Creeper World IXE is *fine* successor to Creeper World 4. I would say it actually follows more in the steps of Creeper World 2, being not top down (like CW1/CW3), or 3D (like CW4). Kind of like if Noita and Creeper World had a crossover; I guess that exists in Particle Fleet: Emergence, but I never played that one. Anyways, I cannot say with full confidence that this is a step in the right direction.

While it did have to live with the astronomical expectations coming after CW4, and I do appreciate the evolution of the gameplay in some form, having "pixels" and a limited amount of ships feels like it actually detracts from my experience. Gameplay ends up being samey and quite frankly the on-foot segments did not impress me and felt more like a gimmick. The "liquid" mechanics are novel, but also are annoying to manage in the later parts of the game. I found that I was wasting time having to micro the actions of collecting, mixing together, and collecting liquids again.

Overall, I do feel like CW IXE a good game, but not one of the quality I expect from a mainline Creeper World game (which is maybe why it's not called Creeper World 5). Unlike CW4, where with that game I continually have a strong urge to play a dozen or two community/rng missions once a year or so, I do not feel that same urge with CW IXE. That said, the price right now is good, and despite my misgivings about the game, I think that I paid a good price for what I played.

Creeper World IXE is *fine* successor to Creeper World 4. I would say it actually follows more in the steps of Creeper World 2, being not top down (like CW1/CW3), or 3D (like CW4). Kind of like if Noita and Creeper World had a crossover; I guess that exists in Particle Fleet: Emergence, but I never played that one. Anyways, I cannot say with full confidence that this is a step in the right direction. While it did have to live with the astronomical expectations coming after CW4, and I do appreciate the evolution of the gameplay in some form, having "pixels" and a limited amount of ships feels like it actually detracts from my experience. Gameplay ends up being samey and quite frankly the on-foot segments did not impress me and felt more like a gimmick. The "liquid" mechanics are novel, but also are annoying to manage in the later parts of the game. I found that I was wasting time having to micro the actions of collecting, mixing together, and collecting liquids again. Overall, I do feel like CW IXE a good game, but not one of the quality I expect from a mainline Creeper World game (which is maybe why it's not called Creeper World 5). Unlike CW4, where with that game I continually have a strong urge to play a dozen or two community/rng missions once a year or so, I do not feel that same urge with CW IXE. That said, the price right now is good, and despite my misgivings about the game, I think that I paid a good price for what I played.