This game definitely needs to cook a bit more before it's ready for the masses. Right now I would give it a Thumb to the Side.

The bones of this game are great and it is definitely going to turn into something amazing...

But I would probably wait a month or so to see how much it evolved before you jump in.

• There are model issues (hands overlapping sights of guns)
  
• Enemies can spawn DIRECTLY on top of you
  
• Gunplay leaves a bit to be desired, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of impact on guns, and it's hard to tell if you are actually hitting weak spots or not. Having played a lot more now, gunplay feels good if you make headshots, otherwise it still is rough around the edges.
  
• Enemy AI leaves a LOT to be desired
  
• This game does NOT hold your hand, there is BARELY a tutorial and no quest markers to follow. You have to figure everything out on your own...

I wasn't part of the MMO debacle that happened with this game, but what I can tell you is that this game is a STEAL for the price now. Worth every penny as long as you like ARPG looter games.

It has NUMEROUS progression systems, lots of customization options, great aesthetics (if you like the cartoony fantasy look), and good solid gameplay/combat.

Whatever crap this game was in 2023, it has done a complete 180 at this point and is now a EXCELLENT game well worth the money.

TLDR: If you like ARPG looter games, this game is 100% worth it, maybe a 7/10 with room to hit higher as they evolve the game in early access. If you have friends to play with, it's even better.

For more detailed information about this game, see below:

Story:
This is definitely the weak point of this game, while the story doesn't suck, it doesn't really have anything that makes it special either, this game is PRIMARILY a dungeon crawler with the goal being the loot/progression cycle.

Gameplay
Solid hack and slash combat. 7 Characters in the game, each plays very uniquely from each other and they are divided into archetypes:
Tank, Ranged DPS, Melee DPS

This game does NOT however use the holy trinity, and ANY character can do any role and solo the game on their own. So find the playstyle you enjoy the most and max THAT character.

You can also freely switch to any character (that you have unlocked) at any given time as long as you are not in combat within the same account.

The statistics in this game are:

• Crit Rating -- translates directly into critical hit percentage
  
• Crit Power -- translates into a critical hit modifier
  
• Magic Defense
  
• Physical Defense
  
• HP
  
• Weapon Power - each swing of your weapon is boosted by this
  
• Ability Power - every ability used and all healing is boosted by this
  
  
• Break Power - this is how much damage you do to the enemies "armor" which is described below under resiliency.
  
  
• Resiliency - this is basically player armor, while you have armor you rarely flinch and take reduced damage, once your armor "breaks" you take extra damage and flinch much easier. This bar recharges on its own when not taking damage. Enemies also have armor and get the same benefits from it.

Each character has 4 abilities unique to them + a unique passive.
There are 4 main weapon types in this game, and any character can use any weapon type, those are

• Guns - subdivided into shotguns and rifles
  
• Daggers - dual-wield daggers -- has a parrty option
  
• Sword + Shield - for more defensive oriented playstyle, can block attacks
  
• 2 handed weapons - subdivided into maces, axes, swords, and scythes.

Each specific weapon that exists has it's own unique attack that can only be used when that weapon is equipped.

Finally this game technically has an open world, but the VAST majority of your times will be running instanced dungeons for loot.

Progression/Customization
There are a TON of customization and progression options in this game.
Below is a list of "gear"

• 5 pieces of armor - each piece of armor boosts 2 stats by a certain percentage
  
  
• 3 Accessories - each accessory has 3 stat bonuses on them, and each bonus has a specific affinity associated with it. Most accessories also offer set bonuses (% based boost to stats) based on equipping 2-3 of the same set. Finally each accessory has multiple slots for "echoes"
  
  
• Weapons - Each weapon that exists in this game is unique and scales towards specific stats (usually 6 different stats), as well as offering a unique weapon specific attack. These ARE leveled, so you could have a level 5 Punisher and a level 30 (max) Punisher. The level 30 would have MUCH higher base stats, but the unique weapon attack would be the same. On top of that each weapon have multiple slots for "echoes."
  
  
• Echoes -- your character, every weapon, and every accessory has slots for echoes. Echoes function similarly to gems in a game like diablo. 4/5 of those echoes types are focused on various stats bonuses while the "rush" echo actually unlocks special abilities. Echoes can be freely equipped/unequipped at will and you cannot equip two of the same echo. So if you had a Slime echo, you couldn't equip it into two different slots, you could only equip the slime echo into ONE slot regardless of how many of them you have.

Below is a list of progression options:

• Character Progression - Level 1 - 30, unique to each character unlocks better stats/more echo slots/stronger abilities.
  
  
• Wayfinder Progression - skill tree unique to archetype. This works similarly to "paragon" levels, so no matter what character you are working on, the way finder level will continue increasing regardless on what character you are playing.
  
  
• Weapon Progression - each unique weapon has it's own progression and can be "awakened" 5 times. This requires various materials and resources to do. Every awakening level increases stat scaling of the weapon as well as echo slots. This applies to ALL weapons of that type, so if you awaken the "Earth Shaker" every instance of "earth shaker" you have (regardles of level) will get the scaling and echo slot bonuses.
  
  
• Echo progression - Echoes can ALSO be awakened, at the cost of "echo dust" basically you can dismantle echoes you aren't using for "echo dust" and use that dust to boost echoes you are USING. Every awakening increases the echo stat scaling. Keep in mind, a level 10 Goblin echo and a level 30 Goblin echo BOTH would need to be awakened separately. So it's not recommended that you upgrade echoes till you have a full set of level 30 echoes available to upgrade.
  
  
• Affinity progression - remember how I mentioned "affinities" briefly when describing gear options? Well there are three affinities, and each accessory has 1 stat bonus tied to each specific affinity while each weapon has 2 stat bonuses tied to each specific affinity. You get affinity points by leveling and then later awakening your characters. Each affinity category has a bonus perk you unlock at 5 points, 15 points, and 25 points. On top of that, every single point you spend in a specific affinity scales the stats of ANY piece of gear that is associated with that affinity. You will get a max of 40 affinity points per character, so this is generally an end game decision you need to make based on the gear you are using.
  
  
• Character Awakening -- So on top of character leveling, each character can be awakened up to 5 times. This requires NUMEROUS different resources to achieve. But each awakening boosts that character stats, echo slots, and affinity points.

World Scaling/Coop Gameplay:
Scaling is handled EXTREMELY well in this game.

First each player can turn on world scaling in the options menu, if it is on, enemies will ALWAYS scale to whatever your level is and you will get properly leveled gear at all times.

If disabled, enemies will scale to a certain point and killing weak enemies will result in low level, useless gear.

Now COOP scaling works exceptionally well.
The same character you and your allies see will be scaled to fit YOUR level in your game, and scaled to fit your allies level in his game. So if you are level 30 and your friend is 20, then he will only see level 20 enemies and you will see those same enemies but they will be level 30.

Obviously, the more awakened and min-maxed a character is, the better they will perform in coop content. So even though scaling is on point, a highly min-maxed character will do significantly more damage then a non min-maxed character.

Added bonus, all loot is instance to each person, and scaled to fit your level. So if you are helping a level 5 friend and you are level 30, you will STILL get level 30 gear! This is awesome because it encourages coop gameplay and the higher level character doesn't suffer for helping out lower level characters.

This will probably get buried in the reviews, but the goal of this review is to answer one question, is it a souls-like? The answer is somewhat complicated:

* There is a bonfire mechanic (souls-like)
* There is a estus flask mechanic (souls-like)
* Your primary defense is dodging (50% souls-like)
* You get level up points to spend in a number of skill trees (not souls-like)
* There is NO death penalty and you don't have to recover your body (not souls-like)
* In terms of difficulty, it's much easier then most soulslikes, but starting out is VERY difficult till you level up a bit and expand you capabilities.
* This game seems to have numerous bosses and mini-bosses, I am not even done with chapter 1 and I have fought 5 Bosses, and like 4-5 elites.
* Inventory feels more like a souls like.
* Weapons -- I believe you will have the same weapon throughout the entire game, but that weapon has different stances which change it's feel
* Armor/Gear -- you can both craft and find armor and each armor, each piece of armor seems to have unique bonuses to it and most of the craftable armor has set bonuses. You also have two ring slots and a "gord slot" which is another form of upgradable gear (but also controls your estus swigs)
* I haven't unlocked upgrading yet, but I suspect it's in the game (based on the numerous differnet upgrade materials I have found)
* Stats are basically set in this game, they are gear based and upgrade node based, but leveling up is NOTHING like a souls like.

All in all this game plays like a souls-like early on, but as you level up your character it starts to feel more and more classic GoW or classic Darksiders.

As for my thoughts on this game, I think it is excellent and worth every penny.

Solid game but EXTREMELY short, it took 8 hour for 100% completion.

Positives:
+ Skill tree is great
+ Movement is extremely fluid and responsive.
+ Combat is excellent
+ Plenty of accessories to choose from, do you want to focus on guns, swords, defense, a little of both, etc...
+ Once you unlock fast travel, getting around is easy
+ As you progress and explore the game you get items that make it easier to find things you missed early on.

Neutral:
+/- This game is VERY story heavy, I personally like storyline, however if a ton of text bothers you, this game is going to piss you off.
+/- The map style is not my favorite, I prefer Classic metroidvania maps (each room = 1 square) or Ori-style detailed maps. This game unfortunately uses massive blank squares and rectangles with no landmarks, which is my most hated map style for games like this.

Negatives:
- EXTREMELY short, 8 hours for 100% completion
- Game is VERY easy, and bosses only get easier as you progress. I was killing mid game bosses in 20-60 seconds.
- The story feels incomplete, at the end of the game certain plot points are wrapped up, but there are a TON of loose ends. It feels like part 1 of a story...