Dread Delusion - Morrowind-like retro open world action RPG

[gongal]

Is this another tranny shit camouflaged as a retro game?

 

[Litmanen]

So how is it compared to 2 or so years ago? Is the combat actually better now or is it just more exploration?

there's more women referencing their wives and more men referencing their husbands
it's really subtle though, you might not even notice amidst their one other line of dialog
oh, and the techno overlord is particularly bad because he denied a woman her pooner reassignment
just like in Morrowind, and King's Field

Have you played and finished it?

Or left it mid-way?

 

[Litmanen]

So how is it compared to 2 or so years ago? Is the combat actually better now or is it just more exploration?

there's more women referencing their wives and more men referencing their husbands
it's really subtle though, you might not even notice amidst their one other line of dialog
oh, and the techno overlord is particularly bad because he denied a woman her pooner reassignment
just like in Morrowind, and King's Field

Have you played and finished it?

Or left it mid-way?

I'm finishing it up later today
I'm angry just thinking about it
what a total piece of shit
what's the world coming to when the trash doesn't stay on itch.io anymore

but the truly loathsome are the ones who play it and don't have a bad thing to say about it

So, you hate if from well before you started playing the game seriously.

But you are finishing it anyway in less than a week!

Why? Why are you playing the game if you hate it?

Are you dumb, liar or both?

 

[Hell Swarm]

Is this game worth playing through for it's concept alone? I've cleared the fortress and got to the giant mushroom but I feel like I'm getting no where fast and there's only so much walking around aimlessly you can do. I'm still using the rusty sword and haven't found any combat magic. Does it open up soon or is it just not a game for me? The idea of a cluster fuck dream world collapsing into it's self and becoming heaven or hell is interesting but walking through the same mushroom forest for 5 hours in a vague direction with no loot worth finding in it isn't.

 

[Odoryuk]

So how is it compared to 2 or so years ago? Is the combat actually better now or is it just more exploration?

there's more women referencing their wives and more men referencing their husbands
it's really subtle though, you might not even notice amidst their one other line of dialog
oh, and the techno overlord is particularly bad because he denied a woman her pooner reassignment
just like in Morrowind, and King's Field

Have you played and finished it?

Or left it mid-way?

I'm finishing it up later today
I'm angry just thinking about it
what a total piece of shit
what's the world coming to when the trash doesn't stay on itch.io anymore

but the truly loathsome are the ones who play it and don't have a bad thing to say about it

So, you hate if from well before you started playing the game seriously.

But you are finishing it anyway in less than a week!

Why? Why are you playing the game if you hate it?

Are you dumb, liar or both?

There are people who believe in conspiracy theories. They find comfort in knowing something that they think other people (or sheeple, as they call them) don't know about. But it is tough to believe such theories without powering them by finding evidences, even the most fringe ones. Finding more evidence of moral depravity of the West by playing this little game made normie feel good, and the more evidences he found, the better he felt in the end, penting up the rage to unleash into gaming forums and social media.

 

[Fedora Master]

Or maybe it's really just another indieshit game.

 

[Litmanen]

So how is it compared to 2 or so years ago? Is the combat actually better now or is it just more exploration?

there's more women referencing their wives and more men referencing their husbands
it's really subtle though, you might not even notice amidst their one other line of dialog
oh, and the techno overlord is particularly bad because he denied a woman her pooner reassignment
just like in Morrowind, and King's Field

Have you played and finished it?

Or left it mid-way?

I'm finishing it up later today
I'm angry just thinking about it
what a total piece of shit
what's the world coming to when the trash doesn't stay on itch.io anymore

but the truly loathsome are the ones who play it and don't have a bad thing to say about it

So, you hate if from well before you started playing the game seriously.

But you are finishing it anyway in less than a week!

Why? Why are you playing the game if you hate it?

Are you dumb, liar or both?

There are people who believe in conspiracy theories. They find comfort in knowing something that they think other people (or sheeple, as they call them) don't know about. But it is tough to believe such theories without powering them by finding evidences, even the most fringe ones. Finding more evidence of moral depravity of the West by playing this little game made normie feel good, and the more evidences he found, the better he felt in the end, penting up the rage to unleash into gaming forums and social media.

I thought it was something similar. His passion and dedication indicate that he his still in lower ranks and tries to climb up the ladder.

 

[agris]

Or maybe it's really just another indieshit game.

 

[Spike]

Is this game worth playing through for it's concept alone? I've cleared the fortress and got to the giant mushroom but I feel like I'm getting no where fast and there's only so much walking around aimlessly you can do. I'm still using the rusty sword and haven't found any combat magic. Does it open up soon or is it just not a game for me? The idea of a cluster fuck dream world collapsing into it's self and becoming heaven or hell is interesting but walking through the same mushroom forest for 5 hours in a vague direction with no loot worth finding in it isn't.

Explore more: there's a sidepath that leads you to where you can upgrade your sword with iron pieces. Just go left right upon entering the forest area, immediately after you descend from the fortress in that elevator.

Did you talk to all the townspeople in the village?

 

[Spike]

So how is it compared to 2 or so years ago? Is the combat actually better now or is it just more exploration?

there's more women referencing their wives and more men referencing their husbands
it's really subtle though, you might not even notice amidst their one other line of dialog
oh, and the techno overlord is particularly bad because he denied a woman her pooner reassignment
just like in Morrowind, and King's Field

Have you played and finished it?

Or left it mid-way?

I'm finishing it up later today
I'm angry just thinking about it
what a total piece of shit
what's the world coming to when the trash doesn't stay on itch.io anymore

but the truly loathsome are the ones who play it and don't have a bad thing to say about it

I am a pretty autistic traditionalist/reactionary/rw-er and I'm enjoying the game so far.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Is this game worth playing through for it's concept alone? I've cleared the fortress and got to the giant mushroom but I feel like I'm getting no where fast and there's only so much walking around aimlessly you can do. I'm still using the rusty sword and haven't found any combat magic. Does it open up soon or is it just not a game for me? The idea of a cluster fuck dream world collapsing into it's self and becoming heaven or hell is interesting but walking through the same mushroom forest for 5 hours in a vague direction with no loot worth finding in it isn't.

Explore more: there's a sidepath that leads you to where you can upgrade your sword with iron pieces. Just go left right upon entering the forest area, immediately after you descend from the fortress in that elevator.

Did you talk to all the townspeople in the village?

I didn't find the village yet. I found a giant monster, the giant mushrooms and the map guy. I built the work bench in the fortress and left it there for the time being.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

OK! Since I have NO internet in the boonies and no hotspot, I am trying a bit OFFLINE.

I chose a brute idiot but usually I'd go more rogue. It looks like lock picking might be the only rogue skill in game

In the cell. I immediate change some commands for my keyboard and mouse. I cannot currently locate any of my gamepads so med to that side of the menu for now.

IMMEDIATE PERSONAL ANNOYANCES
Move & Look is a tad annoying. Maybe I will screw with mouse sensitivity. I change move to arrow keys but I would prefer more options. I know strafe left/right is great but I prefer to smack that strafe ass into different buttons. I like my L/R to be TURN LEFT/TURN RIGHT. Yeah, the mouse has that free look but it feels a tad tight like my protag has a stick up his ass and looking hurts. Numpad would work better imho where i can key a few buttons on there like maybe 7 strafe left/9 strafe right 8 jump, 2 crouch 3 turn left/5 turn right.

Hell, mapping multiple buttons for same output could be handy then i could swap from arrows to numpad on the fly.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY:
Mouse wheel to look close and zoom out far. In life we look up close, middle, far away. If there are spyglasses and optics the same principle could be used to zoom in/out. There are islands and vastness so i expected this. No device and just your eyes would mean you couldn't zoom distance at all your eyes and we don't have little knobs on our head to see distance up close and clear. But, when next to say that corpse in the cell i should be able to get astonishingly close and peep like i'm touching it. I should be able to look at every crevice.

I couldn't shove it over or punch it. NO FISTS OR FEET. Bah! NO MONK/BOXER. Maybe punching breakables damages you. Maybe punching mobs hurts too but the option would have been nice. Taking damage would mean you'd probably want to use a weapon.

Talking. 3 options I really might not agree with? No type in what you say with maybe a click on emotional tone:
Angry
Passive
Sarcastic
Compassionate/Empathetic
Loving
Spock emotionless
Etc.

I realize dialogue can't possible cover such complications in any game and as an indie you probably didn't want to write out hundreds of thousands yo millions of speech reactions. Even AI fails at answering at times. So, no innovative speech choices.

Changed inventory button to I. Some text in menus was hard to decipher because I haven't played a game in nearly forever it seems. I had to figure out LMB RMB MMB derp Mouse buttons.

Battery was dying after I got sword so I had to quite. Also, i hate sittng on my ass when the spring sun is shining. I gave outdoors stuff to do.

Estimated time for me to finish at this rate:
40 years to never because i rarely turn computer on. The game seems fine so far but there are some move/look/interactions that seems stiff.

Also, only indicators seem to allow me to interact/operate with specific objects. Again, couldn't mess with controls, cages, windows, wall, floor, npcs.

No pick pocket
Slap
Nor attacking these npcs at all even if it would result in death. My saying I wouldn't cooperate didn't give ne any real agency of resistance and it just ignored me giving me the mission anyway. I realize it is tutorial but still; saying the equivalent of fuck off blood shit machine and punching it (which i couldn't do that or even hug the npcs and give a big bugs bunny smooch) irked me a tad.

I'm sure the game does well enough in its parameters but these are my first initial nitpicks.

 

[fantadomat]

Hope it gets a GOG.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Played a bit more. I made a diplomat and a rogue. There are only 3 game slots but if 4 then I'd make a mage.

On the rogue I made it up to the quest to find whatshisnuts to get a lead on three other people to help find the chick who got away.

Some tid bits:
I wasted a few pots trying to figure out how to bind them. Eventually got that sorted out but i feel my mouse needs more buttons so I can throw knives with ease and sprint and jump.

Some mobs move slow so weaving in and out works ok. Throwing works good.

A few death way-points make no sound. The early altar blood things

Most water has no current and at least i can't drown; I don't think.

The inquisitor said I spoke to Basaalt but I had not. She jumped the gun.

I'm sure i missed a ton of secrets. For a while i couldn't sprint only finally realizing i was crouched. I have one spell and finally got enough delusion to raise a stat. Very early obviously.

 

[Hell Swarm]

I put another hour or two in this and I'm at that point where I'm losing interest in the gameplay. The combat is so simple, my magic barely does any damage and there's only so many PS1 3D platformer islands you can explore before you've seen it all. I'm really interested in the world and the story. I want to see how this God stuff plays out and I've shifted my outlook a few times doing quests but it's just so hard to latch onto this game. The areas are designed to be open rather than enjoyable to navigate. And I fucking hate trying to roll a lock pick roll and failing it multiple times. It's an annoying system where I waste picks because I can't roll a 3 and did nothing wrong.

 

[Hag]

I put another hour or two in this and I'm at that point where I'm losing interest in the gameplay. The combat is so simple, my magic barely does any damage and there's only so many PS1 3D platformer islands you can explore before you've seen it all. I'm really interested in the world and the story. I want to see how this God stuff plays out and I've shifted my outlook a few times doing quests but it's just so hard to latch onto this game. The areas are designed to be open rather than enjoyable to navigate. And I fucking hate trying to roll a lock pick roll and failing it multiple times. It's an annoying system where I waste picks because I can't roll a 3 and did nothing wrong.

Spells and items progression is weird, for the first ten or so hours you don't find anything then you get many of them, including a very nice fireball spell that makes short work of most enemies.

As for navigation, I believe this is the main focus of the game. Area are all kinda obfuscated and the challenge lies in finding your way across the map. When you know where to go and how to deal with skill checks the game gets trivialized.

 

[Hell Swarm]

As for navigation, I believe this is the main focus of the game. Area are all kinda obfuscated and the challenge lies in finding your way across the map. When you know where to go and how to deal with skill checks the game gets trivialized.

I don't mind navigating a complex map. I mind when there's random half broken fences I can't jump over along every cliff edge.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

As for navigation, I believe this is the main focus of the game. Area are all kinda obfuscated and the challenge lies in finding your way across the map. When you know where to go and how to deal with skill checks the game gets trivialized.

I don't mind navigating a complex map. I mind when there's random half broken fences I can't jump over along every cliff edge.

YES! I was thinking the same damn thing. No climb mechanic even over a small fence. There are also a few places you can't jump/walk off (invisible barriers), and rocks and ledges that can't be navigated.

I don't think you can drown either. I was crawling underwater. Still, the game has that interesting indie feel. Atm, though, I'm not sure it is worth the $20. Time will tell if I can complete it. I mean, I'm just out of tutorial gate. I might jump on my diplomat and see if the intro changes for him. Maybe he'll have different dialogue choices. My rogue dude has no problem disarming traps and opening doors. I'll assume those get tougher.

 

[Hell Swarm]

After finding the academy I fell through the lift killing me and being reset to the forge. Really fucking annoying. This game feels like 90% padding. There's things to see but you're always walking between the things. It feels some what like Elden ring does with his poorly it uses it's open world.

 

[Hag]

Finished the game, clocking 25 hours. I rushed the end and did not finish every quest, wanting to get on with it. However the developers have been nice enough to make so the last save could be still used to roam the world and finish any pending business so I will probably come back.

Otherwise, what a trip. I've had a honeymoon with this game, spending the first ten hours in complete ecstasy, what do you know I really like running around giant mushrooms. But soon game's shortcomings started to get increasingly obvious, however never enough to put me off or make the whole deal unpleasant. So here is a modest review of this nice package.


The good :
- Art direction is phenomenal. From NPCs clothing to the color of the sky, from the modest farm to the weirdest monster, everything is fresh and well thought, dodging every fantasy or SF trope to give life to a one-of-kind world. Whether you like the retro 3D style is a matter of personal taste but it does the job and delivers, bringing long lines of sight where mysteriously shaped landmarks loom in the distance. Quite beautiful all things considered.
- Game systems are well thought of. All four of the stats are useful (even Might I regretted using as a dump stat) and have several purposes. The UI is slick and pleasant to use, magic is fun and has many wildly different spells, all useful. Shame you won't find most until mid to late game. The game is very much streamlined and keeps the same mechanisms until the end (more on that later), but sane design decisions allow difficulty to scale, the many items to stay relevant and the overall experience to be fun until the end.
- There are many small but nice attentions, such as housing you can purchase and upgrade, giving you boons, or the NPCs having schedules or moving around the map.
- Writing is good, though inconsistent. While the NPCs sometimes are quirky and talking with them vary between very fun and overdone, the whole lore is fresh and interesting and brings uncommon takes to the usual themes of Gods, death, science and the like. Many quests have several possible outcomes as well, and often there is no obvious good choice and the player will have to take side.

The meh :
- Music is ok. Each place has its own theme that loops quite fast, some of them I found nicer than others.
- The map is vast, way larger than I thought at first, and is filled with various landmarks, towns, ruins, caves and secrets. Hallowshire has the most content, as the two later parts are smaller and emptier overall, although Ferropolis town is sprawling and makes up for the remaining of the land. The problem is that all this huge content will abide by the same limited interactions : finding ways to access it, looting it, maybe fighting mobs. Difficulty scales but novelty seldom appears, there is some nice hidden switch-hunting but after some times it becomes obvious it is more of the same. It is the beauty and mystery of the world that made me carry on, as well as the well-written main quest. On the plus side, the variety of fast travel options you slowly unlock is very nice and show the care with which the maps have been designed, and the player time and sanity respected.
- The dev team has been very reactive after game release to fix the big bugs, but some smaller ones linger on. Nothing serious however.

The bad :
- Combat is serviceable at best, and it's a shame considering the various weapons, items and spells you can pit against the decent rooster of enemy. Fights will be too easy for most of the playthrough before spiking by the end, and they never be overly challenging nor fun. Parrying is useless when you can run around, and while all the ingredients are here for epic fights where you can buff yourself, summon minions, and strike with critical timing, in the end you'll simply move back and forth or simply over, sometimes blasting a spell when you want some variety. Easily the game biggest issue.
- As a corollary the game is overall very easy. Its only challenge is finding your way in this huge alien world, which is well-made, but there's not much more to it.

The package :
This game has a commendable quality in design, direction and technical matters. For a studio first game it is frankly impressive, and from the screenshots and limited information on which I bought it I wasn't expecting such scope, and, to be honest, such care. It is heartbreaking to see how close it comes to be an all-around marvel, as its combat system plagues it as much as its direction lifts it.

The bottom line :
This game has been compared to other video games, and while it does evoke the best qualities of some other famous RPG or FPS, in the end Dread Delusion is its own thing and should be considered as such. It is a crazy dive in an alien world, a place turned upside down but full of pragmatic and friendly characters, a realm of colors and wonders. It is for sightseeing amateur, mushroom bunny-hoppers, fantasy philosophers, and indefatigable cartographers who value curiosity over challenge.

I give it a friendly

 

[HoboForEternity]

i think i am 4 hours in, and mostly agree with Hag

it's a game that would be perfect if it has actual deep combat and character building, but everything else make up for that weakness. it's a perfect game when it's midnight, tired but can't sleep, you just need to chill and explore weird and wonderful world. the writing is surprisingly solid. definitely grab it if it ever goes on sale for 10 to 15 buckaroos

 

[Hell Swarm]

Put another 2 hours in and I've had a miserable time of it to the point where I put on a podcast to fill the void the gameplay is.

Endless realm shaking

I went to the Endless realm after buying a passport. I spoke to the queen who sent me to the tomb. Met her ghost who sent me back to the queen. I told the queen to go meet the ghost and she hasn't moved yet. I don't know if she will ever move but running back and forth was insulting. The game lacks any meaningful exploration. It lacks dungeons so far and there's no loot or meaningful upgrades. It's got a wonderful world and it feels like it could be a really deep and interesting universe but there's zero gameplay here. Some how it's even blander than Skyrim. Which is painful because the aspects I like are 100% worth playing a crappy game for. But this is so bare bones it's hard to call it a game in any meaningful way.

I am at the point where I want to follow a guide for the main quest to see how the story plays out and skip everything else completely.

 

[Hag]

If you want to be done quicker, recruit the 3 mercenaries as fast as possible and move on with the attack in the Underlands. That will unlock the airship which trivialized moving around.

 

[Hell Swarm]

If you want to be done quicker, recruit the 3 mercenaries as fast as possible and move on with the attack in the Underlands. That will unlock the airship which trivialized moving around.

I'm trying to find the mercenaries. Which is a problem because there's not a single proper hint to find them and the map systems damn near useless. You wander aimlessly finding the same house with the same lockpicks, coins and maybe a delusion and hope someone interesting is inside. Even the vendors are bland so you can't be excited you found some new equipment.

And the bow animation maybe the worst animation I've ever seen in a game. It jabs the arrow not shoots it.

 

[Hag]

Some hints about the mercenaries (I remember getting some pointers with vendors or city folks) :
The Emberian is on some floating islands South of the Hallowshire part that connects to the shroom village (full West from Hallow town).
The Duchess is on floating islands SW of the Endless Realm (I believe there is a road from the capital that goes nearby).
The last guy is on a remote house full East of Ferropolis, just down to the huge tower on the mountains.