Dread Delusion - Morrowind-like retro open world action RPG

[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

 

[normie]

Finished the game, clocking 25 hours. I rushed the end and did not finish every quest

do not, I repeat, do not listen to this shill
NPCs do not have schedules beyond shopkeepers being switched off during sleepy time (you'll only visit any shopkeeper only once, they sell fuck all and you need of them fuck all, because there isn't a game there), house upgrades are a complete non-feature since there's not enough game to WARRANT EVEN A SINGLE FUCKING HOUSE BUT YOU GET 4 - you will not return to ANY OF THEM NOT EVEN ONCE, you have nothing to stash, you have nothing to farm
it's another pointless feature demo'd in early access and not developed any further, so buying them and upgrading them remains as pointless make-work
same with "factions" - demo'd, abandoned half-way during the development of the Undead territory and abandoned completely during the development of the final big area, Clocktrannies
this is an 8 hour game, 10 if you are really stretching it for god knows what reason, I don't know how this LYING FAGGOT managed to waste 25 on it and not be done with everything there is in it

the game is FUCK UGLY and it will give you eyestrain, the writing is gay and derivative and the choices will be obvious if you're familiar with the throughlines of trannybrain - there's no fucking sights, it's a bunch of prefab locations placed in an ugly ass schizo terrain, a lot of it not even properly (floating, colliding, holes in geometry) - your reward for exploring them is a bunch of coin sprites that you can use to buy NOTHING, THERE'S NOTHING, THIS GAME FUCKING BLOWS

Game systems are well thought of. All four of the stats are useful

the systems are non-existent, all four stats are useful... ONLY FOR OPENING DOORS
they all unironically function as 4 different flavours of lockpicking
why would you want to get behind doors? of course to get materials to upgrade your houses! yup, the same ones mentioned earlier

 

[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.

 

[normie]

If you want to be done quicker, recruit the 3 mercenaries as fast as possible and move on with the attack in the Underlands.

"complete the game and you can be done quicker completing the game"

 

[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.

 

[VonMiskov]

Does stealth even work in this game? I try to sneak but everyone see me anyway. WTF?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I've had some luck but I just think mobs were too far to see me anyway. There were times I was crouch duck walking and didn't realize it. I was like "why the hell can't I run?"

 

[baba is you]

I played this game until the end and got the ending. Overall, I agree with Hag's argument, but my subjective opinion is that the dungeon is very poor.

The storyline wasn't bad. Excluding the dungeons, the open world exploration was quite good, and the quest solving was also good. I felt the developers put a lot of thought into world building.

 

[Lyre Mors]

It kind of blows my mind that someone can spend years working on a project like this and fail to see how crucially intertwined exploration, progression, and overall challenge is. If you fail to provide challenge, the exploration and progression fall apart, becoming meaningless superficialities. It illegitimatizes this as a game, and turns it into an interactive art piece. How can you not see this after spending so much time making something? It's so frustrating seeing such wasted potential, and the lack of interest in fixing the most obvious problems at hand.

 

[normie]

It kind of blows my mind that someone can spend years working on a project like this and fail to see how crucially intertwined exploration, progression, and overall challenge is. If you fail to provide challenge, the exploration and progression fall apart, becoming meaningless superficialities. It illegitimatizes this as a game, and turns it into an interactive art piece. How can you not see this after spending so much time making something? It's so frustrating seeing such wasted potential, and the lack of interest in fixing the most obvious problems at hand.

I liked your deleted post better, it was a lot less pleading

 

[Lyre Mors]

I liked your deleted post better, it was a lot less pleading

Really watching this thread like a hawk, aren't you?

 

[normie]

I liked your deleted post better, it was a lot less pleading

Really watching this thread like a hawk, aren't you?

just call the game shit
for gaming's sake

then we can start building a posse and petition the authorities to remove the mention of Morrowind from the thread title

 

[Lyre Mors]

remove the mention of Morrowind from the the thread title

It really is inappropriate.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Yeah, not even a lite lite lite version. It is about what I'd expect from an itchio game tbh. Google was sending me reviews from site after site. It is time filler. I really need 100x the secrets and exploration (hell maps within maps and labyrinthine getting lost and CRUNCHY combat. It is lacking a lot of sounds and I didn't get a rush killing anything. They just sort of slumped over like their batteries ran out (those that I encountered).

Anyone try a diplomat? Is there enough anything for that route? I'd need to spend a bit of time but I feel a little meh here about it. Like I said... maybe over the course of a decade I'll get to it.

I did notice a copious amount of bent over humanoid ass shots like they were saying "spank it baby... SPANK MY CORPSE ASS HARD!!"

There appears to be no activating of the asses!