ShadowOfTheTree 最近的评测

TLDR: No, this game is not interesting and lack a game designer.

Longer version:
At first, the game is ok, there are some mechanism to understand, various things to do, and the feeling of improvement is present.
But after 5/6 zones, there seems to have a massive wall... (Un)Fortunately, there was a new thing to do: The Afterlife! I completed a couple of things in this part and... it broke the game. I was almost stuck to zone 6, then I reached zone 10 in a blink of an eye...

And there, I started to notice a couple of things: the rebirth/ascention are really really boring. The game is not an Idle, but an active game. You have to manually re-level a lot of things everywhere (mine, fish, summon, ...), and there is no button "level to max", only a "level 200 times" (game design...?)

The second thing to notice is that gold has different colour. The thing is that those colour are just here as a workaround to the fact that there is no engineering value existing. Engineering value are not here for engineers, but to allow a consistent mechanism to exist. Basically, in computer science, there is a limit to numbers (for instance, if you have only 2 numbers, you can count from 00 to 99). So using colours allow the developer to create a workaround for those limitation : when the amount reach a certain threshold below the maximum, then the game switch to the next colour.
But... the problem is that when you reach the last colour, there is a risk that the maximum will be reached, that will lead to an inconsistency.

And bad news this inconsistency has been reached (by me, and others players too):
- When breeding pets, based on the stats of the parents, the "son" will have improved stats. For instance, two pets with 1B stats will give a son between 1B and 1.5B. But, if the parents are too high (2B and 2B), the son can have no value displayed... (0 I assume), or a value from 1 to 2B. It is NOT intended.
- When fishing, when reaching 999QQ (the maximum), it is possible that values becomes 0. The good news is that when you change screen and move back to fish, the values will move back to 999QQ. Unintended but OK.
- In harvest, I succeeded to farm so much that when I harvest a plant, I have no more of this plant... Which prevent to craft potions....
- When fighting, it is possible to have such a high accuracy that it becomes 0, resulting as no possibility to hit the monsters. Even the weakest...
- When ascending, I can have up to 999QQ, but I cannot level any skill (where the cost is lower than 999QQ)
- When rebirthing, I can have up to 999QQ, but then it displays 0...
And don't get me wrong, I did not try to break the game, I just... played. There is no game design behind this game.

There is a minigame about spelunking. At first, it's completely awkward. But once you understand, it's boring as hell AND it's NOT idle, it's a completely full active game.
The amount of materials required to craft are insane. For some levels (not even the last ones), you have to enter the mine, leave, open the bags, and re enter the mine. You have to do that 400 times! 400!!!! Not even for the last levels!!!!! Seriously?!

In the pet "minigame", to get the last pet (with breeding), you have to open 20 eggs in 6 nests, which means 20*2*6 clicks. It would be OK if it were only once a day. But it's not.

In the Afterlife, there are so many game design issues...
First, THERE IS NO BUTTON TO BY MORE THAN 1 THING! There are many things that require to be leveled to 1600 or more. And there are skills (with lightning) I have level 45 000... ONE BY ONE!
Second, this part is laggy as hell. It is possible to have up to around 160 pets (I don't want to reopen the game to check). All of them will attack the boss. So the game is literally on the knees. Where is the game designer?

Bref, this game is not interesting, and has no consistency. It has not be meant to be played.
If you come from from Legends of Idleon, you will be able to reach all the rewards with no bug.

One of the clicker with the lowest content...
It is even visible that the Developpers had no idea on what to do.

The cash shop is way too visible: whenever you connect, you have a first add, then you enter in the game, and you have a second add "because you have a promotion whenever you gain a level".

The game is based on farming, but most of the activities are consuming energy. The farther you go, the more expensive it is. So basically, you can make 2 or 3 games of mahjong the morning and the evening...

Then, there are little things that are a bit boring (not big things, but still):
- MahJong grids are not random.
- You have to know somes grids by heart, because you will only notice at the end that two tiles of the same kind are one on each other. And since the amount of games is really limited, it increases the frustration (it is on purpose)
- If you fail a grid, you have an item (received by gift or by purchase) that allow you to continue the game. Most of the time, you must use 4 of those because after the 'reroll of remaining tiles" it is still not possible to succeed.
- Whenever you alt+tab (or clic on another window if you play in windowed mode), the game is paused. But the pause does not work in the game (timer continues), and what is the reason to pause when you are on the "receiving/loot" screen?

So easy it has to start with "hard" level :)

(Note: perhaps I should finish this game before saying it's easy)

Although this game seems easy, the lasts levels are very hard.

I really enjoy this game, the story is crazy, the gameplay is nice, best use ever of Zimos.

This is by far the best episod of the Blackwell serie. And also a great ending.
If you liked (or loved) the previous ones, jump on this one!
If you haven't played the previous ones, buy them and play them before this one ;)