You know those titles where it feels good to spend hours and hours without having to think too much, just launching attacks and combinations against enemies? It can be said that, in part, all ARPG / Hack’n’slash follow this line of thought, as long as its loop is fun and delivers something interesting in terms of equipment and an interesting set of skills.
Superfuse is an Hack’n’slash with a comic book style, where it’s possible to customize its skill system and build the character tailored to each player. In this sense and this being a title still in early access, it is possible to choose one of three different classes.
The player will step into the shoes of an Enforcer and be left on the surface of Eros, an asteroid with several important ores, where a colony resides and whose purpose will be to collect these same ores. The problem is that corruption has somehow made its way to this asteroid as well. The objective will be to fight against corruption, with the new powers acquired by the character chosen by the player. In this sense and without being anything special, the story is still interesting and the need to explore every nook and cranny to obtain the voice logs of every moment makes things somehow more interesting than your repetitive combat against enemies that are also repetitive. The entire extraterrestrial environment is a breath of fresh air for titles of the genre, where most of them address a more Dark Fantasy environment.
In terms of gameplay, for each skill, it is possible to collect randomly either from boxes, or from enemies, “fuses”, which are a kind of extra loot that makes it possible to transform the skill in question. For example, during my time at Superfuse, I decided to venture out with the Technomancer class, a character with arms reminiscent of Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius) from the Spider-Man universe. Still, in the field of classes, there is the Berserker, who applies attacks with his fists, and even the Elementalist, a kind of witch that applies magical attacks.
One of the main ideas of the Technomancer class is the possibility of creating minions that fight side by side with the player while being able to maintain a comfortable distance by shooting pieces of metal. The shooting skill is completely changeable, as well as the rest, depending on the “fuses” that were captured. In this sense, it is possible to modify the type of attack, such as creating a conductive line of lightning, applying “slow” to enemies, attacking backward and forwards at the same time, among others. It is important to maintain a comfortable balance between the applied attack and the mana expenditure that each fuse prints. I often found myself without mana to use even my normal attack.
Mixing to this fuse mechanic, there is, as it should be, the typical skill tree, which allows you to evolve the character, unlock new skills, and in that sense build the entire character to measure. That said, the combat could be more fun if its loop wasn’t super repetitive, all dungeons are super similar, with some differences as you venture deeper into your discoveries, but nothing more. Unfortunately, there is also little variety in terms of enemies, the same models are reused only with changes in levels to make things more difficult over time.
The quest system is quite short, featuring a few side quests. The inventory is quite small for the size that each piece of equipment can present and there is not much variety in terms of equipment, whether in aesthetic terms or in terms of its characteristics. Even so, we cannot forget that this is a title that, as I indicated earlier, is in early access.
Another problem I found, more visually, was getting stuck in some situations, and clicking on boxes or equipment on the ground can be somewhat inaccurate. Luckily I didn’t have any kind of performance issues.
Superfuse starts out good, fun and with a lot to do right from the start, but quickly falls into a loop of monotony at almost every level. This Early Access leaves something to be desired and maybe it’s better to wait for its full release.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game for PC provided by Raw Fury]
