Been playing the past couple days...so far enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.
Thoughts:
-Graphics and overall presentation is excellent. The atmosphere is dark, and while the levels are somewhat linear (although, there's tons of side paths/hidden rooms), it's impressive how grand they make some of areas appear. There's a lot paths, vertical spaces, choke points, etc. I also like how they implemented lobbies. Instead of just starring at a lobby screen you meet up in an Inn. You can chat, refit your heroes, and do crafting/forging while you wait for the next round to start. It's a nice touch.
-Sound and music is really good too. Standard medieval/dark orchestral pieces but well done. Sound effects are meaty, and there's a good amount of atmospheric stuff like crows, special rats having unique sfx to help warn players, chunky battle sounds (clanging, chopping, etc). They use music/sfx well for the dynamic aspecs of the game too, like before a rat horde comes (which is directed by the game) you hear rat horns and shouting, or if a patrol is nearby you can hear them marching in heavy armor. Good stuff.
-Gameplay is well done. There's a nice bunch of heroes to choose from, and each offers different styles of play and even have a couple ways too play unto themselves. The fighting is pretty simple mechanically, you have quick attacks, charge attacks, blocking, and a ranged weapon. It's starts to open up after you get more weapons from beating levels though, so the empire soldier for instance can go board and sword, or two handed, or even after you get some nice ranged. Different weapons have different strengths and weaknesses. Hammers can pierce heavy armor better, two handed better dmg, taking a shield allows you to tank, etc. It's not just how you will play individually, though, it all combines to the group. So if I go sword and board I can help tank, block off corridors, and create killing fields and protect the back line so they can DPS.
-After you successfully beat a level you get to roll dice for new loot. The base dice have a 2/6 chance to roll towards an item, and for every 'hit' on each dice increases the chance at better loot. You can increase your chances by finding cursed dice during the level (3/6 chance), finding tomes (4/6), or grimoires. The tomes and grimores are risk/reward though, so if you take a tome it takes up a healing slot, and grimores reduces the total health of your party by 33%. It's a great risk/reward system and if you fail the mission, no one gets anything.
-New items come in standard RPG tiers (white, green, blue, gold) each with better stats and abilities. Green and above have special skill slots that can be unlocked at the forge. Stuff like x% to heal y% after killing an enemy, x% to pierce through enemies, etc. I haven't seen many yet though because it's difficult to get higher end gear, at least initially. I have started to find some good stuff though, like a repeater rifle that is fast and has pierce...def has a nice effect in your combat effectiveness and how you play the game. There's also hats and trinkets, but I haven't found any yet.
-At the forge you can break down items for crafting materials used to upgrade items. You can also trade in 5 items of the same quality for a random item of 1 tier higher quality.
-The game is difficult just FYI, which is good, can be frustrating since it is MP and requires good team work. Higher difficulty levels give better base chances for loot, but unlike a lot of game they are seriously harder and require team work and people not doing stupid shit. Couple that with the fact if you fail the mission no one gets any items, it can be frustrating. The game is new and in beta, so it's kinda expected, but it is annoying to join a hard difficulty session only to find a bunch of level 0 characters...if you see that just leave you'll waste your time. That said, the game really shines when you are playing on the higher difficulty levels, people are coordinating well, and communicating. Even with a good group the game will throw some crazy situations at you so you will still have very tense moments.
Overall? I'm really enjoying it. It feels a lot like L4D mashed together with Chivalry + a little Diablo for the item hunt.
