Hellpoint

I will do a quick Pros/Cons then dive into detail, but first as a big fan of souls-like games, I can easily recommend this to anyone who is looking to scratch that itch, yes it is not perfect, but it is an indie game made by an 11 person team with what I can only imagine was a small budget, so yes it has its flaws, but I look at the game like a rough diamond.
Pros:
- Amazing Setting (Occult Sci-fi)
- Cool And Interesting Mechanics
- Plenty Of Areas To Explore
- Awesome Gameplay
Cons:
- Bugs (Hit detection)
- Poor Bosses
- Lack Of Enemy Variety
- Difficulty (Too easy for me)
- Duplicate Loot
This game brings some pretty neat mechanics to the table, one of them being a Clock at the top left, some funky things happen at certain times, for example, 2 times a day there will be a storm, and during the hours of these storms enemies are stronger, drop better loot, spawn mini-bosses, and in some areas makes rooms fighting arenas where you fight waves of enemies and get some cool loot when you win. And then every day there is a ‘Black Hole Hour’ and during this hour secrets are revealed in many areas.
Another cool mechanic is that most weapons have EXP bars and the more you use the weapon the more it levels up and unlocks new abilities and gets stronger.
I also enjoy the gameplay this game has to offer, yes it has it's problems, sometimes hits just straight up don’t register, this is not a common occurrence but it does happen so be aware of that, also enemies sometimes hit you when they’re nowhere near you, and in some cases hit you when they’re dead!
The areas in this game range from very bland to very interesting, it is set in space so everything is made of metal, even the ‘trees’ don’t expect to roam around vibrant wilderness, but I do love the setting and the occult themes within it
The storytelling is told in an obscure manner, I get the general gist of the story, but games like this for me that is all I need, I play these types of games for the difficulty, which, unfortunately, the game does fall short of, I don’t know if it's just my experience with souls like games or if it's the fact this game is just easy, I still enjoy the game, I just wish it was harder, especially the bosses, I’ve have never gotten stuck on one and have killed them all within 1 or 2 attempts.
Speaking of the bosses, they are all just bigger versions of regular enemies, you kill a boss and then in the next area there are 20 of them running around but just smaller, the only difference being, aside from the size, it's that sometimes the boss version might have an extra move or 2, I like to think that is down to the small development team not having resources to design, animate, etc a whole new enemy just for one boss fight so they had to reuse assets to save money, that’s the way I see it but I could be wrong.
The most annoying thing in this game for me is the duplicate loot, I’ve come across so many duplicate armor sets and weapons, and it's even worse when you find the duplicate in a secret area, imagine you find a very hidden secret area, you get really excited when you find a table with a gold glowing orb on it, you pick it up wondering what it might be, and it ends up being the armor set you are already wearing! Yeah, I’d be pretty ticked off too because I was when this happened to me.
So yes, this game is not perfect, but to me, it is not boring, even though the flaws I’ve stated can be very annoying and the bosses are weak, I still enjoy the game and I would recommend it to souls like fans, the developers care about improving and fixing the game, they are very active in the reviews and discussions and I can tell how dedicated they are, they’ve made a great game here, and if they address the negative issues, it has the potential to be amazing.
If you found this review informative or helpful please mark it as such I would really appreciate it, thank you :)
(I had to cut quite a lot out of this review because for some reason it just wouldn't post to steam and it wouldn't tell me why so i shortened it by a few paragraphs and then it posted so i'm guessing i hit the word limit)

I haven't reviewed a Steam game in years, but I feel like I need to give this one a nod.
To be frank, I expected to buy this and refund it within an hour but something about it truly did grab me. As someone with at least a thousand hours across the Souls series across multiple platforms, I've been extremely disappointed in Soulslike attempts like The Surge and Lords of the Fallen with their odd, floaty combat. Somehow, Hellpoint's weapons feel the more DS1-accurate than any other game I've played to this point.
It's far, far from perfect, with glitches and somewhat easy bosses abound, but something about its weapon feel and its sincerity has kept me glued to it. I love the strange story of the station and some of the art on display is top notch. I finished my first place through and immediately started going through NG+ to aim for a few areas I know I missed, and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time just being summoned to help when the multi comes up.
Keep your expectations in check regarding this $35 indie title and you'll really have a neat time. I hope they get the buzz they need to continue supporting it.

Basically Space Souls, and a really good one. Perfectly captures that feeling of a new game where you don't know where to go, what to do, and how to build your character, and nobody else know either. Had a lot of fun just exploring stuff.
Graphics are good enough with some great views and overall design. Enemy variety is fine as well as weapon selection - STR and DEX weapons, ranged weapons and magic - the game allows you to try it all without having to fully commit to locking yourself in one direction which is great. I liked the way you can "master" a weapon for some nice and extra abilities e.g. a gun can become a grenade launcher or a shotgun. It's pretty flexible in terms of builds, and allows you to play around a bit resulting in either quite challenging game play or being able to cheese anything in the game on NG.
Level design is just great, a fully interconnected world with some good looking vistas and a TON of secrets. You can breeze through a location just to find out there's another location in a location, with a secret connecting it to previous one, and it's like that the entire game. Crazy!
My only gripe with the game is the horrible P2P multiplayer which just doesn't work. In 30-something hours of playtime I was able to join another player only TWICE. Couldn't play with my buddy and we tried everything, all the router port forwarding mumbo-jumbo which honestly you shouldn't be doing in 2020. There's couch coop but this isn't a real substitution to a normal multiplayer.
Other that that it's a great game, hard to believe it was crafted by just seven people. Fully recommend!

I dismissed that game at release as another poorly made DS clone despite initial interest. I decided to check upon it 6 month later and was very suprised to see 'very positive' review score (over 80 % positive). Decided to give it a try and bought cheaper on Epic Store. Look at me now buying Supporter edition on Steam so that I can recommend this game to every DS fan outthere.
To describe in two senteces:
Remember playing DS and thinking all those essential questions: "what the hell is going?", "where the heck should I go next?", "how the fcuk do I get that shiny?". This game gets it!
Exploring the world is the strongest aspect of the game. Just stay away from guides and wikies! Explore on your own and you'll be rewarded. Revisiting an area for the fifth time and still finding secrets that you missed even after thorough (as you thought) exploration is a thing. Combat is a bit wacky sometimes but actually is very fun and can be very hectic and fast-paced, depending on your choice of tools (don't judge by initial weapons, they are trash). Armor has very straight-point resistance values so its easy to judge its usefullness for current situation. Weapons have active and passive skills that are revealed after you use them for long enough. You can easily translate damage upgrade from one weapon to another. This solves constant DS problem - found a new weapon, but it has no damage, let it lay there in inventory until the best of times. Trying out new toys and finding out their skills is big part of the gameplay and immensely satisfying. You can adjust the difficulty, if you feel that the game is too easy, adding even one level makes boss fights far more tense. Online co-op is super easy to get into and a lot of fun. There is PvP for those who interested (though probably imbalanced as hell :)).
In conclutions, this game is a hidden (even if a ocasionally rough) gem. Playing it blindly was the closest thing to playing DS for the first time. I whole-heartedly recommend it to any DS fan.

Dark Souls in space.

-Brilliant level design and art
- Creepy atmosphere and art
- Engaging combat mechanics
- Full online PVP and COOP

Free demo available ! - look for "Thespian Feast" (doesn't come with the latest patches and fixes tho)

Is From Software going to be taking notes from this any time soon? Probably not, if only because Hellpoint has been copying their homework for the entire course. that being said, Hellpoint does in fact get a passing grade... I'm going to stop with this metaphor before I lose it. Long story short, it's a dark souls clone in a good way.
Pros:
-Atmosphere: Very few Soulslikes have managed to capture that feeling of entering an entire culture that's foreign, ancient, and hostile to you. This one does. Seeing people so openly worship space abominations and the bizarre society that sprang up around such a screwed up moral system is honestly kinda fascinating. It looks like a Geiger painting to us, it's just reality for them.
-Graphics do their part pretty well, and the art direction is good enough to make up for the flaws. I have to say my favorite parts were when they decided to play very very fast and loose with what could possibly, justifiably be on a space station.
-Combat feels nice, though balance is a little all over the place, which is especially noticable in co-op where one of you will potentially be a Death God and the other will be struggling to keep up depending on how you built.
-Monster designs are very, very cool. The designs of the cosmic gods are especially good because they didn't take the easy (*cough* plagiarize Lovecraft *cough*) route so these horrific deities have their own identities instead of just being Cthulhu but space.
-Level design is satisfyingly soulsian with shortcuts, interconnected levels, and tons of secrets. I've never actually seen a soulslike successfully capture the feeling of DS1 and DS2 so well. In souls tradition, there's even an barely labeled door with half the game behind it!
-Co-Op! This was honestly the selling point for me. No hiding summon signs and no password rings. No need for two consoles even, thanks to split screen. Never thought I would get to couch co op a souls game.
Cons:
-Difficulty swings wildly. A bosses two bodyguards can obliterate you and your friend with no issues over and over, only for the boss to crumple like you gave him a Sour Patch Kid and 5 Gum at the same time.
-The game is a little on the short side. My hour count includes two playthroughs. That being said, it's a soulslike so replaying is kind of intended.
-Some mechanics, while very very cool, are so barely used they come off as annoying gimmicks. Space radiation frying you like an egg is fun and all except it's used maybe twice. Makes it hard to know what to invest in.
-The atmosphere is great, but the plot can be very very overly obtuse and arcane, even for a souls game.

Actually pretty fun Soulslike in space, with a interesting lore and world. Impressive for an 11 person Dev team.
Yeah it lacks polish in some areas like animations, some Bossfights, and the general world diversity ( its a Space Station, so you don´t have THAT much different looking zones. Though the Devs did a good job with the areas.)
Mechanics are pretty similar : something that acts like a Bonfire, currency you loose on death (but can recover), interconnected world, Bossfights, lore snippets etc..
Combat too feels very Soulslike with different melee weapons, firearms, and a kind of magic. The general feel and impact of the individual hits could be improved , and also Hit detection was a bit off but got patched. All in all combat is ok though.
One bigger difference is that "Bonfires" do not refill your healing method ! You actually need to defeat enemies to do that ( a small circle fills up, when its full you get a heal back. Also you can recover your lost "Souls", but every time you die a ghost of you spawns and tries to kill you. The ghost has the exact weapons, armor etc. you had when you died, and follows and finds you everywhere.
I surely hope Cradle Games sells enough copies of this game to warrant a sequel, I bet it would be awesome what they could do with a better budget and a few more team members