Developer: Feeble Minds
Publisher: Feeble Minds
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Serpent’s Gaze – Preview
When thinking of a combination of Soulslike and Roguelike, many gamers will immediately think of ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, which kind of offered the best of both worlds. The game had fast-paced, tough-as-nails action while still retaining the qualities of a good Roguelike and the mechanics of a fairly traditional Soulslike experience. Of course, with developer FromSoftware Inc. helming the project, it was to be expected that the game would be very entertaining. That being said, it would only be a matter of time before others tried to emulate the same format and concept, and this brings us to Serpent’s Gaze. The game is a Soulslike Roguelike experience with a heavy focus on multiplayer. While we initially thought we would have yet another clone on our hands, we were actually already amazed by this early build of Serpent’s Gaze.
Serpent’s Gaze already has some story value present via voiced dialogues with characters, but at the time of writing, it still feels a bit basic. Nonetheless, you’re currently already getting a lot more than many other Soulslike titles out there. The graphics look pretty good, honestly, as your character looks great, the enemy models have original designs and move fluidly, and even the environments look nicely designed. We did notice some minor flaws with instantly disappearing footsteps, some clipping issues, and the overall empty feeling of many of Serpent’s Gaze’s bigger areas. The sound design complements everything very well, even though the current soundtrack is very limited.
Outside of the decent presentation here, it’s all about the gameplay. The different classes available all have different base stats and a different relic they can use. The latter is, in essence, pretty much just a skill you can activate. During your run, you can replace this skill with one you find or purchase. You can also choose your weapon at the start of a run, and you’ll have to stick with your chosen weapon for the remainder of your run. The combat itself is really great, as the controls feel intuitive and responsive. The weapons feel very different, and you’ll quickly find yourself experimenting with different builds until you find one that matches your playstyle. The upgrades during a run are fairly small, but with some RNG luck, you can end up becoming pretty powerful.
Currently, there isn’t that much content to base ourselves on, as there are two areas to explore, with several zones and different boss fights. The RNG component here is also very limited: the levels will have the same layout, but enemy spawns can be slightly different. The main modifier here is the curse system, which applies different curses to the different zones. This can mean that some enemies are more powerful in specific zones, but there can also be random things like unkillable ghosts chasing you. This system does spice things up, and there’s a lot of potential to keep adding new curses as the development of the game progresses.
One thing that really irked us badly was the fact that some enemy attacks cannot be dodged. So many enemies in the game adjust their attack direction mid-attack while you are actively dodging, hitting you in your dodge. This means that your perfect timing could be extremely useless when this happens, and it does result in a lot of unfair hits. Luckily, this doesn’t happen all the time, but still more than enough for it to warrant a mention. We hope this does get adjusted in the final build.
Conclusion
Serpent’s Gaze is still in the early phase of its development, but the currently available content already feels highly polished. While we encountered a few issues with homing attacks and some minor bugs, we already had a blast with this one. The combat was highly enjoyable, the different build options had us trying out different approaches to tackle the different levels, and the multiplayer functionalities were the icing on the cake here. While at the time of writing, not that much content is available just yet, we advise you to check this one out if you’re looking for a great Roguelike Soulslike experience.
No Comments