Judgement: Not Recommended
View review on Steam
I’m conflicted about whether to give this game a recommendation or not. It keeps the core elements of a beloved, over-saturated genre, but makes a real effort to mix things up, coming up with some ideas I hadn’t seen implemented before in this type of game and which I really liked. On the other hand, there are just a host of aspects which absolutely decimated my enjoyment, and compounded to make this a frequently infuriating experience.
The primary cause of both sides of this sweet-and-stanky dichotomy is a design ethos with two core tenets: 1) as much as possible, find tweaks or entirely new mechanics and systems to replace all the aspects of the genre which players are (over)familiar with, and 2) as much as possible, make the player “discover” everything for themselves – to the extent of usually not explaining how any of these systems operate, or how to engage with them, or sometimes to even give any hint that they exist. It is not hard to understand why this often produces wildly frustrating results.
It is so clear to see how the dev started out with “I hate the fact that so many games feel so similar to play! I love it when I have to work things out in games through exploration and experimentation!” and then unintentionally created something in which it feels like everything, from the tiniest details up to fundamental game systems, is needlessly opaque despite being unintuitive and often contrived.
On top of that, we have the commonplace (and to a large extent forgivable) lack of polish from a solo indie dev with limited experience. So, while you’re fighting your way through all the previously mentioned issues, you also have to contend with an added layer of friction from very poor UX, and several clunky and unbalanced gameplay elements. Exacerbated by this lack of polish, combat really falls flat, feeling extremely dull and repetitive. It’s a shame, because if the chimera mechanics were just a little more coherent and involved, it would help the game as a whole to feel much more engaging.
All that is not to say there is nothing to enjoy here. In particular, using magic just for utility spells actually works really well, and I loved replacing the grunt-work of mining and chopping with sending out a flank of ethereal, conjured tools to do the work for you. It’s also very satisfying that they continue to work regardless of your presence, so you can wander off to deal with other business, and return later to reap the spoils of their work. I wish that I could just appreciate the other original little details like this, instead of having the whole experience spoiled by the overarching flaws.
I should also point out that my recorded playtime isn’t a remotely accurate reflection of how much I actually got out of the game. I would routinely leave the game running in the background while I went off to scour Steam guides / Discord / YouTube for information about something which they didn’t explain in the game, and considering the frequency with which that happened, that idle time really mounts up. Not to mention the several times when I would lose motivation midway through this process, and just wander away from the computer in search of reinvigorating snacks. Or sleep.
The primary cause of both sides of this sweet-and-stanky dichotomy is a design ethos with two core tenets: 1) as much as possible, find tweaks or entirely new mechanics and systems to replace all the aspects of the genre which players are (over)familiar with, and 2) as much as possible, make the player “discover” everything for themselves – to the extent of usually not explaining how any of these systems operate, or how to engage with them, or sometimes to even give any hint that they exist. It is not hard to understand why this often produces wildly frustrating results.
It is so clear to see how the dev started out with “I hate the fact that so many games feel so similar to play! I love it when I have to work things out in games through exploration and experimentation!” and then unintentionally created something in which it feels like everything, from the tiniest details up to fundamental game systems, is needlessly opaque despite being unintuitive and often contrived.
On top of that, we have the commonplace (and to a large extent forgivable) lack of polish from a solo indie dev with limited experience. So, while you’re fighting your way through all the previously mentioned issues, you also have to contend with an added layer of friction from very poor UX, and several clunky and unbalanced gameplay elements. Exacerbated by this lack of polish, combat really falls flat, feeling extremely dull and repetitive. It’s a shame, because if the chimera mechanics were just a little more coherent and involved, it would help the game as a whole to feel much more engaging.
All that is not to say there is nothing to enjoy here. In particular, using magic just for utility spells actually works really well, and I loved replacing the grunt-work of mining and chopping with sending out a flank of ethereal, conjured tools to do the work for you. It’s also very satisfying that they continue to work regardless of your presence, so you can wander off to deal with other business, and return later to reap the spoils of their work. I wish that I could just appreciate the other original little details like this, instead of having the whole experience spoiled by the overarching flaws.
I should also point out that my recorded playtime isn’t a remotely accurate reflection of how much I actually got out of the game. I would routinely leave the game running in the background while I went off to scour Steam guides / Discord / YouTube for information about something which they didn’t explain in the game, and considering the frequency with which that happened, that idle time really mounts up. Not to mention the several times when I would lose motivation midway through this process, and just wander away from the computer in search of reinvigorating snacks. Or sleep.
Review posted on 09/01/2025, 09:56:00.