The Black Pool
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About the Game
The Black Pool has taken you to a remote and unknown galactic system. Make your way across a number of diverse and randomized worlds to try and make it back home.
Throughout your journey, you will learn to master supernatural elemental abilities. Carefully select powers from a large pool of possibilities, complimenting existing abilities and those of your friends. Strategically upgrade these abilities to maximize your potential. There are thousands of possibilities, can you become powerful enough to face what lies ahead?
The Black Pool is a 3d action roguelike to be played solo or preferably with up to 3 of your friends. Each attempt to make it back home will take you through a gauntlet of different worlds. You will discover different elements, abilities, and upgrades. Striking visuals, an electrifying soundtrack, and high pace / skilled action will plunge you into each attempt to battle your way out.
THE JOURNEY HOME
In each attempt to return home, you will traverse across a random sequence of highly diverse worlds. Throughout the journey, you will unlock supernatural abilities from randomly selected sets of elements, and upgrade these selected abilities from a set of randomly offered options. This procedural sequence of worlds and offerings of abilities and upgrades yields a highly replayable roguelike sequence. Each playthrough presents a randomized set of choices that ensures that every session is completely unique. Committing to decisions and improvising an effective build is core to the game.
IMPROVE WITH EACH ATTEMPT
With each attempt you will learn how enemies behave and what their weaknesses are. You will learn how each of these supernatural abilities work and synergistic ways to use abilities together. In addition, you unlock enhancements that are permanent and persist across playthrough attempts.
BRING A FRIEND
While you can try and make it on your own, it may be more fun to bring a friend or three. The Black Pool has been designed to maximize the cooperative multiplayer experience. Many of the abilities contain game mechanics that deliver fun and rewarding interactions between players. Redirect friendly attacks, amplify team spells, coordinate stuns and team buffs, create barriers, and much more. In The Black Pool, co-op play can be much more than simply playing the same game together— you are rewarded for actually working together to be successful.
Game Discussion
Steam User 11
Written By Hidden Gems Review :
The Black Pool is a FPS Roguelite game.
Stranger Things characters meet returnal gameplay, you are a kid who have diferent type of powers in a very well designed roguelite game, very challenging overall for a good price so thumps up !
Steam User 3
A fun iteration of the rogue-like formula focusing on elemental powers. Core game loop involves clearing battle maps to secure an upgrade to your current suite of abilities, with each element causing different buffs to the player and debuffs to the enemies. Otherworldly setting serves the game-play well, with flying islands making for serviceable arenas.
Definitely better if you have a friend or three to tag along in the experience with you, but would still be a good time solo. Reasonably priced for the experience and time you can expect to get out of it.
Steam User 3
The Black Pool is often compared to games like Risk of Rain 2 and i personaly think that RoR is its own thing with its unique time mechanic and therefore should not be compared - they are too different.
That said - this game has really good looking effects, is overall good looking with some exceptions like certain abilities but overall a pretty game.
There are also cool enemy models in here with big bosses and great animations.
In its core it is an action roguelike with in run and perma progression but its also not super polished and the ui serves its purpose - even though not that good.
Performance wise the game is demanding! Most systems will require using dlss (which looks good here even at 1080p) but the game also runs very smooth even at locked 72 fps - it feels really good!
My advice: dont make settings based on performance in the hub because it seems to be extremely demanding!
When looking the game up on other platforms like youtube the content there is mostly outdated and not representing the current version - my review is based on the latest version 1.3.
So by now you can guess that this game might not be for everyone (yet) but if you are looking for exactly this unique mix of great effects, good ue5 graphics and good robotic models with good animations to fight against while also being able to create your own build during runs and just having fun - i absolutely can recommend it - specialy on sale!
The Developers are active on their discord and a new update is planned - for those to who this is important to know :-)
Steam User 0
Really cool game, makes use of a lot of cool graphics if your rig is good enough.
Kinda short though. Enjoyed it for a single player experience.
Not much to do after you complete it once. Wish there were more established difficulties above normal.
Steam User 0
A great co-op experience, if a little short and lacking in enemy variety.
Steam User 0
Its a super fun and refreshing game, best to play with 3 other friends but not needed. It has a very fun flow to the fighting, and the movement is amazing. Still love this game, its so fun!
Steam User 0
It is, as others have said, a weirder, jankier risk of rain 2. Nothing wrong with that but also it is much rougher and lacks a lot of polish.