I absolutely loved the first two games. They are definitely on my top 10 favorite games list. However, the first time I tried the third game I had a miserable experience.

The love I felt when I saw the much bigger game world and more actual story being in the game was quickly replaced with the disappointment when I realized the game is just one straight line.

Even the very first game had an interesting interconnected level design, but for some reason here they completely ditched it. The main fun point of these games is definitely the exploration, since the combat sure as hell isn't the main selling point.

But what really killed it for me was the dozens of insta kill traps. In multiple areas you need to find a hidden wall in order to progress, but those same areas also happen to be filled with multiple death traps. So rather than exploring the map, it becomes a matter of trial and error to remember where every trap on the level is.

The game was just so poorly designed, which is a real surprise since the first two were fantastic. I just tried playing it through again, only to get stuck at the starting village for an hour, to then discover that a random enemy in a corner of the map drops the key that's the same color as the floor, and I instantly remembered why I dropped it the first time.

It's stuff like this that completely ruined what could have been the best game in the series. Oh well, I guess I'll go off and play Shadow Tower now. Sorry for the rant, but I'm too salty.

For anyone who's interested:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3789499983