As new player nailing about the first 15 levels in my initial session there is allot to like coming from a D1 1996 player in the GenX category.
Where does this game sit? As a dark theme, gritty ARPG possibly the 4th game ever behind D1, POE, Grim Dawn the other Arpgs are mostly over bright kiddie parks such as TQ, TL, NOX and the likes.
I like:
Gold Pick - automatic up by walking past
Feeling powerful early - good pace and levels to get past the nuisance level skill/ratio restriction quickly to get into true character optimization and build depth in the way anyone might want to play
Good loot - loot drops regularly and does not feel OP or UP and suits the level you are at
Smooth Play - does not feel jerky or cumbersome which makes you feel more immersed and in touch with your character goals
Playstyle options: Online Multi and Solo modes + hardcore options are great. If you add LAN you will do what the market has been asking for at least 15 years as no other game has done this since d2. Allow box copy + additional $ on cosmetics and you will get supported quite well.
Minimap colour design and information GUI is excellent definitely as a seasoned player do not have to read the manual on the interface at all. Simplistic and non fancy is great.
Pace is great - feel reasonably powerful early in the game and does not feel like a chore to get to skill unlocks - which in other games feels like you have to go through a 10-24 hours of game time chore to get to the skills you want to use.
Random Dungeons General Map Area design - areas not being the same every-time is good
Suggestions noted based on my limited game play so far:
Add zone names to the mouse over of transition doorways between level s
Add key bind for stand and deliver attacks - possibly some players would like a stand still and swing button which is typically the shift key in other games of a similar type = character swings the weapon and cant move when shift and left mouse button is held. This allows for reassignment of other skills to right mouse button but provides a mechanic to allow stick in mud combat without pressing a skill key.
The whole idea of arpg on pc is people might like to hold a liquid refreshment of an invigorating nature in one hand and play the game with the other by using mouse with 2 clicks and a free hand occasionally to fire a skill in between.
A personal wish is that range, aoe, spell, totem skills will smash the breakables in range so the player does not have to be a bore walking over to each box and is forced to have the weapon swing assign to a skill button to action a break. Enough time is wasted picking up and assessing drops without the nomadic effort to hit the breakables to expose loot at point blank every-time.
Mob Colour Schemes - Purple on black is hard to see visually - they look like blobs and definition is hard to discern which makes the artwork perception to appear sloppy and that is not the case just the outputted effect. It would also help to review the colouring on those mobs that are mostly dark so we can see the effort that has gone into your artwork.
Great game lots to like!!! deffo a D2 contender more so than anything else 