]FPS on Ultra 1080P[/td] [td]Locked to refresh rate[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ram Usage[/td] [td]1.1GB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Installed Size[/td] [td]350MB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Launch Command[/td] [td]gamemoderun %command%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Issues[/td] [td]None[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]Operating System & Hardware[/h1] [table] [tr] [td]OS[/td] [td]Arch Linux[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Kernel[/td] [td]5.5.8[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]DE[/td] [td]Gnome 3.36[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]CPU[/td] [td]Intel I7-6800K Hexa Core @ 4.2 Ghz[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]GPU[/td] [td]Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 (Nvidia 440.64 Drivers)[/td] [/tr] [/table]