However, if you’re low on energy and you can’t risk getting into the thick of the fray, then your only recourse is to use a battery item. To be clear, healing is fairly rapid, as a single press of a key does that. It really was a bummer to pick the Tanker (i.e., Strength-focused) build.ĭolmen‘s take on healing is also tied to your energy meter.

But, again, your meter gets quickly depleted. Speaking of your energy meter, that, too, is used when firing with your ranged weapon. Additionally, the status or damage-over-time (DOT) build-up is measly, whereas enemies can afflict you with a full-on status effect in a couple of hits.Įnergy for shooting and hilarious healing Regrettably, this needs a balance tweak since your energy meter gets fully depleted after only a few swings. By spending energy, your attacks are imbued with elemental damage. These come in three elemental types: fire, cold, and acid. Since most foes can recover quickly, the mechanic is next to useless in several situations.Īnother tidbit related to combat is the use of Reactors. There’s no riposte to counter with for that massive critical hit and extra invincibility frames. I can’t tell if it was due to the animations, input delay, or if parries don’t trigger for that type of attack.Įven then, a perfect parry only pushes back an opponent ever so slightly. There were instances when I’d test the timing for a perfect parry, only to realize that it wasn’t working. The rest, however, could be blocked, but something odd was going on. They do have a “tell” - a flashing red icon that means an attack can only be dodged. Enemy mobs lack variety, what with the usual humanoid troopers and alien bugs. The animations are clunky and stiff, attacks barely have weight, and the parry system is terrible. If presented correctly, you can expect non-stop thrills as you mow down enemies, the impactful swings and crunches of weapons, the soul-crushing pain of defeat, and the joy of triumph once you’ve succeeded.ĭolmen, sadly, doesn’t offer those. Visuals, too, hardly wowed me, as the graphics are reminiscent of the early 2010s era.Ī key factor in Souls-like games is the challenging and satisfying combat. Lest I forget, there’s also no map to speak of. While you may spot an NPC that gives you a weapon blueprint, checking every nook and cranny mostly leads to item components/upgrade materials (more on these later). Worse, thorough exploration isn’t fully incentivized. You can return to that spot to pick up what you lost, but dying again along the way means losing it for good. At best, you’ll notice the Souls-like concept of dropping all your nanites (i.e., currency/XP) if you die. True, there are hallways and caverns that loop around to previously visited areas, but the whole design seems like one samey-looking corridor after another, interspersed with larger rooms here and there. The difference is that Hellpoint‘s levels still felt interconnected, and there were secrets to discover if you’re patient enough to look for them.ĭolmen‘s level design, unfortunately, is mostly linear. In a way, given the sci-fi theme, it’s more akin to 2020’s Hellpoint. Linear level design and exploration without incentivesĭolmen, obviously, doesn’t have a massive, open-world environment like Elden Ring. Yes, there was already a mishap during class selection, and things went downhill from there. I had wondered why there were only three classes, only to find out that a couple ⁠- the Bounty Hunter and the Sharpshooter ⁠- wouldn’t appear unless you cycled through all the options twice. In my case, I picked a Tanker to specialize in high Strength and HP. In typical action RPG fashion, you select a class with preset stats, including a Recruit that starts at level 1. The first problem in the game can already be seen as you create a character. To be fair, this is mostly your typical B-movie narrative, as opposed to cryptic-yet-mystifying tropes. That’s the gist of Dolmen‘s plot, with a few notes and dialogue revealing more down the line.

As Revlon Prime is slowly overrun by alien creatures and malevolent entities, it’s up to you to ascertain what happened. Rather, they’re in search of strange crystals known as “Dolmen” that can act as a bridge between alternate realities.

No, the colonists here aren’t looking for hair products. And it might just be one of the most disappointing games I’ve played this year.ĭolmen takes place on a planet called Revlon Prime. Sadly, Dolmen, which is set to release tomorrow, falters in almost every respect. You’d come up with builds, both broken and silly, as you feel the pulse-pounding intensity of combat. More often than not, you’d roam around interconnected levels in search of a new discovery.

They have an air of mystery, all the while presenting opportunities to tackle insurmountable challenges. Let me preface this Dolmen review by saying how much I love Souls-like games.

Dolmen video game