StarCrawlers Chimera

I really enjoyed the original StarCrawlers, and while this game is similar, it's too different for me to truly enjoy. There are tons of softlocking bugs (which are so frequent there's an in-game error message dedicated to it) and polish is overall poor. There is often too much happening onscreen to tell what is actually going on, with the worst case being the last boss. Sometimes it's the exact opposite, where the player literally can't see the ranged enemies attacking them because of objects in the dungeon obscuring their vision. I was excited to see this game come out of Early Access, but it could have used a lot more polish. With only 36 other reviews as of writing this, maybe it just didn't get enough feedback.

This game is terrible. It would only be kind of bad if not for the enormous waste of a good concept. The person designing all the skills and possible tactics for this game was entirely lacking in imagination. There is almost no way to use synergy between skills. Nothing you choose matters. There is no depth.

Good Points The skill system is incredibly engaging, allowing for strategic gameplay utilizing environmental elements like breaking glass and opening/closing doors. This adds a layer of tactical depth that keeps the experience fresh. Points Requiring Further Consideration While the introduction of distance and ammunition adds realism, it potentially hinders the game's pacing. The necessity of dividing armor into separate parts is debatable, but the inclusion of left-hand and two-handed weapon wielding is a welcome addition. Bad Points Unlike its predecessor, which allowed players to form a party of up to four characters from a roster of eight, this game forces a solo playthrough, resulting in concentrated damage and a significant difficulty spike. The implementation of distance mechanics makes the player vulnerable to attacks from blind spots, leading to frequent deaths. Coupled with overly aggressive enemies and frustrating gimmicks, the challenge can be overwhelming. I personally died three times before even reaching the second layer. Carrying over the sheer number of enemies from the previous game, which employed a symbol encounter system, feels unbalanced in this new cont…

Nice roguelite, can burn a couple evenings.

TL;DR: This game is fantastic, but it's not "Starcrawlers 2", and most of the negative reviews are from people expecting it to be that sequel. It might fit if you like dungeon crawlers, and are ready to overcome the weird controls and get deep into understanding all the good synergies for character creation. While the game takes place in the same universe as Starcrawlers (you'll see some enemies from there, and Chimera as a megacorporation was encountered a lot before too), it is totally different gameplay-wise. Instead of a turn-based team dungeon crawler with 2d fights this is a first-person single protagonist "time progresses when you move or act" action crawler game. The visuals are decent, office spaces of Chimera do look quite nice, and the final level adds a lot of variety to the design (no spoilers!). Starcrawlers: Chimera has a ton of replayability, with randomized office room patterns and enemy placement, but, most importantly, its character creation possibilities (with 36 skills, 7 to select for each run). The office-like humour of the game also helps with the overall climate (especially Chimera Linq interactions). There are some negative bits to this game too. Contr…

Great dev, great game Overwhelmingly positive