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I started playing video-games more than 30 years ago, when the Nintendo Entertainment System had its prime time. Since then, i have played countless video-games of all genres, and yet, never managed to realize, what i was ultimately looking for.
I did enjoy parts of open-world games, rpgs, strategy games, isometric, horror, metroidvania, survival and action... but, all of those genres felt somewhat lacking, without me being able to realize what i was exactly missing.
The genres that came closest to my personal preference were tactic games, especially when cards were included, and sandox-games like Minecraft. But, card games always have the pay2win and netdeck-aspect, and i was always missing the role-play and experience-gain aspect in sandbox-games.
Now, after all those years, i finally found a game, that combines the best parts of all genres that i like, within a single game.
(Edit: At least that was my impression for the first 10 hours of playtime).
Dysmantle is an isometric sandbox rpg, that plays in a post-apocalyptic world. You are a lonely survivor, that leaves his bunker, and finds himself in a world, where nature has taken over, and living beings have been mutated. From there, you explore a huge open-world, collect materials, craft items and open up new areas and possibilities.
What makes Dysmantle outstanding, is that your environment is completely destructable. With the right equipment, you can destroy, log, cut, harvest, dig out, collect and kill everything there is, and everything leaves ressources, and grants experience, with which you will level up and become wiser, and more competent. You can improve your damage, increase your inventory, learn new skills (like treasure-hunting), increase your xp-gain, become familiar with animals... the choice is yours!
What i personally like the most, are skills, that enable new ways to interact with a familiar environment, and encourage the player to revisit known areas. "Treasure hunting", for example, will show locations on the map, where digging will be rewarded...
Another important aspect of Dysmantle is combat. As you explore the huge world, you will encounter various enemies, each with their unique attack-pattern. Battling most of those enemies is optional, but rewarded, as they drop materials upon defeat, and especially during the early stages of the game, seeking battles with strong enemies can be a valuable source of rare ressources.
Maybe the greatest, and the most annoying aspect as well, is the complete freedom the player has. There is no hand-holding, no clear structure that you may follow. What you do, and how and when you do it, is completely open.
Which is amazing for some time, and i had a blast discovering more and more ways to interact with the environment, before the experience became more and more repetitive.
Ultimately, you will reach a dead end in your developement, and from there, you just roam around the world, destroying and killing everything, and not knowing what you need to do to proceed.
There will be passages that you can enter, quests which you cannot reach, and inventions you cannot craft, because you are missing the necessary possibilities, and from that point, the quality decreases rapidly.
For me, reaching lv 40, after 23 hours of playtime, with no opportunity to make any progress, was the point, where i lost interest, and deinstalled.
For a sandbox game, there are just too little opportunities in Dysmantle. You can do a little building, which is basically nonsense, though. You can do some crafting and improving, but after a certain degree, it doesnt really matter anymore. You can battle, but since there are no abilities, but just attacking and dodging, it doesnt make fun. You can do some questing, but quests in Dysmantle are pretty simple, and often cannot be completed, until you have reached some form of upgrade, which is very annoying, after you have spent much time already.
Concluding, Dysmantle is an amazing concept, and an exciting mixture of genres, that harmonize extremely well, but falls short in realizing its vision. The developers obviously tried to implement as much freedom and content as anyhow possible, but failed to work out all elements, to create a living world, and to ensure a fluid experience.
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