I started playing this game this week and I’ve been loving it. I’ve spent a good amount of time in the Crucible, and I think improving it would go a long way in keeping players coming back since it has high potential for replayability. Here’s a few areas I could see being improved.
Rewards
Probably the biggest issue right now. You don’t get much experience, and if you die you don’t get much. Unless you can reliably clear the crucible then there is little reason to play it. Sure, there’s a few chests at level 5 - which, if you’re lucky, will contain an ember or two. Other times, not much worth mentioning. I would look forward to the shop more if it had new items each run, even if the selection is more limited.
Enemies
The same few enemies, over and over again. Why not include all enemies that you’ve already encountered in the world? Maybe throw in random miniboss encounters as well. Variance between runs would make it more replayable.
Echoes
I don’t think the echoes are very engaging. A key part of roguelikes is that you design a build around what you get and each run ends up with a different playstyle. One problem is that the echoes are mostly just stat buffs or effects that don’t really change the way you play. But I think the larger issue is that upgrades clash with the nature of this game.
In the crucible, you instead bring your character with a preexisting build and search for echoes that fit it. It ends up just being “which upgrades will boost my damage the most or make me die less.” The best echoes are the ones that let you skip chambers, which is pretty revealing about the current state of the crucible. It should be fun, not a slog to get to chamber 10.
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Thanks for reading all of that, and I hope my feedback is helpful!