First, thank you to the developers for letting me try the game for free. It takes tremendous effort and hard work to create a game, let alone an entire world and it takes courage to share it with others and invite criticism, reviews and opinions. I really appreciate this, and that's why i'm taking the time to write my thoughts down.
Second, for those that are interested, here are my current character stats: Reached level 10, Currently 3,500 Currants in my wallet, earned 54 achievements and learned 23 skills. Total play time of around 12 hours.
I'm very sorry to say that, despite a lot of effort on my part, I simply can't seem to find much to like about this game . I have played many, many games throughout the years. First person shooters, RPGs, Strategy Games, MMORPGs, Puzzle Games, Action Games, "Casual Games" and "Hardcore Games." In short, I don't want people to think that I don't like this game because I play "other" games and this one just doesn't fit my play style or preferences. I play such a large variety of games, that it's pretty hard to find something that doesn't fit with what I enjoy. That being said, the biggest problem with Glitch is that it doesn't fit any style of gaming well. It does a few things well, and some things OK, but it ultimately fails at being anything of substance.
It's not an action game. Besides running and jumping, there's not much to do except point and click.
It's not a game of skill. Everything in the game is very easy to do and the only "effort" that is required is spending time. As long as a player is willing to travel to different parts of the world, they can get the resources required to create what is needed or complete any quest.
It's not a game of rich storytelling. After 12 hours in the game, I know almost nothing about the game world, the Gods that created it, the mythology or history behind it, the stories of the people and inhabitants in it, or much of anything else. I just know that the world has a lot of pigs, butterflies and chickens. Some with great names.
It's not a game of challenging puzzles. I have not been able to find anything in the game that challenges me to think in creative and out of the box ways. No puzzles to solve at all. No hidden secrets or riddles or anything. The closest the game comes to being an interesting puzzle is trying to figure out all of the menus and items required to make a particularly large salad. More tiresome than challenging from a creative thought perspective.
It's not a game of imagination. The environments looks very similar. There are very few differences in the flora and fauna. I traveled street after street after street. Everywhere i went, i met the same animals and trees. Each one allowed me only a few simple interactions, which, must be admitted are actually all the same. If you "pet" something or "nibble" it or "massage" it, the result is almost identical...just a green bar that slowly fills as you complete the action. Despite imaginative names for interactions, the interactions themselves are rather repetitive and dull. I petted hundreds of pigs, collected over 500 grain from chickens, watered over 100 trees, and completed many, many more actions, but after a while it became more of a repetitive grind than an imaginative interaction with a creative world.
It's not a game of social interaction. To be fair, it tries very hard to be, but it also fails in many respects. There are very few reasons to talk to people except to complete a few specific quests. Talking with people makes it hard to navigate the world, so that you always have to choose between talking and playing. There are only 4 buttons for emotions (1,2,3 and 4) and those "emotions" are just a few facial expressions. Players are left to typing out things like "LOL" and "OMG" and "THANKS!" instead of being able to make their avatars actually perform actions that show off these emotions. Interestingly enough, a game like World of Warcraft (which is focused on combat and killing and looting) actually has a better system for social interactions, helping players express feelings through commands, creating large city hubs that bring people together, having a robust marketplace and auction house, creating large guilds and rewarding people for joining them and creating difficult challenges that can only be overcome in groups and even helping to place you in a group if you are too lazy to look for one. I really thought that Glitch would be a game where one could form great social friendships and have amazing interactions, all without swords and axes and fighting...unfortunately, Glitch simply doesn't have the tools for this to happen.
It's not a game of visual variety or excitement. Although sporting a very attractive visual style, the game world itself is ultimately rather dull. With hundreds of streets to traverse, I had expected to see a large variety of...well...variety. Instead, it was the same items, textures and visuals recycled over and over again. That makes the long walk necessary to get from region to region quite daunting. I found myself on auto-pilot much of the time as the dull scenery blurred right by me.
I am, ultimately, very sad to say all of these things. I had been swept off of my feet by Glitch. The trailer made the game seem so fresh and so different and so exciting and innovative. After signing up, I couldn't wait to start playing. The demand was so high that I had to spend a whole day waiting, and I kept checking my e-mail every 30 min to see if the invitation had arrived. I eagerly jumped into the game world and began exploring, hoping to find a new, entertaining and amazing gaming experience. After a few hours, a little voice in my head started saying that things were getting somewhat repetitive and boring. I simply ignored it and kept playing. I downloaded the special iPhone app and even learned skills while away from the game. I kept growing my character, kept getting achievements, kept learning new skills and most importantly I wandered from street to street to street. Still, that little voice kept getting louder. No matter how much I did in the game, very little changed. The same actions and gameplay I experienced at level 1, I was doing at level 10 (just faster). Today, I decided to travel half way across the game world in search of variety. I thought, "surely across the sea there will be different towns and buildings and animals and plants." Unfortunately I was completely wrong. The same pigs and butterflies I had left in one region, greeted me in the next. They were very polite. They were also very dull and repetitive. And ultimately, I am very sad to say that Glitch likewise a dull experience.
I have one hope left for this game - maybe someone here can tell me something I have missed. Something I did not try. Some fun activity or game or challenge or puzzle that I entirely missed. Maybe at level 30 you finally get a flying carpet, and get to ride it to a space station and meet martians who take you on a safari hunt where you have to catch shiny insects. Or maybe at level 30 you still water the same trees and milk the same butterflies. I have a feeling that it's the latter, but you can let me know if i'm wrong.
And again, thank you to the developers for letting me try this experience completely free of charge. I appreciate the chance to spend time in your world. You did say that the world will always grow and expand and change. For the sake of the idea that is Glitch, I really hope it does.