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Source Of Madness review: machine learning makes this a messy roguelite
Too many tentacles
Source Of Madness is a side-scrolling roguelite gear up in a Lovecraftian setting populated past twisted Bamzooki. And it'southward a earth where everything been procedurally generated with the aid of car learning. This makes for some fabulous, gloomy aesthetics and tormented beasts, merely too means it's a messy roguelite with a loop that leads more than to frustration than anything else.
Source Of Madness looks at all the roguelites saturating the marketplace and it says, "Heh, you call that procedural generation?" The next day it looks at them all again and information technology shouts, "Pah, that's not procedural generation is it?" Two days subsequently it whispers, "Procedural generation? No mode that's what y'all're doing."
The game goes Big on procedural generation, if you hadn't guessed. Its levels and enemies are all powered by a combination of proc-gen and AI car learning. This means won't find the same octopus with cleavers for suckers twice, oh no. Betwixt each successive run the octopus gets whizzed through a limb factory of code where robots swap out its body parts like Lego. If the proc-gen production line was Within The Factory filmed backside the scenes, Greg Wallace would bound around the production line and roar, "THAT But SCREAMS Industry DOESN'T It? THAT'Due south HEAVY DUTY".
Simply forget procedural generation for a flake, because without it the game's cadre resembles that of your usual roguelite. Y'all're an acolyte of the Loam Lands, a Lovecraft-inspired world of spiky buildings and jiggly strips of flesh. The aim is to uncover the secrets of the Tower Of Madness through the process of roguelite erosion, a.g.a. chipping away at information technology over many generations. Die, and you can spend claret and blue orbs you've earned from fallen enemies on permanent upgrades that'll help you non die as fast the side by side time around. Yous get the drill.
And if the drill is done well, similar Rogue Legacy ii or Dead Cells, then y'all go The Itch. No matter how swiftly a run ends, you're rewarded in some way or another, whether that's gold to spend on a valuable upgrade or an entirely new run across you're excited to revisit. The "Just one more run" urge reels you lot in, similar Robson Green communicable a grouper off the coasts of Republic of ecuador.
Having played lots of roguelites over the years, I've learned to trust The Crawling. Unfortunately, Source Of Madness doesn't tingle any pores or give me a rash. Pushing further into the game doesn't advantage as much you'd like, often dishing out quite paltry rings or hoods for your efforts - rings act as your right and left jabs, while hoods are your sole armour piece, offering wellness benefits and stat boosts. In that location are other things too, like trivial turrets yous can place or hovering companions that fling orbs at enemies. The diversity isn't an consequence, simply when you're finding stuff that'southward barely any better than what you're wearing, it'southward hard for your willpower not to debunk scrap by chip.
Even if y'all practice find a powerful item, information technology rarely excites. They just don't feel all that impactful when you press the trigger, and information technology's thanks to the game slight jankiness. I spent lots of Blood I'd gained at one of ii large skill copse back at base on a spell called "Flame Wave". Flame Wave. Cor, it sounded and so cool! But in practice, it was a rather disappointing blur of fire that flicked over enemies and made some beggarly damage numbers pop-up.
Other spells are a scrap meliorate, like a bamboo nail that fires spikes in a big circle. Accuse it up, leg it into an enemy, and it'southward similar letting off a massive shotgun blast. There's likewise a basic slash that cleaves at enemies with a squish and a squelch. Once you've unlocked more acolyte classes similar Pyromancers and Bloodmancers you'll quickly gain admission to bigger, badder spells in the skill tree. But information technology's a long, grueling road for a roguelite that's too wobbly.
Wobbly? Yeah, Source Of Madness is what you'd get if Bamzooki usurped us every bit rulers of this planet: a dark, twisted world of Lovecraftian nightmare, populated past rainbow-coloured stick insects and fluorescent crabs that look similar they've been soldered onto bowling shoes. Enemies are skittering, gangly beings that flail horns and spit goo, which makes them menacing, sure, but they make gainsay and survival an absolute lottery.
This is where the game'southward procedural generation bites it in the arse. Roguelites shine when they're refined to a tee; no excuses allowed. Rogue Legacy 2 is a prime example of a perfectly tuned roguelite loop. Maps and enemies are clear, coupled with precise movement and assault powers. Die and you'll struggle to find an excuse bated from, "yep, that's my bad". Source Of Madness and its writhing Bamzooki enemies, coupled with loose movement and imprecise attacks, makes for a bevy of excuses when you lot succumb to a smack or whatever information technology was that killed you.
And possible excuses aren't something you'd want from any roguelite, correct? They demand to be sealed shut, with all the many nuts and bolts that hold them together screwed tight. Death should be something you control, only Source Of Madness' love of random often ways it's out of your hands. Attack patterns are hard to learn when beasts are pieced together past an AI automobile, then you lot're forever approaching each fight tentatively. This makes for many tense encounters! But tension also stems from distrust in the game itself. Information technology'due south difficult to read enemy attacks every bit they QWOP around, and yous'll near certainly have a huge hitting from one of many limbs or projectiles - but which one was it?!
Where the procedural generation really shines is in the world and its gloomy, aesthetic. Each run is relatively fresh, with dank caverns and spiky buildings giving way to rooms that resemble giant intestinal tracts. And over multiple runs the game hits you with more and more than random events. There's a googly eye slot automobile that'll reward y'all with things like special items and extra cash if you're willing to gamble blood. Hidden rooms give way to mega-zooki and gilt chests, if you're able to survive.
I tried my damnedest to like Source Of Madness... but it all comes back to The Itch. The game has its moments and the world's beautifully horrid, simply when everything's churned out of a car-learning bot it makes for a roguelite that'due south besides random. Yes, yous've got to recollect on your feet, only a lack of defined margins means your life'south frequently snuffed out by mess. And mess leads to frustration. And frustration leads to excuses. When you're pinning your demise on the game itself, it'south hard to summon the willpower to push on.
Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/source-of-madness-review-machine-learning-makes-this-a-messy-roguelite
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