Mythforce is a new roguelike fps just released into Early Access by Beamdog.
It's heavily inspired by old 80s cartoons like He-Man and Thunder cats and is a visual treat. The intro is one of the best I've seen in a long time and really sets the scene.
I sat down with one of our other reviewers, Geir, to test out the multiplayer, here are our initial impressions of the game in it's current state.
Ashraa:
Immediately I was very disappointed at the lack of controller support, not being a mouse & keyboard gamer outside of RPGs, I found it almost impossible to control.
After attaching a Razer Tartarus and spending a good 20 minutes creating a custom profile I was finally able to competently maneuver, dodge and attack and was excited to get stuck into a multiplayer game.
Setting up the multiplayer lobby was easy enough but a little hit and miss in execution. A couple of restarts later and we were able to begin.
Again disappointment struck, multiplayer is only available via peer to peer. Not being in the same locale, Geir and I have had various degrees of success playing P2P multiplayer, Myth Force however proved to be one of the more trying experiences.
Lag unfortunately rendered the game completely unplayable and even disconnected us from our game.
Single player however had none of these issues but only part of the fun. The game continued it's 80's cartoon theme in it's character design, environment and animation. However there was something "off" about the visuals that was starting to make me nauseous.
After about 15 minutes I was getting what I can only relate to "VR sickness" and just couldn't continue playing.
The frame rate seemed very inconsistent to me, I applied an overlay to monitor this and it did show a steady 60fps. It could have been poorly applied motion blur? It was hard to tell and the video options are currently bare bones. (Just resolution and screen type).
Overall i was massively disappointed with a game I was especially hyped for. The idea is pure winner, but the application needs a lot of work and polish. If it were released as a single player 'proof of concept demo' it would have been perfectly acceptable. But to release this as a $30 multiplayer title is criminal, even as early access.
Unfortunately early access is a minefield at the moment with access getting earlier and earlier, much to the detriment of projects. I really do hope Myth Force improves, but I'm pretty much already turned off the game from this experience.
My advice, give this game a wide birth for now but keep an eye on its progress.
I did contact Beamdog asking about controller support and any plans to port the game to console or a Steam release (along with any intention of cross play functionality).
I was told controller support is being worked on for a future update and there is no news to share on other platforms at this time.
Geir:
When I saw the trailer for Mythforce I got very excited and hyped for it, and when my fellow reviewer Ashraa told me we were to review it, I did a little jig of excitement. The day came and we booted up the game to an amazing intro video ticking all the 80's nostalgia points. I felt like a kid again watching Saturday morning cartoons like He-Man and Thundercats.
While Ashraa fiddled around with settings, I jumped into the game to get a feel for it. It was bright. it was snappy. It was promising. Being satisfied I logged out and we joined up for a game. We get in and Ashraa rushes forward, and I follow, except I don't, to begin with. A couple of seconds go by and suddenly I lurch forward a little bit and jump to the left. The lag is absolutely atrocious. We log out and this time I create a game and Ashraa joins me. We load in and then Ashraa is just in front of me floating and can't move. This is a typical experience with games using peer 2 peer technology for the multiplayer, unless you are playing with people on the same network or very fast internet connection. The single player does not suffer from these problems but Mythforce is not as fun without friends to play with. I do love the concept of this game and the art style is fantastic and genuinely feels like an 80's cartoon accompanied with music that feels very 80's and fits very well. The gameplay loop seems very tight, nothing ground breaking but a tried and true roguelite/like gameplay loop. Mythforce is available now in early access via Epic and priced $29.99
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