Dear Moon Studios,
this post may come off as negative, so let me start off by saying that I overall enjoy the game a ton, and that I think (stability and performance issues aside) it is damned impressive for an early access game. I’m loving the combat, the art, the entire vibe of the game.
But…sneaking has me confused and confounded, enough to wonder if it’s even fully implemented and working yet.
Don’t get me wrong - I love that you put stealth into this game. There are too few games that combine souls-like combat and stealth, and none I can think of that are isometric too. I love stealth, and I was stoked when I saw it in a stream before EA. It’s no exaggeration when I say it pushed me to pick up the game.
But I just can’t get it to work 99% of the time.
How does it work? Is it fully implemented? Is it still incomplete and will be fleshed out further during the EA? Are there abilities or equipment later that make it work better?
My issues with the stealth mechanics can be broken down into 3 areas:
The mechanics are not explained
I have no idea how stealthy I am and what affects it. Am I hidden or less visible if I’m crouching in a bush? Behind a barrel? In shadow? Bright light? Does crouching affect visibility or noise or both? Does clothing or weight class affect stealth? How about weapons that shine with an enchantment (e.g. lightning)?
Enemy awareness/alert state is not indicated
Enemies give no indication if they are close to noticing me. Usually games have some kind of indicator - maybe a literal indicator like “?” or “!”, maybe a behavior change like looking around or going over to investigate. In this game, enemies don’t see me one moment, and see me the next, no “suspicious” state, no indication if I’m close to being noticed, no affordance at all. I’m not saying give us vision cones, but some indicator of enemy awareness, and an intermediate “suspicious” state before they aggro is pretty much table stakes for stealth in games.
The game is too zoomed in to have good situational awareness
Due to the game’s extreme zoom and fixed camera, very often enemies can see me before I can see them. This is truly frustrating. Even worse, the game zooms in closer when you’re crouching - which means your range of vision is reduced when you need it most. Enemies seeing me from beyond the edge of the screen is the single most frustrating thing about the game for me. Stealth requires situational awareness, and that’s currently often impossible in this game, especially when enemies are “below” you on the screen. Please, either reduce enemy aggro range against sneaking players, zoom out a bit more, or give us a way to slightly move the screen to look ahead carefully (the latter would be my favorite approach, but any of these would probably fix the problem).
Please note that I’m still fairly early in the game - just level 7, after maybe 5 hours of play or so. Maybe there are items or abilities later that enhance stealth, or maybe there are areas better suited to stealth than where I’ve been so far. Or maybe stealth something to be fleshed out later during the EA period…but all I know is that for a mechanic that has it’s own dedicated key and is pointed out not once but twice in the tutorial, it’s been barely usable in the game so far.
Best regards,
Matthias
Cross-posted from Steam: No Rest for the Wicked :: Steam Community
