Dolmen Reviews

The game crahed 3 times in about 40min of gameplay. I do not have patience for that.

This game was actually pretty good. I managed to get the game for 1.99$ and it was definitely worth the price. The story is not very good but the game has challenges that make it difficult and worth playing

I bought it when it was on sale for only $2 because the trailer made it look promising. The mixed reviews made me even more interested in trying it, and honestly, I see why it was on sale. It is a giant mess. It started off really fun with all the cutscenes, but once you get to the gameplay part, it quickly falls apart. The combat system is simple, yet somehow they managed to mess it up, and the movement system as well, it's very clunky. Healing is a chore, and while the stamina/energy system has potential, it doesn't do much to improve the overall experience. The controls are off, the game lacks animation cancelling making the combat much worse. The game isn't enjoyable, it almost feels like it was originally meant to be a 3D shooter, and then they added the melee and Soulslike elements on top. I don't think it was playtested before release. It seems like all the effort was put into the graphics instead of the gameplay. If it's on sale for $2 and you enjoy crappy gameplay, you can give it a try. But for $20, you might as well get something better.

Wouldn't have bought this game on sale if it wasn't for oboeshoes' Dolmen videos. After completing the game on a Strength build, I'd say that this game is not as bad as most people make it out to be, but has still a lot of bad things going for it which made it flop. Positives: - Decent graphics. I mean yes it is kinda generic but also not bad for the devs' first title. - Decent build variety. Strength Greatswords and Greathamers, Skill Claws and Dual Swords, Pistols, Rifles and Shotguns. - Some interesting and challenging bosses - Boss re-fight mechanic Negatives: - Battery (Estus Flask) takes way too long to use - Have to first use Battery to restore Energy, THEN press another button to heal HP using Energy. Why. - Stamina Regen is extremely slow and there's no way to boost it - Enemies lack proper telegraphing on many attacks, have hitbox timing + size issues and often have some cheap mechanic like spamming knockdown or guaranteed stun moves. - Many mid to late game bosses have cheap attacks deliberately designed as one-shots - Terrible loot and drops implementation. Most enemies share the same loot pool of the current area. There's no way to reliably farm certain rarer materials. For a superior sci-fi soulslike, try Hellpoint instead. Dolmen still has its fun moments if you are willing to part with a $3 to $5 to try this game on a sale though.