First of all this game is really something glorious. After playing 6 hours I’m quite captivated by the meaty Souls-like combat and deep ARPG itemization. Overall even at early access I find this game to be objectively very good and know the dedicated devs will evolve it into something of very high quality. I look forward to playing much more.
But my main criticism is how inaccurate aiming feels. Using WASD with a mouse feels often sluggish. Fairly often I find I’ll aim quickly in a direction and do an attack, yet the attack doesn’t go exactly where I’m aiming. It seems that there’s some delay when you do an attack toward your cursor. It feels significantly slower than other isometric WASD games (such as Synthetik, Hades, or The Ascent). In those titles WASD strictly moves your feet and the mouse is actively aiming your upper body. Even in the upcoming Path of Exile 2 we see this is the case. There could be something tied to animations that prevents your character from always facing your cursor in No Rest for the Wicked, but even if that’s the case, I’m sure the responsiveness and accuracy could be drastically improved. Especially in this game, with more difficult top down combat and parkour, we really need tight and accurate controls.
I tried controller some and it still has a sluggishness to it, though less noticeable than with WASD and mouse. But I vastly prefer WASD even in isometric games, so controller isn’t really an option. Hopefully we see the controls tightened up soon. Thank you.
I dunno though- I feel like this game was made for the controller. I would feel very odd playing with M+KB. The haptic feedback is also big- but to each their own. Feels great on the controller to me, even though I love M+KB in games where it makes sense.
With that said- I will echo one part of your feedback. Even with the controller, there are certain angles that do not play nicely when crossing thin balance beams. It’s uncommon, but I’ve had at least one secret balance beam where I had quite a difficult time crossing, because it didn’t feel like there was a recognized control ‘angle’ for the direction I was trying to go in.
Wish I could be more specific - it was before you reach Sanctuary, somewhere around the town where you meet the Blacksmith.
Right that totally makes sense, controller did feel better for accuracy when I tried it. I do use controller with like 2D or racing games, but I’ve just always used WASD with the numerous isometric games from Steam. Also I plan on playing PoE2 quite a lot when that’s out and WASD is sounding like the best option there, mainly because you can aim with the mouse while moving. Yet I’m sure controller will still be great there too.
I see what you mean, like you were missing an angle to traverse. I feel similarly with aiming the mouse to attack. Like you do an attack in a direction and it’s often a little off from where you were aiming. It feels like your attacks are always trying to go toward your cursor, but they take awhile and don’t hit the mark just right. It’s still playable, but it’s way less accurate than something really tight like Hades. Also if the controls were improved it’d be more viable to play without have auto-lock for targets. The auto-lock is a great option, really leaning into the Souls-like genre, but for 1vX I think no lock on would be nice, yet you really need more responsive controls for that to be more viable.
Hopefully we get some improvements across the board to movement and aiming, for controller and M&K alike. I think we’ll see some, as I saw some reviews mentioned the controls feeling sluggish too.