HOPE 01

The upgrades and progression feel meaningful even if some grinding is required.

There is only so much you can do with a 2D game to make it feel varied but I would say there is an impressive variety of weapons considering these limitations.

To address the elephant in the room immediately: the game is currently in "early access" but really that tag shouldn't fool you; this is a feature complete game playable start to finish with multiple endings and a healthy amount of quests, hundreds of items, almost a hundred different enemies and bosses, and hundreds of highly interconnected rooms.

Awesome weapon variety, many enemies, fun bosses, loot is plentiful and scratches the lootgoblin itch, very pleasant difficulty curve that is challenging but fair, as you basically only die when you screw up.

The dev has also been very on top of their game (in both senses of the word), patching bugs and glitches, sometimes multiple times a day (make sure to get some rest, bud), and talking with people in the steam forums about suggestions and issues.

Oh and yes it plays absolutely perfect on the steamdeck.