Mutagen Extinction

This game performed horribly. From the opening screens to when the first character enters the world the experience was negative. This rudiment level development effort based on playing the single player mode.

- The loads screens are slow.
- Character creation is limited to single gender and name.
- Several load screens, or maybe they were starting areas, flashed until I found my character in a field.
- There are no keys assigned for movement, escape/pause, quitting, etc.
- I was unable to move the character even after pressing every key and clicking the mouse. I did, however, find inventory and picking/dropping a weapon.

This was a waste of money.

This is a survival crafting game with some RPG elements to it. There's no tutorial or hand holding, so you have to figure out how to play it through trial and error. It doesn't feel terribly grindy. You start out in an area with a few monsters which you can start fighting right away without being overwhelmed, though you're agile enough to easily outrun them, if you prefer to collect resources. The game's inventory has a feature I haven't seen much - the more you carry, the slower you get. So it adds a nice challenge to manage your resources while keeping yourself agile enough to survive fights. The game rewards you for progressing. Fighting monsters provides experience. Crafting provides better equipment for fighting. And the world is populated with the remains of a dead civilization, so there's stuff to see if you like exploring. Your character levels up by killing monsters, and you're given the option to choose which stats to improve when you do.

The game has some flaws. Fighting is very wonky and difficult for all the wrong reasons. It's challenging to hit creatures and they have a hard time hitting you. There must be small hit boxes because you and a monster can swing wildly at each other and only occasionally hit. The bunnies and crabs seem to have far more HP than monsters. There are a few bugs, but I haven't come across any that are serious.

Overall, I'm enjoying Mutagen Extinction, though it may be just a bit overpriced when compared to other games of about the same quality.