Purple Gryphon
Cyber Bioengineer
Beast Keeper
Immemorial
Cat Adopter
Ageless
Malleus Monday
OG 2020
Dog Adopter
Grim Scribe
Eternal Champion
Vampire Scholar
Old World
- Feb 24, 2018
- 98
- 137
- 138
First Impression on the Bloodbath Demo played on 4/6
These are my early thoughts and in no order of importance. In my first playthrough, I only watched the tarot card video and jumped in like a noob to see what I could figure out. I have not played with Keyboard and mouse in a long time. For the last 20 years, I have been mostly a console player. But I did play my first session with a keyboard and mouse. My comments will cover both 1.5 and the new 1.6.
I am sure you are already working on some of these things and some were addressed in version 1.6 and I will highlight those comments.
Enemy Sandal Straps Missing
I hope this is a simple fix and will probably be noticed by 5 people, but it got my attention on the live stream and then during the demo, I was trying to figure out what it was. When you de-armor the enemies and they die you see this long black line on their calves. I imagine that it is supposed to be part of the high gladiator sandals but without the straps that tie it around the leg it looks like a tattoo or those new athletic bandages. Maybe they are there but the line weight needs to be increased or the color dark for more contrast. I can see the straps around the feet but just not on the lower leg.
First step animation/transition
There seems to be a combination of things happening here. When you do the first step your character moves a little and changes to a squat/ready animation but then there is a noticeable delay before they start the run animation and move. It looks like you slide to a stop and then start running. Not sure if my explanation makes sense. You can see it best if you go left and right for a quick dash.
Enemy lock on switching/selection
The auto enemy lock-on is pretty good at selecting the person closest to you, but with the way the enemies move and you trying to get a good attack angle that changes quickly. Now you must unselect and reselect. It would be good if you could use the scroll wheel to switch enemies without unlocking. Maybe forward for left and down for right. Or maybe track with where you look so the closest and the centermost enemy becomes a target for it to work on the controller too.
But I do like it being kept on the same enemy as you move at times like if I want to bleed them out to regain health.
Elden Rings lock-on works well most of the time but I don’t like how sensitive it is when you break line of sight. Also, when the enemy gets knocked to the ground, like after a backstab, you must retarget even if they did not die. Also, Elden Ring keeps your target in the center of your view which might not work for Deadhaus as that game is more a one-on-one battle or small mobs and Deadhaus seems to be a game that will have larger mobs.
Let there be blood!
The amount of blood is good and like the splashes on the screen. I know you are planning on adding more blood animations like splashing on the walls. It would be great to also get some blood on the player and their weapon. If there are going to be pools of blood, we need some good audio cues of you walking through a blood pool vs just the stone or etc. Let the foley artist go wild with the squelching sounds! Need to treat it like water physics. Maybe if you are fighting on an incline the blood would run down in streams.
Would be cool to have bloody footprints after walking through a pool of blood. – 1.6 Looks like this was addressed in the notes, but as others have said, I did not see it in the last playthrough. I walked through puddles of blood looking at the ground to see if it was visible.
Enemy hit reaction
I know this is an early pass and you will work on it. But currently, it looks like the enemies are held up by an invisible pole attached to their lower back. The legs swing out in front of them in a way that they should probably fall to the ground. I think a more knockback animation would look more natural where they get pushed away from the attack taking a step back or even turned to the side or around from a heavy attack. This could also allow the attack animation to be more of a kinetic action where you are pushing through the enemies and each attack advances the attacker. I am imagining my Revenant charging a cluster of guards and it looking like a bowling ball getting a strike on some pins with enemies being knocked in all directions.
It was great to have a few moments when combat was going well and the vampire would slide between enemies (Too Human flashbacks) but then he would just stand there and swing. Want to keep the momentum going. He should literally be slicing through enemies without stopping just heading for the next victim. This would also look great as we build combos
Mace
Lots have people have mentioned this but here are my original thoughts - The mace feels sluggish next to the sword. I understand that it could be a gameplay decision to change the feel of the weapons. Not sure that the weight difference would have any effect on a vampire though. But it is more than it is just slower than the sword. Maybe it is just more noticeable because it is slower but it does not seem to have as good a hit detection or reaction. It is the most noticeable on enemies with shields. You seem to get blocked and are pulling back the mace before getting the audio cue. It just makes it feel off.
The mace also felt much shorter than the sword. It was like you had to be right up to people for the hit to register. This might just take a little more playing to get the feel for. But you did want some first impressions.
After 1.6 - Combat feel issues
So this kind of combines the enemy hit reaction and the mace feel comments. So I really tried to pay attention to how the attacks worked and why the mace feels off. You do have momentum when you use the sword attack but you don't move when you swing the mace. So the mace is not an intro/range attack like the sword. You will slide at the enemies when attacking with the sword but not the mace. That is probably what leads to the mace's reach feeling shorter because you don't close the gap with it like you do the sword. You need to move with the mace attack as you do with the sword. Enemies that you could hit can just take one step back and now they are out of range for the mace, you also have to work harder to position yourself correctly. The change makes the combat feel inconsistent.
The other issue is that the enemies just become walls when hit. They don't stagger back so even though the sword attacks would make you move forward, once you are in range you lose that aspect of the combat. I found myself circling enemies as I attacked them instead of pushing them back.
Also, the enemy's health felt a bit random. It seems like if I attacked them near the stairs they would take a lot more hits than later on in the fight. It might just be that the strength of attacks increases with bloodlust. I do like that bloodlust drains when you are not in combat. The stronger regen does feel better. I know some think it is too high now, but this cannon fodder should not pose too much risk it is like killing rats in the basement. The mix should feel better when we have stronger enemies on the battlefield.
Dodge/mist form feels inconsistent
There were some cool moments where I would dodge and I would either take a step back or go past the enemies and could attack from behind, but I did not feel in control of when it happened. A lot of the times I would dodge and just phase without moving when blocked by three or so enemies. There should not be collision detection with the enemies in mist form. I know there needs to be some detection so you don't phase into an NPC, enemy, or environment.
Tarot Deck question
The new tarot deck mechanic seems to allow for a lot of experimentation and not having to redo all your skill points each time you want to try something new or acquire more cards. One question I had was if you had to level up the minor deck or once the main card is fully leveled all the minor cards could also be maxed out even if you had not used that modifier before?
Suggestion - Customize Decks for each phase
Are the cards going to tell you what phases they can be used in?
I noticed that as you went from physical form to other forms (I only actually went to magical form my first playthrough but I imagine the same happens in essential, I also did not realize that you could manually switch forms) some of your tarot cards became inactive. It totally makes sense as some actions in one state might not translate to others. Like the vampire loses the sword and does a melee attack when not in physical form. I am just imagining a build where a class that specializes in one form might have a loadout that does not allow them to have any active cards in another form.
An easy fix would allow the player to always have some kind of base action that helps them heal in any phase. But I was thinking a cooler option would be that you can customize your skills for each phase. Like for a Revenant - in physical form, they might have a light heal skill and focus on pure damage or tanking. Then in the essential or magical form, they get fewer card slots but they could use those slots for a large heal skill or a great mobility skill, so they don’t stay in the other states very long and get back to what they do best quickly.
With this option, each character would have to start with at least one card for each phase, but you can also make certain cards that are boosted when used in the phase they are most suited for, some cards do not work in certain phases or only one and have less effect if used in certain states. Other cards would also be indifferent and just work no matter the state like exsanguinate. This could be a middle ground as I know people were asking if you could switch decks during a mission. Now by switching states, you have access to new move sets.
That’s all for now. Hope this was some useful feedback.
These are my early thoughts and in no order of importance. In my first playthrough, I only watched the tarot card video and jumped in like a noob to see what I could figure out. I have not played with Keyboard and mouse in a long time. For the last 20 years, I have been mostly a console player. But I did play my first session with a keyboard and mouse. My comments will cover both 1.5 and the new 1.6.
I am sure you are already working on some of these things and some were addressed in version 1.6 and I will highlight those comments.
Enemy Sandal Straps Missing
I hope this is a simple fix and will probably be noticed by 5 people, but it got my attention on the live stream and then during the demo, I was trying to figure out what it was. When you de-armor the enemies and they die you see this long black line on their calves. I imagine that it is supposed to be part of the high gladiator sandals but without the straps that tie it around the leg it looks like a tattoo or those new athletic bandages. Maybe they are there but the line weight needs to be increased or the color dark for more contrast. I can see the straps around the feet but just not on the lower leg.
First step animation/transition
There seems to be a combination of things happening here. When you do the first step your character moves a little and changes to a squat/ready animation but then there is a noticeable delay before they start the run animation and move. It looks like you slide to a stop and then start running. Not sure if my explanation makes sense. You can see it best if you go left and right for a quick dash.
Enemy lock on switching/selection
The auto enemy lock-on is pretty good at selecting the person closest to you, but with the way the enemies move and you trying to get a good attack angle that changes quickly. Now you must unselect and reselect. It would be good if you could use the scroll wheel to switch enemies without unlocking. Maybe forward for left and down for right. Or maybe track with where you look so the closest and the centermost enemy becomes a target for it to work on the controller too.
But I do like it being kept on the same enemy as you move at times like if I want to bleed them out to regain health.
Elden Rings lock-on works well most of the time but I don’t like how sensitive it is when you break line of sight. Also, when the enemy gets knocked to the ground, like after a backstab, you must retarget even if they did not die. Also, Elden Ring keeps your target in the center of your view which might not work for Deadhaus as that game is more a one-on-one battle or small mobs and Deadhaus seems to be a game that will have larger mobs.
Let there be blood!
The amount of blood is good and like the splashes on the screen. I know you are planning on adding more blood animations like splashing on the walls. It would be great to also get some blood on the player and their weapon. If there are going to be pools of blood, we need some good audio cues of you walking through a blood pool vs just the stone or etc. Let the foley artist go wild with the squelching sounds! Need to treat it like water physics. Maybe if you are fighting on an incline the blood would run down in streams.
Would be cool to have bloody footprints after walking through a pool of blood. – 1.6 Looks like this was addressed in the notes, but as others have said, I did not see it in the last playthrough. I walked through puddles of blood looking at the ground to see if it was visible.
Enemy hit reaction
I know this is an early pass and you will work on it. But currently, it looks like the enemies are held up by an invisible pole attached to their lower back. The legs swing out in front of them in a way that they should probably fall to the ground. I think a more knockback animation would look more natural where they get pushed away from the attack taking a step back or even turned to the side or around from a heavy attack. This could also allow the attack animation to be more of a kinetic action where you are pushing through the enemies and each attack advances the attacker. I am imagining my Revenant charging a cluster of guards and it looking like a bowling ball getting a strike on some pins with enemies being knocked in all directions.
It was great to have a few moments when combat was going well and the vampire would slide between enemies (Too Human flashbacks) but then he would just stand there and swing. Want to keep the momentum going. He should literally be slicing through enemies without stopping just heading for the next victim. This would also look great as we build combos
Mace
Lots have people have mentioned this but here are my original thoughts - The mace feels sluggish next to the sword. I understand that it could be a gameplay decision to change the feel of the weapons. Not sure that the weight difference would have any effect on a vampire though. But it is more than it is just slower than the sword. Maybe it is just more noticeable because it is slower but it does not seem to have as good a hit detection or reaction. It is the most noticeable on enemies with shields. You seem to get blocked and are pulling back the mace before getting the audio cue. It just makes it feel off.
The mace also felt much shorter than the sword. It was like you had to be right up to people for the hit to register. This might just take a little more playing to get the feel for. But you did want some first impressions.
After 1.6 - Combat feel issues
So this kind of combines the enemy hit reaction and the mace feel comments. So I really tried to pay attention to how the attacks worked and why the mace feels off. You do have momentum when you use the sword attack but you don't move when you swing the mace. So the mace is not an intro/range attack like the sword. You will slide at the enemies when attacking with the sword but not the mace. That is probably what leads to the mace's reach feeling shorter because you don't close the gap with it like you do the sword. You need to move with the mace attack as you do with the sword. Enemies that you could hit can just take one step back and now they are out of range for the mace, you also have to work harder to position yourself correctly. The change makes the combat feel inconsistent.
The other issue is that the enemies just become walls when hit. They don't stagger back so even though the sword attacks would make you move forward, once you are in range you lose that aspect of the combat. I found myself circling enemies as I attacked them instead of pushing them back.
Also, the enemy's health felt a bit random. It seems like if I attacked them near the stairs they would take a lot more hits than later on in the fight. It might just be that the strength of attacks increases with bloodlust. I do like that bloodlust drains when you are not in combat. The stronger regen does feel better. I know some think it is too high now, but this cannon fodder should not pose too much risk it is like killing rats in the basement. The mix should feel better when we have stronger enemies on the battlefield.
Dodge/mist form feels inconsistent
There were some cool moments where I would dodge and I would either take a step back or go past the enemies and could attack from behind, but I did not feel in control of when it happened. A lot of the times I would dodge and just phase without moving when blocked by three or so enemies. There should not be collision detection with the enemies in mist form. I know there needs to be some detection so you don't phase into an NPC, enemy, or environment.
Tarot Deck question
The new tarot deck mechanic seems to allow for a lot of experimentation and not having to redo all your skill points each time you want to try something new or acquire more cards. One question I had was if you had to level up the minor deck or once the main card is fully leveled all the minor cards could also be maxed out even if you had not used that modifier before?
Suggestion - Customize Decks for each phase
Are the cards going to tell you what phases they can be used in?
I noticed that as you went from physical form to other forms (I only actually went to magical form my first playthrough but I imagine the same happens in essential, I also did not realize that you could manually switch forms) some of your tarot cards became inactive. It totally makes sense as some actions in one state might not translate to others. Like the vampire loses the sword and does a melee attack when not in physical form. I am just imagining a build where a class that specializes in one form might have a loadout that does not allow them to have any active cards in another form.
An easy fix would allow the player to always have some kind of base action that helps them heal in any phase. But I was thinking a cooler option would be that you can customize your skills for each phase. Like for a Revenant - in physical form, they might have a light heal skill and focus on pure damage or tanking. Then in the essential or magical form, they get fewer card slots but they could use those slots for a large heal skill or a great mobility skill, so they don’t stay in the other states very long and get back to what they do best quickly.
With this option, each character would have to start with at least one card for each phase, but you can also make certain cards that are boosted when used in the phase they are most suited for, some cards do not work in certain phases or only one and have less effect if used in certain states. Other cards would also be indifferent and just work no matter the state like exsanguinate. This could be a middle ground as I know people were asking if you could switch decks during a mission. Now by switching states, you have access to new move sets.
That’s all for now. Hope this was some useful feedback.
