Innocent’s purgatory

i'm not all that far into this so far (only about like 30-40ish minutes in) but i imagine this could be a pretty big game. i was initially attracted to this because it gave me the same vibes as like shin megami tensei 3 or killer7 in the screenshots but it's not really like that at all. it's more like a light souls-like that plays a lot like a cross between newer elder scrolls games and king's field which is an interesting combo. it definitely feels like a game that was designed to feel like old game (not sure if that was intentional or not). the game is very hard to follow for me personally due to the fact that there's a lot of typos, sentences are poorly worded sometimes, and also the font is hard to read especially when it uses all caps. that and also the lack of a good mini-map or a full map you can look at any time like the smt games just makes me feel lost. you're told vague ideas of where to go like in smt 3 but this world is so much bigger that it's hard to get lost in. this game would definitely benefit from a map that you can pull up at any time to get an idea of where you can go and what places lead you to other places. overall my feelings on this are mixed. it's definitely an interesting game and it's not a horrible experience so far. it feels pretty dated but if you can get past that it's definitely interesting to play but i get an overall feeling of just feeling lost in this game but not in a good way. i want to find my way but i can't, and it's frustrating. i'm giving this a positive review for now because i feel like this CAN be a good game. it has an idea of what it wants to be but is lost in poor design choices

Definitely a challenge at the beginning trying to find your way around. Once you get in the groove of how the mechanics work and a leg up on leveling it's more comfortable to explore the vast purgatory. As an under the radar game there are no online guides (at least that I could find) so trying to figure out what to do next or if something happened the way it should, is part of the challenge. But if there are any hangups (as I myself had) the developer is friendly enough to get back to you when contacted and help you through the issue.

Melee fighting is mostly pretty basic. Slash with sword, block/parry with shield. A finisher like strong attack when stunned or parried. What wasn't basic was the grapple attack which was useful for closing the gap quickly enough to get a strong hit in on regular enemies or knock down the bigger enemies.

Magic was definitely useful and more vast with various types of spells. Anything from ground radial, thrown, slash, ray types, etc. Personally after obtaining ray type magic that was my go to for the rest of my play. Enjoyed being able to keep my distance enough to stay out of enemy melee reach and able to dodge incoming magic attacks. Absolutely my favorite when strafe dodging magic attacks, as they are somewhat homing, if you do it just right you can pull their spell around you and back at them.

There are a few puzzles, nothing too crazy, enough to keep things interesting. Lots of potential exploring to find gear, spells and items to unlock true ending.

Only complaint I have is about picking up item drops. Most the time had to do a circle around them while spamming pickup button like some sort of ritual dance lol. Luckily item drops are limited to recovery items so it's not like you have to worry about missing any potential gear or quest related objects.

Overall I was satisfied with my play-through!

Game has been updated since previous review, is just janky instead of being bad.
I don't necessarily recommend the game, but I don't not recommend the game, and I can't delete the review.