First of all, I just want to say I love this game. I have 40 hours in this game and its already become one of the best games I have ever played. With that being said, at this moment I would give this game a 8.8/10, but with no doubt based on what I have heard with 1.0 will become a 10. Here is my feedback:
Great:
Visual/Audio Design & World Exploration 10/10: This is one of the most visually beautiful games I have played and with an OLED screen that just makes it better. The level design and the way areas are structured; you can tell it is made with intent and care that you do not see in many games nowadays.
Gameplay: 10/10: Not speaking on difficulty, but I have never been a fan of souls like, but this game having the ability to switch back and forth between difficulties is great. I am the type of person who likes an enjoyable chill story experience, then endgame difficulty. So I like being able to play the story on easy and when I’m farming; up the difficulty.
Story: 10/10: Strictly the story already so far has me hooked and caring about the world/what happens to characters.
Weapon Variety: 10:10 Every weapon having different movesets and different runes really adds uniqueness and variety for theory crafting and building.
Crafting clarity(Strictly creating items not crafting with enchants/gems you want): 10/10: The game very clearly explains these are the materials you need and how much. So from a new player perspective that is very good.
Secrets & Hidden Content: 10/10. Imagine my surprise when I found out you could use a certain gesture for a surprise somewhere
Farming: 9/10: I have never been a fan of farming for materials to build but the way you guys did it in such a beautiful world and with getting embers and stuff makes me want to do mat runs. I am fisher now
Good/Ok
Fast Travel:8/10: Offerings to fast travel is ok but I think the cost is a bit steep or the values of items are too low. I think later on its fine when you have an abundance, but early especially its not the best. Also its not clear always(at least for me) that your offering worked.
Town Building: 7/10: I think for me this mostly comes from it not being clear for new players on what’s the most important ones + if you give half the mats to one project and change your mind you want to build something else; you cannot(unless you can and I just missed it). I think the building would be much better with a better new player onboarding.
Farming: 9/10: This is twice on my feedback because I saw this somewhere else too, but I am not a fan of mining and woodcutting that if you get two pieces you have to pick them up individually. It just adds a bit
Performance/Technical Stability: 8/10: I have only crashed once or twice in my playthrough. What happens more and is quite annoying(I have seen this on reddit too), is that sometimes on interacting with whispers my screen just stays there and I have to restart. The other issue I have seen and only is fixed with a hard restart is my mouse is no longer able to click on most things in my inventory and it seems to go to a controller setting where I have to use WASD to navigate. The only thing that fixes this is restarting my game.
Leveling:8/10: My biggest issue here(once again I saw this on reddit as well) is that the story does not make it clear that you should go to the nameless pass before going to the black trench. I had to ask on Aarons twitch otherwise I was confused and I saw on reddit someone others were as well. Additionally, there should be side quests or another zone after nameless pass and before Marin Woods & Lowland Meadows(I saw this feedback or something similar from Larry Puss as well). You finish around level 15-17 and those zones are 21. On reddit I saw few others say they were confused as well since the zones were higher. I already stated story, audio, visual, and world exploration are so great; you guys could add some side quests that add more depth and it would only make this game even better than it is. I would love to spend more time with side characters.
Needs improvement:
Jump Puzzles/Story navigation: 4/10: I am not saying jump puzzles are bad in this game at all. I love the satisfaction of finding a chest by going through a jump puzzle, but gating story behind it in my opinion is not the best. Additionally, from a new player perspective its not always clear where you should be going. I had to use a video guide for the crane part prior to the Riven Twins and all the way through the black trench. While I don’t want it to be easy per say, but maybe some option or guidance for new players on what they should be doing or at least more clear so people do not have to resort to video guides. I spent quite a bit of time before looking it up. I would hate for ppl to be stuck on this unnecessarily.
Gearing Optimization/Itemization: 3/10: I do not know if its because I am new, but I find stats and how to gear even more confusing than POE1(granted I have over 5K hours in the game). Even now I am just putting things on that I think sound good and hope it works…maybe the class system will improve this or the compendium.
Storage: 1/10: I think this is the weakest point of the game. We need some clear way to be able to sort or do storage. Currently, I just have a bunch of different storages that I put things in; but before you are able to get that, as a new player, you simply do not have enough storage and you end up selling things maybe you would regret once you learn more of the game and endgame crafting.
With all that being said; I love this game. Even now instead of working my job I came home early and am playing this game. I hope Moon Studios continues to listen in a way that makes this one of the best games ever. Also I have not written anything this long since I was in college so tells you how much I enjoy this game and want Moon to succeed.