Early Access has started for action RPG game Superfuse, a combination of Diablo 2-style dungeon looting and the comic book-inspired style of the Borderlands series. Early Access being what it is, the game is still in active development – although it seems the launch has been a bit rockier than developer Stitch Heads anticipated. As the studio rushes to deploy some initial patches, its co-founder has personally written to fans to reassure them that this “love letter to Diablo 2” will get the attention that it needs.
I had a chance to check out Superfuse in a closed-door demo at GDC last year, and it’s a fun new spin on the hack-n-slash dungeon crawl format. As you level up your character in this “Aztec cyberpunk” world, you get to actually design your abilities: using the skill creator system, I could add and edit skills’ effects, add triggers, and more. It puts an almost unheard-of amount of control in players’ hands, and that room for experimentation is a lot of fun.
At the moment, however, it’s a bit tough to play. Stitch Heads has a list of known issues that it’s been working on in an “all hands on deck” capacity since the January 31 Early Access launch, including crashes in the solar system map, skill responsiveness, missing settings for FOV and UI scaling, inventory and stash problems, and more.
“Superfuse is a love letter to Diablo 2,” writes Stitch Heads co-founder and creative director Tim Baijens in a Steam update posted February 1. “It is our homage to the ARPGs that came before us because we fell in love with that genre and wanted to be a part of it.”
Baijens says his team is reading players’ feedback, and that he encourages players to continue providing bug reports and suggestions. The studio is looking into community ideas like controller support, improvements to the endgame, and adding variety to environments and enemies.
Patch 0.1.1 is out now, and it addresses a host of issues players reported in each playable class, with the HUD and item tooltips, skill unlocks, audio, and much more.
Check out our list of the best games like Borderlands if you need more ways to scratch that violence and loot itch.