u/Ashuxyo

From what I've read on this forum, a lot of people seem to dislike the way splicing is handled. I do too. While I understand it is meant to encourage players to try new builds, I think it actually does the opposite. Once you've unlocked a few genetics, your chance to get two that synergize with each other is pretty slim. I feel like I would be more open to trying a specific build if I could select specific genes myself, rather than wait for the game to offer them to me at random.

I also understand that this system is there to balance the game, but balancing is the very issue this system lacks. Some genes are extremely good and actually define a run while others barely change anything (Standard (+15hp), Chosen (3 legendary evolutions at lvl 3), Expert (specs one lvl earlier) have practically no effect 5 minutes into a run).

Brotato, a very similar action roguelike, offers many different starting modifiers that define your run. I don't think they must have the same system; differences in the genre are absolutely welcome, and I like the idea of genes being the starting base modifiers. But the current way it is handled prompts players to force restart a game by killing themselves, or by playing with a suboptimal build.

I have seen the argument that players "optimize the fun out of games", but it is completely out of place for roguelikes, games which are built on the idea of optimizing a build.

If this sentiment is shared by the community, maybe the devs should reconsider the way splicing works.