Abyss_Walker
Supporter
Hi,
Hoping this reaches some of the Bare Mettle devs. Been a backer since 2012 kickstarter, so really pleased to finally get my hands on the game. Just some initial feedback/thoughts I have from my play time so far (I'll update as I play more):
Pros
- Physics driven unpredictability: A rogue swing of an axe hitting a door, causing it to slam shut? Love it - very organic.
- Lighting, atmosphere, sense of dread are great. The game is hard and that's great. You genuinely feel apprehensive when easing open a door for fear of what's inside.
- I was skeptical about the idea of picking up items by clicking and dragging with the mouse, but seems to work well. Like all parts of the game, the inventory feels organic. Kudos for trying something different there.
- I love that weapons/armour are given very vague ratings and that potentially any item can be useful in the right hands. Nothing worse in RPG games than everyone ending up with the same "super weapon" - so boring. Nice that you've bucked that trend.
Cons
- Animations are unconvincing. This is the biggest issue for me at the moment. The character moves more like a marionette than a person, as if they're on an elastic band attached to the "ceiling". Additionally, I love how physics driven the game is, but at the same time I shouldn't trip/stumble over every little thing I walk over/past - maybe tone it down a bit unless you're running full pelt? Managed to get the characters feet stuck in the wall a few times too, leaving me unable to move in the arena.
- Lack of moves in combat. Need more variety in the techniques used. Games like Chivalry did a great job on this, giving you overhand, left, right and thrust options. It's frustrating that there are weapons which would clearly be better at dealing pierce damage, but there is no thrust option to utilise. As many other people seem to have suggested, kicks/shoulder barges etc. would be effective techniques too.
- Encountered a glitch whereby on loading the game, I chose arena. On the character creation screen, no hair options were shown in the RHS scroll view, just one empty square. When navigated to the equipment screen, no weapons or armour were shown in either the right or left panel. When I chose "next" and went into combat, my character started with a morning star/mace (non-spiked one). No red cursor was shown when in combat. Quitting the game and re-launching restored things to normal.
- Multiple control schemes. About 50% of the time, I can't get my head around which direction to press to move my character. I guess my brain isn't wired too well to control the character movement relative to *his* position rather than the camera's. For dopes like me, it would be great if you could have 2 control schemes - 1 relative to the camera and 1 relative to the player.
- One very minor, but annoying thing - add a "Resume" button to the in-game menu. So many times, I've pressed "exit", thinking that will take me back to the game and it kicks me out to the main menu
- An option to turn 180 degrees quickly would be welcome. Feels a bit clunky when trying to turn outside of combat mode.
Hoping this reaches some of the Bare Mettle devs. Been a backer since 2012 kickstarter, so really pleased to finally get my hands on the game. Just some initial feedback/thoughts I have from my play time so far (I'll update as I play more):
Pros
- Physics driven unpredictability: A rogue swing of an axe hitting a door, causing it to slam shut? Love it - very organic.
- Lighting, atmosphere, sense of dread are great. The game is hard and that's great. You genuinely feel apprehensive when easing open a door for fear of what's inside.
- I was skeptical about the idea of picking up items by clicking and dragging with the mouse, but seems to work well. Like all parts of the game, the inventory feels organic. Kudos for trying something different there.
- I love that weapons/armour are given very vague ratings and that potentially any item can be useful in the right hands. Nothing worse in RPG games than everyone ending up with the same "super weapon" - so boring. Nice that you've bucked that trend.
Cons
- Animations are unconvincing. This is the biggest issue for me at the moment. The character moves more like a marionette than a person, as if they're on an elastic band attached to the "ceiling". Additionally, I love how physics driven the game is, but at the same time I shouldn't trip/stumble over every little thing I walk over/past - maybe tone it down a bit unless you're running full pelt? Managed to get the characters feet stuck in the wall a few times too, leaving me unable to move in the arena.
- Lack of moves in combat. Need more variety in the techniques used. Games like Chivalry did a great job on this, giving you overhand, left, right and thrust options. It's frustrating that there are weapons which would clearly be better at dealing pierce damage, but there is no thrust option to utilise. As many other people seem to have suggested, kicks/shoulder barges etc. would be effective techniques too.
- Encountered a glitch whereby on loading the game, I chose arena. On the character creation screen, no hair options were shown in the RHS scroll view, just one empty square. When navigated to the equipment screen, no weapons or armour were shown in either the right or left panel. When I chose "next" and went into combat, my character started with a morning star/mace (non-spiked one). No red cursor was shown when in combat. Quitting the game and re-launching restored things to normal.
- Multiple control schemes. About 50% of the time, I can't get my head around which direction to press to move my character. I guess my brain isn't wired too well to control the character movement relative to *his* position rather than the camera's. For dopes like me, it would be great if you could have 2 control schemes - 1 relative to the camera and 1 relative to the player.
- One very minor, but annoying thing - add a "Resume" button to the in-game menu. So many times, I've pressed "exit", thinking that will take me back to the game and it kicks me out to the main menu
- An option to turn 180 degrees quickly would be welcome. Feels a bit clunky when trying to turn outside of combat mode.
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