V1.0 EDIT:

Gonna start this review fresh, this is a good shooter early on and a FANTASTIC one toward the end of the meta-game. The movement is good, there's a lot of potential for vertical movement which is always fun, the gunplay is good and there are so many guns, almost to many because I still have trouble remembering how a gun plays from it's name and model in a shop. And while I'm mentioning guns, this game is one does the trait/affix mechanic very very well. They do matter and they do change gameplay significantly, especially for the Blue ones, you're not always gonna re-roll for damage traits like in most games with this mechanic.

I think the unlock mechanism is very fun. It's very exploration and secrets based but you can figure out everything on your own. It's just fun brain-teasers, not something you'll need to look up a guide to find most of the solutions. The only things that might be a little over-tuned are the timed challenges in some areas but with some practice and better-suited characters, it's manageable.

The other nice thing about the unlock system is how it unlocks alternative levels a little like Dead Cells does. Even tho you *could* beat the game from your first run, it's fun to know there's still new areas with new enemies to explore. The enemies design is also pretty cool. There's very few "direct upgrades" and usually every area brings a couple of new enemies with unique shooting patterns and a lot of "remixes" who combine together mechanics introduced earlier enemies. There is a large roster of robots which are very well distributed among areas, making each one very unique, not only by the scenery but also their gameplay.

The boss design is also pretty good, with only a couple of boring ones in my opinion. Some of the later ones also have great level embracing the vertical movement.

I haven't played much of co-op but I really like that 1: each players can have their own individual progression and 2: doors and some other features are only unlocked if both players unlocked them. It sounds basic but so many games don't bother with these two (especially the second one). These two things make it so you can jump in with someone at any point in the game and not have everything spoiled for you. And because the unlocks are pretty much all side-path, experienced players don't even care much about spoiling stuff because they can still play forward to try to finish the game. Of course there's gonna be some skill and unlock-gaps but it's not like experienced players are gonna start with a lot of levels and damage over new players. (Although the starting hp upgrades feel like the ones that makes the biggest stats difference.)

The only thing i'm not the biggest fans of is unlocking cards for weapons. It takes forever and kinda discourage me from playing guns I actually enjoy because there's so many to unlock. But in the end, it's not very important to unlock them and there is a way to slightly accelerate that way latter in the game.

Some negative reviews are a disappointed that there's not enough upgrades to build around but that's not really an issue to me. The strength of the game is the fps gameplay and i'm very happy they played into that instead of making winning the game be about building a stupid combo. And that being said, there's still a LOT of synergies to build around with the character upgrades, they just don't overshadow the regular gameplay.

10/10 guns goes pew pew

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EDIT: Okay, development is slow but this game is truly a lot of fun. Every update is spot on and the devs really understand which part of their game is the best. Idk when the game will be finished but I have no doubt it will be great because it already is so fun.

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Ok, I'll compare this game to Gunfire Reborn a lot. They both are executions of the same formula.

First of all, the core gameplay of of Roboquest is much stronger. You run faster, you jump higher, you can slide on ramps and bounce on robot's heads. Lots of fun.

Second, there is less combos to make in this game. Level up upgrades are well designed for each character and work well with each-other. However, you won't get much going at the beginning because you need a couple of upgrades to get more than 2 choices per levels. Also, it's pretty much the only part where you make a build in the game. Gun affixes are fun but I almost haven't seen any that would synergize in a relevant way. Also there are no "artefacts" or "scrolls" or whatever to give you extra effects to play with. Instead you get stats which definitely help and create fun choices but it's mostly more damage on the colour of guns you like the most.

Now all of that isn't too much of an issue. In my opinion, Roboquest is more about being a shooter. You get choices but you can quickly choose "yeah, sure this looks fun" and get back to shooting. You don't spend too much time looking at every single gun you find and go "oh I could build like this, or like that if i'm luck". Again, neither a pro or a cons, just a difference.

Third, Roboquest don't have lots of content yet. It has enough that I wouldn't feel bad suggesting to buy it full price but there are a lot of "under construction" areas and probably not much more than 10 guns that I love playing. It's an early access game, the content is coming but it's only fair to warn you.

Lastly, no idea how the multiplayer is. I haven't convinced friends to buy it yet. I'm under the impression that, like Gunfire Reborn, it's a good game singleplayer that also has multiplayer. The cooperation will probably be "we're all on the same team and shooting at the same things" and won't go much deeper than that.

Anyway, I love the game. It's a very fun shooter. Don't let the girl guilt-trip you into using her crosshair. Seeing the floor is much more important than the sky, especially in boss battles.