Haste

[h2]HASTE[/h2] This is a fast-paced, Neon White-style reaction roguelike that’s very enjoyable to play, quite addictive, and can be played with friends. However, the story and characters are clearly just there for show - you come here to press buttons, not read dialogues. Rest assured, the game is as good in gameplay as it is lacking in narrative. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3544078244 Overall, I liked it. The game has 10 shards (10 bosses and the paths to them), and there’s also an endless shard mode where you can choose custom difficulty settings and have as much fun as you want. The game has some bugs (for example, if a player leaves a party and rejoins, all their items disappear but all their lives are restored, which can be exploited). But overall, for those who enjoy reaction-based games, it’s a solid choice for a few evenings. Stylish in its own way, though the story could have been more interesting.

I like Haste for it's gameplay. I recommend it exclusively for it's gameplay. But it does not know what it wants to be. Why is this game a roguelite with procedurally generated levels? It doesn't add anything, it might exclusively detract. The levels sometimes have random portions that lead into dead ends, or have speed rings pointing towards nothing in particular. Sometimes levels have entirely too many gaps to land perfectly so your speed gets hampered. This movement system would've been so good with hand crafted levels with more intentionality. The disconnected levels really suck too, but at least you can plot a path and not have to constantly pick levels. That's a great qol life feature. It's weird to me that the game has a 3D overworld with seamless zones and then this 2D map to select levels inside the shards. The exact same system but you have to choose, for example, to run left or right at the end of the map to pick a new route would have achieved the same effect but enab...

Core gameplay is solid with simple controls that still allow for a high ceiling of mastery. Accompanied by a very nice soundtrack is a story with character interactions that are fed to you gradually per run in a Hades-like fashion. Although the experience of fighting the final boss is akin to having brick walls toolgunned in right in front of you.

[h1] I liked playing it, but the ending and achievements left a bitter taste in my mouth. [/h1] I loved PLAYING this game, initially. I think the core gameplay is really, really fun. The art and soundtrack are also amazing. Asides from that, the positives are lacking. From the moment I picked this up, I thought about Neon White, which is my favourite FPS and movement based game. The artstyle looks similar, they're movement based, have visual novel storytelling, and lots of different levels. But, the only thing this game actually does better than Neon White are the visuals, and it's pretty close for me. The gameplay is shallow in comparison, with very few items. While I appreciate the effort it must've taken to make the procedural generation, it's not good enough some of the time. I can't fathom how you're supposed to get the "The Machine" achievement, which tells you: "Hey. Go play and beat the hardest and longest Shard in the game. Also, don't get hit. Also also, if you ever as much...

TL;DR: Most of game is fun, however questionable design choices for final boss ruin an otherwise great experience. /// Listen, I'm all for new, creative mechanics and supporting indie games, but Haste REALLY drops the ball on the final stretch. While the nine first shards are really enjoyable (which make up for about 90% of the game), with plenty of challenge and an all around balanced experience, the tenth and final shard is absolutely unforgiving, and not in the good, old fashion way. These were poor design choices. I had to crank the difficulty all the way down just so I could beat the final boss. It's a real shame the final challenge wasn't more curated. I felt like the skills I developed during my playthrough went out the window in the last levels. A checkpoint right before the final boss would be a perfect fix, but, unfortunately, if you fail it, the game will put you all the way back to the beginning of the shard, meaning you'll have to go through all of the stages again whi...

The core game-play and mechanics are so fun, so unique and definitely scratch that itch of a fast paced, momentum based parkour runner. Weaving through obstances to land perfectly with the most satisfying sound effect is the game at its peak. It's almost ruined by the absolutely boring story and characters. The roguelite elements are not as satisfying as the game feels the best to play when it's you vs the limit of your skill level and your understanding of the controls. Never once did I feel excited to see the shop or spend time thinking about upgrades, really just wanted to get back to running. Combine that with the reuse of boss fights and I stopped playing, because I no longer wanted to see what was next.

[h1]This game is desperately BEGGING for more variety in levels[/h1] There are 10 Shards (or Chapters). Apart from the last one, which includes every biome and the final boss, the remaining 9 shards just repeat because there are ONLY 3 boss types and world biomes (Grass, Desert, Snow). It becomes repetitive very quickly, and at the end of each shard, you face a boss that is only slightly different in color and difficulty. I don’t know how or why the developers overlooked this part. -_- You absolutely NAILED the core gameplay and the sense of speed that puts players into a flow state. But you should at least add 6 more base biomes and make each shard unique, along with new bosses. And still keep those random, one-off fragment biomes. This would also make Shard 10 much more varied. [h2]Story[/h2] The random, weird, and mostly unrelated reaction sounds during dialogues didn't help me listen to the unlikeable characters telling me a shallow story. I ended up skipping most of the dia...

It's a randomized Rougelike runner with procedurally generated maps and randomized item bins. When the game is good it's absolutely GREAT, when the Rougelike elements fight against you (map generation making way too many steep hills, jumps that leave you stranded, or blind jumps sending you off course and/or into an obstacle), it's painful. And the later seems to happen for me a whole lot more than the former. I haven't beaten the game yet, at about the halfway-mark, Zone 7, so maybe this unlocks (or is added later) but I'm really hoping for a "pick your items and see how strong a build is" or even an area so I can at least test an item out to learn how good an item is. It's a great idea with a lot of potential but the current result has a lot of drawbacks. I cannot wait for the team to add/refine more to this game, or continue it in another game.

Ok, the first like half of this game is a blast, its the back half that kinda shows its ass a bit. There are 3 bosses, which isn't a lot considering there are 10 stages and an infinity mode. Infinity mode doesn't play like the base game, which is fine except there aren't any shops and items are given to you every 3 stages or so. All of this isn't why I can't recommend the game. what makes me unable to recommend this game is the terrain generation. You can have a seed generate that just isn't possible to run through. I had one on Shard 6 that had an obstacle(Obstacle A) the pushed the terrain down right before a big jump(Obstacle B). Due to the terrain from Obstacle A, no matter the angle, I could not get enough air to clear Obstacle B. 3 lives gone, run over. This wasn't the only time. On Shard 8, where you need to be going fucking FAST from the get go, I had 3 seeds where the first fragment didn't give me the ability to build the speed in time. Either it was too flat for to...

I really wanted to like this game. The main gameplay loop is a lot of fun, the characters are adorable, and the music is really good. The problem is that towards the end of the game, it just gets frustratingly difficult, specifically the boss fights, to the point where, even if I lower the difficulty so much that I can easily S rank all the regular stages, which isn't fun, the boss at the end still feels impossible, which is even less fun :/ If only the boss fights were more balanced, it would make the entire game much more enjoyable.