I genuinely want to like this game... I came into this not long after having played Ryza and Ryza 2 for the first time, so I was very eager to jump into the newest instalment!
And I'll say I really enjoyed it at the start. New fresh combat system, a definite upgrade in visuals compared to previous titles!
But as you go on, the combat, which is a very nice idea for a twist between live combat and turn based, just ends up being button mashing. Every character have too many abilities that arent different enough, so you just end up spamming most of the time, and *maybe* focusing one specific affinity here and there.
The world did not need to be open world, I am honestly dead tired of every franchise turning into open world lmao, though I genuinely think the first region was pretty looking and nice to traverse! But quickly turned into large empty areas that just took time, and I kind of hated the visual style of the second area, it was just not fun to stay in.
I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I genuinely love Yumia as a character, I really like her personality! Kind of a 180 from Ryza, being more timid, not so sure of her own abilities, but also not afraid to try things out! The other companions were mostly okay, unlike Ryzas cast of mostly great characters.
And of course, the synthesising system is super dumbed down compared to previous titles, though to be fair I personally didn't mind that an insane amount, the synthesis was the part that I got tired of first in Ryza, cause it was so much work when you got deep into the game, but I am definitely not gonna praise the synthesis in this game or anything lmao.
All in all, I appreciate their attempt at taking the franchise a different route, but *most* of the new attempts mostly missed the bar, making it an experience (for someone easily pleased like me) you might enjoy the first 10 or so hours, but you'll in no time start noticing repetitiveness, traveling becoming a drag, and just many small things that just make you not super motivated to continue the game again tomorrow.

I do hope they can pick the franchise back up, cause I genuinely want to get into more Atelier, though I prefer trying newer titles over older ones~!

This game really is fantastic, and super underrated. Take the game style of CS2/Valorant, make it anime and add on a paper mechanic, and you really got something unique! The mechanic to turn your character into paper really adds a whole new dimension into these Demolition type games, and has some pretty unique and fun characters/abilites as well!

The only shame about the game is that it's slowly dying. Parts because the developers arent trying in the slightest to advertise this game in the west, and they keep focusing *way* too much on gamemodes *other* than the Demolition one, just casual TDM and limited time fun modes. This splitting the playerbase quite a bit, and the lack of updates and addition to Demolition (as well as new maps for it, only one having been added since release) is what really hurts the playerbase for this I believe. People aren't motivated to stick around when the Demolition mode doesn't change much!

I really hope the game will get a bounce back, cause I would hate to have to stop playing it simply because there aren't enough players to make lobbies with, so I hope anyone who sees this gives the game a try, it's genuinely fun!!

It's very refreshing to have a Portal-esque puzzle game, without being blatantly a ripoff! It takes several elements from Portal (the test chambers, the use of cube, button platforms), but brings in several of its own elements into the mix, making it feel more like a spiritual spin-off.
And ontop of that has an actually interesting story, making you question a lot of things, making you think.
Test chambers are very doable, I only struggled with like, 1-2 where I had to look up help, but they were all smart, and beatable in no more than 5-10 minutes!
Highly recommended for any Portal, or puzzle in general fan out there!

Sidenote: I wouldve absolutely purchased this game no problem haha

I am questioning why I havent made a review on this game yet, as I got it on release date.
This is a fantastic game. Avalanche studios did an amazing job on this game, and it's just tons of fun. Story is pretty good, driving physics (imo) are great, the amount of customization I love. Also a great game to hunt achievements for (which I'm currently doing).

Lousy review, but there's not much else to say than this game is amazing. 10/10 for me, well worth every penny!

If you're really bored of most games, and just want a fun cheap indie game? Then this is the game for you.

The game is amazingly fun to play, either vs friends only or alongside friends online. It's super cheap, does not have any microtransactions whatsoever and has looooads of content.

With 100 levels to progress through, where you get weapons and/or maps for almost every single level, along with challenges that also grants you weapons. Each weapon has upgrades you can get through hitting enemies with it to earn its XP.
This game is just alot of fun, has alot of content to go through. Highly recommended to get it, especially because of the price!

Buy CODpoints, open cases, get all common. 10/10 would do again

100+ achievements on release? I'm f**king sold. 10/10

I will get straight to the point. I love this game. I'm gona play the hell out of this game. Some others won't.

If you take a look at the other people's reviews, be careful what info you're gona follow. Some problems a certain amount of these people are having doesn't necessarily affect you if you get the game. I just read through two thumbs down reviews (One long one saying lots about the pro's and con's), and probably a little under half of the con's were problems on that persons side... Problems I have not experienced. (Not saying I wont)

So just be careful with what you decide, based on these reviews. The best is to just find out yourself. If you're not willing to take that risk based on the amount of money the game costs, then don't. Just don't rely 100% on these reviews, as multiple of them mention things that might only happen to them, cause they have certain hardware or similar.