Overall, I was exceptionally disappointed in Etrom. I wanted so desperately to love this game, as it seemed to have all the makings of a rich, rewarding play experience. (Post-apocalyptic dystopian future?? Sign me up!!) However, the ocean of poor design ideas slays all of the potential before it can even begin. I could forgive PM Studios if their only shortcoming was a failure to live up to their ambition, but in this game, they've tallied up a lengthy list of flaws that reads off like a spreadsheet of what not to do when coding a game: poor camera controls, no keyboard re-map functionality, lack of avatar variety, low-grade graphics, insufficient level variance, repetitious enemies, even more repetitious sewer crawls, no AI at all, and poor overall pacing on a general scale. This isn't even counting the bugs still crawling around, like the "vanishing ammunition" glitch that removes your ability to use a ranged weapon, the audio settings that don't save and need to be re-set every time you load the game, or even the powers that just don't work at all, like the "invisibility" power. In the end, I still applaud these stalwart developers for their superb backstory and written lore, but that is the only true plus to Etrom: The Astral Essence, and thus, I cannot recommend this game to discerning fans of the action-RPG genre.