Smoke and Sacrifice

I loved this game. Loved the storyline. Loved the graphics. Loved the slight creepyness of the world & characters. Didn't feel overwhelmingly challenging either (I hate when the gameplay is like a chore) and I loved how much one could explore.

First things first, this really isn't a typical survival/crafting game, much more of an adventure game with crafting elements. You can make weapons, armor and food but there's zero base building, you can't even put down a chest and the only storage available is your inventory and chests you have to find and unlock around the map. There's also no hunger or stamina and in general it's a rather "simple" game. The combat is a bit jank and I'm sure some people will be put off by the graphics, but I found the game to be quite charming. I liked the story, the visuals and the combat felt just challenging enough, nothing felt too tanky, and while there are areas that swarm with enemies as long as you actually follow the gear progression and take care to cook some healing food once in a while it's very manageable. I feel the game's quite short, but in a good way, with my playtime I explored about 95% of the map and missed maybe 1-2 side quests. Maybe this game's not quite a "hidden gem" but it's definitely an enjoyable experience.

This is an adventure with a large emphasis on crafting and preparation with interesting art, though hindered by a "functional" control/combat system and meh story. The 2D sprites on a 3D world works fine, though it makes navigation a pain when the Smoke rolls in. I stopped playing when it reached a supposed high point in the story, which was as underwhelming as most of the progression up till that point. I got around 75%-ish through it and it was just... fine? okay? mid? I was using mouse+keyboard, but I bet with a controller it would be a different, and possibly more frustrating, experience. Combat and gathering relied heavily on clicking, and you somewhat often click somewhere and the character either attacks or moves towards something against your intentions, but it certainly wasn't unplayable, it even has dodge and shield mechanics (I never used the shield) Not terrible, not great, just... there.

since i usualy only comment on bad games i go through some of the good ones now

It's a grindcraft game, but even though it's kind of repetitive I like the artwork and the story. It starts off really cool too in a unique way and sucked me right into a pretty crazy story that is really good in my opinion. I can kind of tell that in the near future I'll be grinding a lot to get more materials to kill more things to blah blah blah... I just hope that I unlock some new skills and spells or something, and that the game gets a little more complex soon or I would get bored. I rage quit cuz I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and did a bunch of stuff and couldn't find a save terminal and died while omw to try and find one... And I have lost like 40 minutes worth of playing basically and was like yeah ♥♥♥♥ that... I hate that they use the words "would you recommend the game?" because that is such a specific question to ask someone... I don't have any friends and I don't know anyone really... So would I recommend this to anyone? The only people I would recommend it to share a family plan with me anyways and I doubt they would even play this honestly... Do I like the game? Yes. Will I play it? Yes. Do I want to beat it? Yes. That's all that should matter. I paid for it.

Where there's smoke, there's fire! =O