Post-campaign / early mapping critique

Close to 90 hours and I have to say, this game does have some issues. Focusing on negatives, but it's not like the game itself is bad. Otherwise there wouldn't be so many hours put into it :)

1) One-hit deaths - I see that this has been mentioned a lot, but adding my voice as well. It's not a fun mechanic, especially for mapping. Most of my deaths are just sudden - full life/ES and then in a split second dead. I don't even know what killed me.

On the other hand with effects like corpse explosion etc. that mobs do from outside the screen - there needs to be a cue otherwise the death feels cheap and unavoidable. That is not a good design, if I have a way of avoiding but don't that's on me. A surprise death - that's no fun. I was just being attacked by a ranged mob that I didn't see from the edge of the screen - mob saw and attacked, but it was still not on my screen.

2) 1 try per map... Don't feel like this is ok with 1-hit-KO mechanic. At least 2 tries for now until 1-hit-KO is addressed

3) Visual clutter on screen - the game uses a lot of effects, combine it with flame wall and 15+ minions and I honestly sometimes have difficulty finding my mouse cursor (even the large green one)... Add to that AoE that are on the ground and I often just get killed simply because I didn't see the attack through the clutter. It looks pretty, but from gameplay perspective it's horrible... Dodging into combat instead of away is constant if you don't see the cursor :) + the map on lighter terrain is barely visible (e.g. desert)

4) Boss encounters are guilty as well - some have a clear AOE markings of where attack will hit, and some don't (act2 end-boss or the one that kidnaps Alva are guilty, I don't see where exactly to dodge...)

5) Crappy UI in terms of explaining things - if not for external sources it would be VERY difficult to make heads or tails from some skills etc. since it's not explained very well in-game how they work / synergise - I still have no idea how to use Death Storm, sometimes I have a charge, sometimes I don't, lol, a lottery for me... You can't say 'git gud' if we don't have the info, it's on us if we don't read, but if the information is not there that's a different story and it's on devs

6) Act2/3 world screens are abysmal - it's just bad design if I need to constantly check where is the town (act2) or how to get where I want and when I want (act3). I get the idea - past and present, but it should be streamlined... It's one thing to be a difficult game and one to be annoying. Same with a slight change from normal to cruel, at first I thought - nice, new locales etc. but shuffling the map just because?

7) Minion specific - their AI is lackluster, at least make it so one minion does not block other from passing through them, in tight spaces that is life or death issue, combine with 1-hit-ko and you see my point

7a) Mobs also seem to prefer targeting the player character instead of closest minion / minion that deals damage to them. It's a bit strange as if they are hard-coded to do so, again with minions blocked in tight spaces... When I realised that I see it in almost every pack I encounter. Minions go in first and before I even launch an offensive skill I get jumped on - mobs should be on the minions since I haven't attacked yet. And I tested with yellow mobs as well, once locked in even if I don't fight it and let minions do all the work it will still target me so I'm basically kiting for my minions, that's counterintuitive.

8) Pain offering seems broken and target clerics/mages only, unless they are not present then it goes for snipers. Either always go for summon that costs the least spirit so we can summon 1 more or closest to mouse cursor.

9) Campaign progression has a strange curve, due to the fact that on normal you lack skill gems it's more difficult than on cruel. I had problems on normal, but with all skills slotted per my build I absolutely burned through cruel and it wasn't even a challenge compared to normal when I had to ask for help on A2/A3 end-bosses. Should be the other way if anything.

10) Temporary minions are not great since you need a corpse, now where do I get a corpse during a boss battle? They do summon some adds, but they need to be dead first so... It was annoying when starting the game

11) Vaal temple mechanic with burning sun in the middle is also a great example of what not to do - the mechanic itself is ok, but please explain why I'm dying, I died for no apparent reason a few times, only to discover why from external source. In the heat of the battle it's easy to overlook such things - my health is getting low, surrounded by mobs, I'm getting attacked. The combat is fast-paced so I'm not looking at my surroundings to check what's going on. Clear explanation OR a showcase of that happening sooner and easier on the plaer - so we don't get surprise deaths. It's not a SNES game that artificially needs to extend game play by being obnoxiously difficult. The mechanic is fine, but explain it better

12) XP loss, not yet a big problem for me since I'm not 90+ but I see how it can be a huge turn-off combined with 1-hit-KO. It's just not fun to insta-die just because. Fail-state cost should be there, but how the fail-state occurs is a huge negative. Maybe allow for body retrieval for much less XP penalty?

13) Map terrain / statues sometimes block vision and only disappear when directly behind. Maybe make it disappear further from the screen center or make it transparent at least and then disappear when directly behind?

14) Game overall seems badly optimised, runs well on 4060TI, but FPS should not dip when there's a lot on screen, it's EA/alpha so for now it's acceptable, but in the long run some optimisation would be welcome


15) Love the mob visual variety - compared to other H&S games where you get the samy-looking mobs it's a welcome change