Entity Researchers

[i] Note: this review is pretty outdated, the game improved a lot. If you have old save files don't use them, the updates and old saves don't mix well. [/i] For better or worse, this is the first game developer that didn't ignore any of my feedback, considering that I had at least 10 individual problems in terms of technical issues and balancing, addressing 100% of it counts for something, even if the game could use more work; I actually considered writing a negative review many times throughout this early access, but I decided to wait and get more context on the situation, and even if I had some mixed feelings after beating the game, I can't deny that I was treated extremely well as a customer. My initial impression of the game was very positive, the JRPG combat is nothing special, but it has a funky vibe to it with many ugly creatures to discover. I want to say it took me about 10 hours to finish the game, granted I didn't know how to progress through the story, I probably could d...

i think the design needs a lot of work, at least for me personally What's interesting: -slowly growing your character/abilities -unfolding of a few new areas as you play Problems: -lack of variety: there are a 150 unique enemies, but early on you'll be in zones with 10 of enemy A, 7 of enemy B, and 9 of enemy C. While the enemies might have different spells and affinities, these don't feel like they have much impact. -every "level", either the cleanups, missions, or casefiles, are effectively just a pile of enemies you need to kill in any order. There's no real reason for the level itself (the exception i've seen is a "investigate cultists" level that had 3 cultists spawing enemies. kind of awful though, since it had 50+ enemies to defeat). -the previous two problems sum up to an incredible amount of grind. I spent 3 hours on the game, with an hour alone on the cultist mission (which bugged out, so I'd have to restart it) -interface is a little clunky, movement could be a bit smooth...

An eldritch blend of Shadow Hearts's battle mechanics (good if you like some reflex-based variation in your JRPG mechanics, bad if you want to relax), Shin Megami Tensei's elemental monsters and move naming style, and Neon Genesis Evangelion's aesthetics as filtered through a slightly smoking CRT monitor, with a mood and setting reminiscent of all three franchises. If you focus your thoughts on a bug in the game and then whisper 'Newbuild-C' into a darkened bathroom mirror three times, the dev will immediately appear to you and inform you they pushed a fix. You will then awake in your own bed, unbelieving of the speed of the claimed update, yet upon checking your computer, you are confronted by the truth of what the apparition told you in your dreaming reality. Play this game if you enjoy snappy (if repetitive) mechanics, snappier (if sometimes destabilizing) game updates, and snappiest sensory overload, wrapped in big outsider art energy.

Do you like fighting otherworldly bacteria? Do you like stats? Do you like collecting things? Do you like crafting? Do you like 90's cd-rom graphics? If you do then you will love this game.

ENTITY INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE Personnel File 683447 Name: TADEASH Level: 100 Rank: Commander, Master Archivist Entities catalogued: 150 Entities destroyed: 8,190 Favorite Entities: Icerl, Bibim, Haruk, Slinag ERX Units lost: 15 Fun had: 12 gigatons

Only played it a bit but so far it's really cool! Very original feeling, the music is very 90s trance/trip? (not good at genre naming but it sounds like PS1 Demo music, extremely funky and cool) Game feels very cosy and looks old in a nice way, I could easily imagine a child watching their parent play this late at night, not quite understanding it but enjoying it (and being a bit scared of the Entities) There's clearly a whole lot of effort, thought and love put into this game and I really hope it the best of success, great job!! 👍💜

Easily one of the coolest and most original roguelikes I've ever played, tons of fun and excellent atmosphere. Extremely inspired design.

fine & good & recommend it. eager to see more. there's flavor here reminiscent of SMT & Ginormo Sword with a good helping of neobrutalist darkwave creepiness. the recent controller support got me to pick this up and the thing plays great. 4/27: Dev followed up on a technical complaint immediately. I appreciate that! 5/1: Got in touch regarding a controller-specific UI issue I was having; dev fixed it within a day and rescued my save file.

This is exactly the kind of game you'd download from a sketchy BBS back in 1996, play a ton of without really understanding it, then forget about for 20 years until you randomly rediscover it from some clickbait website's "10 Weird Obscure Games From The '90s" article. It takes the isometric RPG theme of Diablo, the combat and collection mechanics of Pokemon, the trippy visuals of Earthbound and the slow upgrading of most early MMOs, then adds its own odd spin and wraps them all up together in the grungy "cyber-industrial" aesthetic that was prominent in the mid-late '90s. You'd think this mashup of elements wouldn't work well together, but they make for a slower paced, more strategic game that constantly nudges you forward but never punishes for taking your time to get more powerful. It's not a game style that everyone will enjoy, but it can be very interesting if you prefer a game that isn't all fast action. If you have nostalgia for the particular era of PC gaming that Entity Rese...

The actual gameplay is a clicking three circles, and hitting a bar. That's it. Not exciting. I saw less than a page of written dialog, so it's not really a big story thing.