Talented Review
I picked up Talented during the Steam summer sale as a $5 addition to some other items in my cart. The game is simple and somewhat mindless but provides a fun pick-up-and-put-down experience.
The game appears to be the first and only creation from TurtleFox studios. Game play wise, you're a single character in the center of four corridors. Enemies spawn in waves and you can use a combination of attacks and skills to defeat them. Defeated enemies grant experience which can be used to unlock new perks for that run.
The talent tree, where you spend your experience, is randomly generated and reset each run. There are a combination of basic skills to increase attack speed or damage as well as new skills or new mechanics. Each run ends up feeling unique and is often shaped by whichever skills are found close to the beginning.
The game does a lot of things right despite being fairly basic. The challenge level can be controlled with an unlocked mastery system and having each run start fresh helps maintain replay value.
While the game is currently in early access the main game loop is finished and there is enough content to make the purchase feel worthwhile. The developers hint at new features like endless mode before a final 1.0 release.
Certainly Talented is no triple A video game, but as far as small, cheap and interesting games go it is worth playing. I've found it a good game to play while listening to a podcast or as a quick divide between work time and personal time at the end of the day.
Rating: 3/4 - I'd be happy if more games were like this.
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2435090/Talented/