My thoughts on the game

[SoranMBane]

So, I've played the game myself now, and as you can imagine, I have some opinions to share. Though this is really only regarding the Moss Creek level; I did play a bit of the flight to the lighthouse level, and is was definitely... Bad?? But I'll have to play it more thoroughly to really formulate my thoughts on it, and I'll probably just make another post in this thread similar to this one when I do. But for now, my thoughts on Moss Creek:

Things I liked:
-The character designs and overall art style are pretty great.
-The music.
-Despite all the niggling glitches and design issues I'll get to in the "things I didn't like" section, the overall skeleton of the game seems quite solid. It mainly just needs more refining and optimizing.
-Little world-building details like the tail sleeves are nice touches.
-The developers definitely seem to care about making the game good. That shouldn't be a high bar to clear, but compared to most of the other early access games made in Unity that get released on Steam, the fact that the developers care at all is practically a miracle.

Things I didn't like:
-The camera is just way too close to the player character (especially for a game that promises to deal with platforming and stealth, which both require good spacial awareness), and the controls for it are pretty awkward and restricting.
-The invisible walls, impassible bushes, and unclimbable waist-high fences. It all makes the world feel very artificial and restricted.


-The jumping and climbing mechanics are really clunky and awkward, which made a lot of the segments that required them annoying.

-A lot of the animations were pretty janky (especially the ladder climbing animation, which looks really sped-up).
-Lots of clipping issues.


-I often found myself getting stuck in place. This would sometimes happen randomly in certain patches of terrain, but the sides of bridges were the worst offenders.
-Stepping into water shouldn't be an instant game over.
-Why are there random treasure chests all over the place? This is Redwall, not the Legend of Zelda.
-I ran into a glitch where I loaded in the level to find I had no control of the camera, and my computer's cursor was visible on the screen.
-Some of the narration during the cutscenes was a little bland and stilted. Definitely needs more editing.
-The character designs and models may be good, but the textures and shading make them look like they're made of plastic.

Things that were really, really weird:
-I could see straight through my character's neck sometimes.


-Trying to talk to an NCP makes the player character do their kicking animation.
-I can throw snowballs at my character's face, because the snowballs appear to be coming from the camera and not the character.

-What is this lantern pole even attached too??

-I set the snowball throwing button to the left mouse button because that seemed reasonable at the time, but the result was that I would end up throwing random snowballs every time I clicked out of a menu.

Things I would suggest:
-Add a reticle. This would be very useful for precisely selecting things you want to interact with, particularly during the puzzles where you need to get your companions to help you perform an action. There were multiple moments where I had trouble selecting something that I needed to use because my companions were in the way and I kept accidentally kicking talking to them instead.
-Pull the camera back from the player character, and allow the player more freedom to control the camera (such as being able to look straight up). The camera should only be that close to the character when they're in a cramped space, like these hollow logs.

-Since the level was set in winter, it is at least reasonable that wading through icy cold water would be something to avoid, but it also shouldn't be an instant game over. Instead, how about whenever the player tries to walk into shallow water, it slows them to a painful crawl until they're forced to stop and go back. If they fall into deeper water, then they'd be on a timer to get out as fast as possible before they freeze to death. To keep the player from just swimming to wrong side and accidentally skipping a puzzle, then just have the banks of the side you don't want them on be too steep for them to climb out. Also, a cute animation of the player character shaking water from their fur afterwards is a must.
-If you want to prevent the player from going further until they've solved a certain puzzle, then invisible walls and unclimbable waist-high fences are not the way to do it. Maybe just have the player character stop on their own if you try to go too far ahead and have them say something along the lines of "I can't continue until I've cleared the way for my friends." Same effect, but feels less like the level designer is cheating.

[Friar Poppy]

Ah, I see our reviews share similar opinions.

In what context did you enjoy the music?

[SoranMBane]

In what context did you enjoy the music?

The music I've heard in the game so far just sounds really nice, and fits the tone of the world quite well. Especially all the tracks you can listen to in the Gatehouse test area. Of course, it remains to be seen how well they'll utilize all the good music they've made throughout the game, but so far it's shaping up to have a pretty good soundtrack.

[Friar Poppy]

In what context did you enjoy the music?

The music I've heard in the game so far just sounds really nice, and fits the tone of the world quite well. Especially all the tracks you can listen to in the Gatehouse test area. Of course, it remains to be seen how well they'll utilize all the good music they've made throughout the game, but so far it's shaping up to have a pretty good soundtrack.

You think that music actually fits the tone of the world? Do you mean Redwall in general or that it fits the tone of the level?

I'm pretty sure you can only listen to a whopping 3 tracks in the gatehouse.

[SoranMBane]

In what context did you enjoy the music?

The music I've heard in the game so far just sounds really nice, and fits the tone of the world quite well. Especially all the tracks you can listen to in the Gatehouse test area. Of course, it remains to be seen how well they'll utilize all the good music they've made throughout the game, but so far it's shaping up to have a pretty good soundtrack.

You think that music actually fits the tone of the world? Do you mean Redwall in general or that it fits the tone of the level?

Both, for the most part. That folksy little acoustic guitar track that plays on the Moss Creek level is both really pretty and quite fitting for a calm winter night. It also feels very rustic, friendly, and charming, which reflects those aspects of the Redwall world wonderfully. The only thing I might argue is that it maybe doesn't quite fit the context of the level, which is supposed to be you and your companions fleeing their home that was just burned to the ground, while one of the party is also badly injured. But otherwise, it's a good track

I'm pretty sure you can only listen to a whopping 3 tracks in the gatehouse.

Yeah, and I think they're all really pretty. There's also some nice music in the game's trailers/test videos that don't appear to be in the game yet.

[Friar Poppy]

In what context did you enjoy the music?

The music I've heard in the game so far just sounds really nice, and fits the tone of the world quite well. Especially all the tracks you can listen to in the Gatehouse test area. Of course, it remains to be seen how well they'll utilize all the good music they've made throughout the game, but so far it's shaping up to have a pretty good soundtrack.

Thank you for clarifying.

The game is an absolute mess story
You think that music actually fits the tone of the world? Do you mean Redwall in general or that it fits the tone of the level?

Both, for the most part. That folksy little acoustic guitar track that plays on the Moss Creek level is both really pretty and quite fitting for a calm winter night. It also feels very rustic, friendly, and charming, which reflects those aspects of the Redwall world wonderfully. The only thing I might argue is that it maybe doesn't quite fit the context of the level, which is supposed to be you and your companions fleeing their home that was just burned to the ground, while one of the party is also badly injured. But otherwise, it's a good track

I'm pretty sure you can only listen to a whopping 3 tracks in the gatehouse.

Yeah, and I think they're all really pretty. There's also some nice music in the game's trailers/test videos that don't appear to be in the game yet.

Thank you for clarifying

[Ashleg]

Oh, come on, don't pretend you don't throw snowballs at your own face. Every normal creature does.

[Chipster of Noonvale]

So essentially...

• The art is great.
• The game is buggy, but that's to be expected from a preview.
• Redwall and Mossflower are on a round planet eeeeek this is terrible!!
• There is no Linux version (not yet, anyway).

[Rosie Willowwater]

I am in the middle/end of the game and I am loving it! I can definitely see how it has improved after they first released it (especially the controls and movement)

I think the biggest thing I was surprised by was the voice acting and the well painted cut-scenes. I think they were well implemented and felt like they fit with the Redwall universe.

My only complaint is that I can't actually finish the game... it continually crashes during the cut-scene at the start of the Lighthouse level. Does anyone know why that might be happening?

[LordTBT]

I am in the middle/end of the game and I am loving it! I can definitely see how it has improved after they first released it (especially the controls and movement)

I think the biggest thing I was surprised by was the voice acting and the well painted cut-scenes. I think they were well implemented and felt like they fit with the Redwall universe.

My only complaint is that I can't actually finish the game... it continually crashes during the cut-scene at the start of the Lighthouse level. Does anyone know why that might be happening?

Didn't happen for me...perhaps contact Soma and see if they can diagnose what's going on.

[Rosie Willowwater]

I'm sorry if this is common knowledge, but how would I contact them?

[LordTBT]

INFO@SOMAGAMES.COM

[Tungro]

I am current stuck on Tussa's geocatch level. Any advice?

[PanopticEmu]

@Tungro if you're still having trouble, hit me up on the discord and I'll try to help out. I don't check my DMs enough here to respond quickly.