It’s not all bad though let’s talk about the game’s strengths. While I appreciate that timelines and multiverses go hand-in-hand, it’s never really explained how universes can be melding together and how that somehow impacts time as well. On top of all of these complaints, shields don’t always seem to actually work with no indication of why, though I assume it’s linked to hitboxes there are loads of really boring corridors to run down with literally nothing in them, the game wants to launch Steam VR every time I boot it up for some ungodly reason, and the writing is nonsensical. Simply making enemies really strong and giving them health isn’t a good take on a game being hard it just makes the combat feel cheap. It’s indicative of the weird take on difficulty Dolmen has. The game as a whole struggles with accuracy in its hitboxes, but it’s way more noticeable when you’re close to killing a boss and they deal five times more damage than you have health in a wide-range attack. Each big boss has a few one-hit kills in their arsenal, often with misleading wind-ups and hard-to-read hitboxes. This boss also highlights another of the game’s sins one-hit kill attacks. Also, this boss bugged upwards of ten times by placing an invisible wall in the area that meant I could only stand in the fire. I won’t spoil what it is, but the creature sets up fiery areas on the floor that deal damage to you if you get knocked into these by the boss, you’ll constantly take damage throughout the animation, meaning you’ll often die before you get back to your feet. This isn’t the case in Dolmen though, and nowhere is this more aggravating than the boss you fight at the end of the first act. This is especially true of the attacks that knock you over, because being knocked over is already a big enough punishment. When you’re hit in most games there are often some I-frames given to you to avoid you being obliterated in an instant. At this point, one of the most aggravating aspects of the game is shown off. This also highlights that your attacks often feel entirely weightless, with most enemies simply strolling through your hits and bonking you instead. These are usually whatever enemy is local to the area you’re in, which means they’re tanky, strong, and annoying to deal with. These enemies can be felled with a single hit more often than not, and are there to remind players to keep their wits about them even in the most harmless-looking areas.ĭolmen’s take on this is to have enemies hiding on nearly every wall, ceiling, in the ground, and even sometimes just teleporting in. In other similar games, you’ll have a weak enemy burst out of a box or appear from around a corner to scare you into a state of panic, and often push you into stronger enemies or trigger an ambush if you’re not careful. This is exacerbated by the fact that Dolmen doesn’t really understand how surprise attacks work in the Soulslike genre. The latter point isn’t a problem, but when basic enemies take dozens of hits to kill, you’ve got a pacing problem. This is mostly because it’s substantially safer, especially because even the most basic enemies have ridiculous health pools and can kill you with ease. Managing your energy is essential to surviving in the world of Dolmen, and the choice to have it regen if you use it as an ammo source makes ranged combat feel far more worthwhile than melee combat. This energy can also be used to heal you, but it can only be restored by resting at a beacon or using an item – Dolmen’s only one – to refill it. Rather than using the energy permanently, this bar will slowly refill as long as you’re not using your most powerful abilities. The ranged weapons you use utilise a mana bar of sorts in place of ammo. You’re also packing a gun, which is less standard. You’ve got a light and heavy melee attack, you can block or parry attacks and there’s the aforementioned “die and you lose all of your experience” thing. The moment to moment act of playing the game is relatively standard Soulslike stuff. It’s absolutely undoubtedly a Soulslike, but in a genre that’s just had (arguably) its finest iteration in Elden Ring, what does it do to make itself worthy of your attention? You rest up at beacons that refresh the area and its enemies and allow you to teleport back to your ship to level up, craft new items, or access the multiplayer options. If you die, that timeline gets erased, but you can find a fraction of it again and reclaim your nanites again to level up by touching where you last died.
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