Ok so I gave Siralim a go in anticipation to see where I stood for part 2. I played for around 2.5 to 3 hours. While that's not long, it's not short either, and I'm a believer that any game, particularly mobile game should have you wandering into its grips by then or...its time to move on. So, what did I find. Man, it's a massive grind. EVERY advancement is a grind. And basically the best perks and things to spend your level up points on, are basically those perks which are oriented towards helping to lessen the grind. The game is about collecting creatures sure, but collecting creatures takes 3 of their cores. That isn't so Grindy, i didn't find obtaining the cores to hard. But then the game is about also developing your castle. To do that, requires you to go and kill many creatures to basically gain enough resource to complete the build. Now that part sure is a grind! The game advancement seems to be built around those construction rituals heavily, and they require that you go out and fight the same battles over and over to complete the build each time. The combat itself, could be somewhat strategic. Each creature has one ability basically. If you know what those abilities are then you can think about what it might mean to you in this battle. For instance the minatour gets attack buffs each time it takes a hit, so maybe it's worth hitting him last, or killing him off star if you have a hunter creature like I did that basically always hits every creature at once. Knowledge of the abilities of each creature is what I can see makes the combat somewhat strategic potentially. But did I need it at all in my 2.5 hours. No. I mashed the A button and got through. Some might be thinking that perhaps I stayed in the one realm and didn't see much. Well, on some runs I went many realms deep, and ok the difficulty went up, but the strength of my creatures went up also, so really, it wasn't much different to being back on the first realm (dungeon level), with weak creatures. I did die a couple of times, but that was nothing more than a shame, and inevitable for anyone at various points in dungeon delving, and what's the real shame, ultimately meant more grinding to get back to where I was. This game is for those that love the grind, and crazy as I think it is, I know you guys are out there! I got to the point where at level 15 the game asked if I will buy, and if I don't, then my progress is halted. Fair enough, but at $8 I wasn't feeling it, for reasons explained above. I'm sure I'll be missing out on seeing SOME aspects of the game opening up by not continuing, sure, but, let's face it, that will only come after a heavy grind. If you come from the Pokemon or shin Megan's tensei heritage, then this is worth a spin, but if grinding is a thing that makes you constantly think "why am I doing this", then I don't think this one is for you.
Talbs, agree, this probably isn't for you, though there are a lot of other positive reviews in the previous 90 pages. I have sunk about 50+ hours into Siralim all told and yes it can get grindy, but you hit the nail on the head - it's all about the monsters and the different combos and then equipping the right artefact and "How deep can I go...." I find that fun. Siralim 2 is basically an improvement on the original in every way yet it has the same mechanics underlying it - though there is a lot of new stuff to do and a lot of new monsters and even Gods. I won't post imps here for the PC game but knowing Zack, the Dev, and his love and support for the original game, you can bet that Siralim 2 will get the same treatment as well - and that counts for a lot in my book.
The dev said on the Thylacine forums that he will try to have it out on iOS the same day as Android, in late August, but He is sure Apple will do their best to screw it up.
Yup lol good old App Store I really can't wait for this, Siralim is one of my all time favorites and as long as games like this exist There is hope for mobile gaming.
Siralim 2 released on Android August 25. I am sooo excited to play it! Since it was submitted to Apple at the same time... We should probably have it by Christmas!
A very large update for Siralim is coming soon! Read all about it here: http://www.thylacinestudios.com/free-content-updates-for-siralim-and-siralim-2-are-coming/ All the player and NPC sprites have been overhauled, and 12 new creatures are being added. There are also dozens of quality-of-life improvements to make the game feel better to play.
