Deadnaut

I really, really wanted to like this game. I love the unique UI and play style. I love the concept. I typically love rogue-like games. It has a lot of cool quirks. It just checks a lot of boxes. However, for all the excellent design, it seems like it's just RNG about whether or not you succeed. You don't carry anything forward for winning or succeeding, so you never "evolve" your strategy. My best runs so far simply involve strapping on the heaviest armor I could find and equipping the simplest weapons I started with. Using exotic weapons seems to just vaporize the hulls. If there was any reward for failure, any way to improve my odds run after run, this game would be an easy "Absolutely" - but starting over at ground zero and tossing the dice again isn't the challenge I wanted.

Honestly great, kind of confused by the mixed review and by the fact that I had never heard of it before i picked it up

I loved this game's theme, atmosphere and presentation. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay just didn't work out for me. The game would have benefitted greatly from even a simple tutorial. Right now all you get is a lengthy manual. Some controls aren't obvious, and you won't survive unless you have a good grip on the game's mechanics. In my first game, it took me a while to even figure out what killed most of my team. The way your crew all have personality flaws makes it sound like it would be challenging yet fun to work around them, much like in Jagged Alliance. Unfortunately, in practice the dialogue is repetitive and your team members have very little personality. Some flaws are crippling and make the team member practically unusable. For example, one will have your team member occasionally disobey orders, which has a good chance of getting them killed as they randomly wander into a room full of enemies; another will have them panic or go berserk almost every time they take damage; a third will make the team member hated by all his buddies, which will hinder the performance of the entire team. The game is also very RNG-heavy. There are various types of enemy, each with specifi…

So. There's this thing where you have trouble communicating with your troops. Signal interference or something. And they don't really tell you what you can DO about it. And once it starts it only gets worse. So you can't see anything and you can't do anything. I suppose I could go find a YouTube video about it but... If I have to resort to a YouTube video in the first five minutes of a game JUST to continue then the game has already failed. This has potential but I can not in good conscience recommend it. ... PS: There is a sequel or spin off game called "Deadnauts: Signal Lost." *Giggle!*

two thumbs up

Control characters in real time as they explore derelict ships with a variety of potential threats, including your own systems needing to be adjusted to maintain your view of the situation. Great and atmospheric concept but mostly poorly executed, and a somewhat similar idea has been done better now with this developer's future games and by the game Duskers. High RNG, lack of options for character control, poor character creation options and system, different enemy types that really just change what equipment you will want to use, poor cloning system, lack of interesting character interactions or environment information, needless amount of babying your characters in a way that seems to give you too much control and not enough. Too short and limited in options. Can be worth a look as it even now is somewhat unique but there are better options even by its own developers.