OverClockT Review 

OverClockT has great bones and a strong core concept, but at its current stage it feels somewhat incomplete, however has a lot of potential.

One of my favourite touches was the Easter egg where the loading screen changes after completing the game on hard mode. Small details like that show care and creativity from the development Team. The room design is also very well done, and the enemy visuals look great overall  especially enemies like the slimes, which fit the aesthetic nicely.

The pacing, however, feels a bit uneven. The game starts off quite slow, then ramps up very quickly, only to become easier again on the final floor  not due to difficulty, but because it turns into more of an enemy swarm. Enemy spawning can feel unfair at times, with enemies appearing too close and surrounding you immediately (for example, 8 enemies spawning directly at the door you enter), rather than being more spaced out with a mix of close and distant threats.

The combat system has some strong elements. The parry system feels smooth and satisfying, especially against projectiles and smaller melee enemies, and the animations as well as successful parry sound are excellent. However, it often doesn’t feel very rewarding, as it’s usually safer and easier to simply dash or move up or down. Most of the time, parrying felt more useful for regaining health than as a core combat mechanic. Parrying against slimes and mutant enemies also feels inconsistent slime parries in particular feel off compared to how precise parries feel against other enemies. Additionally, the mutant enemy can hit you from very far away, even when its attack animation doesn’t visually connect, which feels frustrating.

Invincibility frames could greatly improve the game’s flow. Currently, you can get hit immediately after a successful parry if two projectiles arrive at slightly different speeds, or get hit multiple times in quick succession after being damaged once. This makes combat feel less fair than it should.

The HUD feels very minimal sometimes almost barren with only health, stamina/overheat, money, and occasional boss health bars. While a minimal HUD is generally good for this type of game as it keeps the screen clear, having three stamina/overheat bars that function the same way feels unnecessary and confusing. Clearer explanations would help a lot. The perk descriptions especially need better wording. I initially thought the green and orange segments referred to room types (normal rooms vs boss rooms), when they actually represent overheat/stamina states. A short tutorial or prompt explaining that when you shoot first it is green then after continuous use turns orange or shop rooms/treasure rooms afew changes like that would go a long way. A simple “Press Tab to open the map” prompt would also help, as I didn’t realise the map existed until I had already been lost for a while.

The blue shop floors and golden rooms don’t feel very rewarding to find. In many cases, the gold treasure rooms feel less rewarding and exciting than the blue shop room. A checkpoint system tied to shop floors could improve how rewarding it feels to find one significantly and reduce frustration from dying.

Another area with huge potential is lore and story. Even a simple narrative hook such as your ship being infested, a rescue mission gone wrong, or exploring an abandoned vessel would make the experience far more engaging and give context to the gameplay however a cutscene would make you feel more immersed.

Finally, restarting the entire run upon death feels discouraging. While roguelike elements are expected, the lack of progression or checkpoints makes dying feel more punishing and demotivating as the gameplay loop of current is repetitive after afew runs and often makes me hesitant to start another run.

Overall, OverClockT has a solid foundation and a lot of promise. With more content (additional floors, enemies, bosses, lore), clearer UI explanations, improved enemy spawning, and some quality of life changes, this could easily become a great game to play. That and possibly doing that with your friends huge potential.

As it stands, I’d personally rate it 4–6/10. With further development, it could very realistically reach 6–8/10. I’d be happy to pay $2 AUD on Steam, or $1.50 on sale, given its current state and future potential.