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I'm currently getting the error "Failure: No Licenses" when trying to start the campaign. It seems to briefly attempt to load after selecting a starting chapter then hits that error.

I've tried this with both the Itch desktop app and a manual install and both seem to run into the same error.

UPDATE:

Looks like this has just been fixed!

I just finished the game and it was quite an experience. I really like the creepy unsettling mood it gives off.

I have to say though, you might need to do something about that level with the keys and the one right afterwards. I get from the dialogue that they're supposed to be a bit demoralizing, but there are practical limits to player patience and to be honest I can see a majority of playthroughs just ending on a bad note at either of those levels.

I just got to Gen2 on my latest run and again I notice that it's still a LOT better than Gen1 in terms of balance.

I know I've voiced this opinion before, but I still really think Gen1 needs a difficulty increase. I can understand trying to allow new players room to get used to the game, but most players and reviewers are only ever going to play Gen1 Normal which makes the enemies too weak for a lot of the gameplay to really work.

As it is, I think this is going to attract a some of criticism about enemies being pushovers and most of the weapons/gadgets being completely unnecessary.

That said, if you're really set on keeping the current difficulty curve, then consider maybe adding a "skip Gen1" option as a new game option.

Ok, unfortunately there does seem to be a more common gameplay issue related to the "high window" issue from my previous post.

Right now, melee enemies have no way of dealing with players on top of furniture or in spots they can't path to in general. Basically if you are sitting on top of a table or something the minions just get stuck near you with no way to respond, and you can just pick them off from safety. It looks really broken to be clearly visible in the same room as an enemy and for them to be pretty much unable to respond because you're standing on top of something.

Obviously elite vampires don't have this problem as bad as they can throw fireballs, but enemies like Minions (and possibly both of the "specials" though haven't had a chance to try it with them yet) are susceptible to this.

I guess as a possible solution, The Dark Mod (http://www.thedarkmod.com/) used to have this exact same problem with sword-wielding guards in that they'd be left with no reasonable options if they were trying to attack a player in a spot they couldn't path to. The solution that was implemented there was to give all melee NPCs a last resort low-damage range attack that they'd only use if they saw a player in a position they couldn't path to, which in that case was throwing small rocks. The rocks do very little damage and aren't anywhere near as good as "proper" ranged attack, but they reduce the awkwardness of the situation a lot and mean the player can't just sit there and eat rocks as long as they wanted.

Just got the first release candidate.

Thankfully I haven't run into any major bugs or anything like that, so most of this probably isn't too urgent.

Bugs and Technical Issues:

• High windows are exploitable because enemies often can't deal with players crouching in them. This might also apply to other high locations NPCs can't path to and are high enough to be outside their visual range, but not sure. They just keep helplessly clustering under their location. See screenshot for example: http://i.imgur.com/QOlMIL9.jpg
• Trees in The Howl may occasionally get NPCs stuck. It's kind of rare, but it can happen. See screenshot for example: http://i.imgur.com/XSsXNoB.jpg

Balance and Gameplay Issues:

• Changing ammo is slow once you get a third ammo type. Maybe there should be a "previous ammo" key that way you wouldn't have to switch more than once (assuming there's always 3).
  
• In my opinion the Katanas are overpowered with dealing so much damage and having such reach. I actually stopped using these because they made the game less fun for me. I guess other players may disagree with this however.
• Old Town levels can sometimes come out really long. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it can be noticeable. I suspect it might have something to do with the "Station" area of this level but I'm not entirely sure.
• Enemies sometimes spawn too close to the player, like around corners the player already checked.

Other Suggestions:

• Maybe have a listing of "plot events" somewhere, similar to the Yearbook but available before the end. Maybe a "news board" in the coffee shop.

I hadn't noticed this before, but since Right Click is used for Aim it pretty much doesn't do anything for a good number of the weapons.

Maybe it should do something for those weapons, otherwise it just ends up being wasted much of the time.

Alternatively, maybe Aim should switch default bindings with Shove. Shove is likely to be used more often and is more important than Aim most of the time. Also Shove's current default to Ctrl means it's not easy to run while using Shove, while Aim is less likely to be used while running.

The mission locations could probably benefit from some "flavor text" to describe what sort of location they're supposed to be.

Since each of the areas is supposed to represent some part of town, it would probably make sense for each area to have some lore and/or a brief history associated with it for world building purposes. It would also solidify early on that the different terrain types are tied to specific map locations.

Also it would help cut down on complaints like "why is this area all just rows of houses?" (of course it's rows of houses, it's a residential area!).

Have you considered having elite vampires alert nearby minions somehow?

Maybe it would be interesting if an elite vampire going into combat would alert nearby minions to attack its target, and an elite vampire getting silently killed caused nearby minions to investigate the spot as if they heard a noise.

That could be a neat way to give elites an buff of sorts would vary based something that is visible to the player. Also the player would have a some different options to deal with it, like drawing the minions away from the elites, taking out the nearby minions first, locking the minions out of a house, or quickly leaving the spot where they quietly killed the elite before the minions come along to see what happened.

I guess this would also come with a bit of a lore bonus as it could imply, or be explained as, a sort of one-way "link" between the elites and their minions.

It could be something worth considering if you haven't rejected it already.

Just got the Build 42.

Most of the major pathing issues seem to be resolved. I haven't run into nearly as many stuck enemies anymore.

Bugs and Issues:

• In "dark" runs of Logan's Woods it's brighter in the cavern than it is outside. This is rather strange.
• Enemies spawning in two-floor inclined classrooms in Lancaster State can end up in a position where they often don't engage the player at all unless directly attacked. Specifically they end up "at a desk" but facing backwards towards the desk behind and above them. It's possible that this awkward position simultaneously blocks their vision and prevents them from turning around unless alerted. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/JLdjosQ.jpg
• I've had a couple occasions where an enemy spawned right in front of me. If it helps, both occurred in The Howl and both involved tall grass.
• For some reason the issue of enemies sometimes spawning in illogical places really close to the player seems to have become much more noticeable in this build than it was before.

Suggestions:

• "Elite" vampires really suck at close combat, which could be a bit of an issue with how often the player comes into melee range in this game. They might need some help here.
• "Big Bads" might need something to differentiate them from "Elite" vampires other than being more durable.
• It might be nice if there were more reasons to pick a mission other than the ones with the most threat on the map, besides getting equipment and coffee shop NPCs.

Made a list of some re-occuring problem spots for NPC pathing I've seen so far:

• Benches in Lancaster State. Nearly all plays of this area have enemies walking into benches.
• The end of this type of wall in Lancaster State: http://i.imgur.com/s2xj4yg.jpg
• The interior furniture of inclined two-floor classrooms in Lancaster State.
• The doorways of single-floor classrooms in Lancaster State
• Second floor doorways in houses in The Howl, particularly the first door you see after coming off the stairs.
• Pumpkins outside houses in The Howl. Not too common because of their small size, but in can occasionally happen to chasing enemies.
• Coffins in general particularly those against indoor solid walls. Since the update increased the number of coffins this has become really noticeable.

A few more after playing Build 40 for a while.

Bugs:

• Enemies often get stuck on coffins.

General Issues:

• Good grief there are so many coffins now. It's like all the coffin-makers in town simultaneously had going out of business sales or something. Is this intended?
• Vials seem under-powered right now and don't compare well against the camera.
• "Weaknesses" for Big Bads don't seem to matter that much right now because if you're going to hit them with one of the three effects then you might as well hit them with all of them to make them easier to kill.

Some more.

Issues:

• Enemies can get stuck in places they might otherwise have no issue with if they get too crowded.
• Enemies may spawn too close to the player.
• The one directional "light fog" effect can be seen indoors and it's really strange. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/cl4qZqy.jpg
• IR Flash doesn't alert enemies? Honestly not sure whether this is intended, can vampires see IR in this world?

Suggestions:

• Doors should probably be stronger, being able to break them with two strikes from the stake seems strange.
• Enemies should probably start running rather than walking if they are being shot at. Walking slowly towards the unseen thing that's shooting at them is rather suicidal behavior.
• Perhaps the Tarrare could use a buff of some kind, as right now it doesn't have much going for it other than being able to soak up damage longer. Maybe make it immute to shove?

Ok, I just got to "gen2" and I guess the best way to describe my impressions of this is HUZZAH!

Reaching this point pretty much fixes all the major difficulty problems I've had with the game thus far. The stake is no longer overpowered, the special vampire types are actually threatening, and minions are no longer pointless.

I guess on that note my concern is here that it takes long enough to get here that a lot of players will likely not reach this point and just quit early assuming the balance is way off.

And some more.

Bugs and Issues:

• Double jump can often interfere with climbing since it also happens if you hold jump.
• Enemies can get stuck on corners if the player is just around said corner and really close. This often happens if the player is waiting around the corner to melee an enemy and the enemy detects them them before they've fully come far enough around to attack.
• Hostages/Civilians can be killed by shove. Not sure if this is intended behavior.

Suggestions:

• The "change ammo" animation should probably be cancel-able when switching more than once as switching ammo twice when you have three ammo types can be really slow.

Ok, some more.

Bugs and Issues:

• If there is more than one Big Bad then the Yearbook only shows the "dusted" message for one of them.
• Enemies often don't react when shot from a high position, like from a window.
• You can spam slide repeatedly to traverse the map quietly very fast without much of a penalty.

• Flashlight doesn't seem to alert enemies, which looks weird if you're sneaking up behind them with it on.
• Vials probably need a buff as their AOE seems rather small and Holy Water doesn't do enough damage to justify carrying it.

I just played a "year" on Normal (since that's what most players will probably start with) and here are my issues and suggestions so far.

Bugs:

• Locks can be easy-picked by clicking repeatedly and rotating the pick.
• Locked doors opened from the "inside" open but don't unlock, and are locked when they are next closed.
• Enemies and Hostages can get stuck on furniture and stairwell railings.
  
  • Thankfully for the most part this does not seem to happen with "walls" or other such more "solid" level geometry (with the exception of stairwell railing corners), just "furniture-ish" objects like crates and benches.

Suggestions:

• "Normal" difficulty is too easy to the point where it leaves a bad first impression. Since death isn't the end in this game maybe stepping Normal up one would make for a better first impression (EDIT: I was still on gen1 at the time, see later post)
• A "zoom" function would be nice for the outdoor areas. Binoculars maybe?
• A lot of rooms probably need more furniture in general.
  • If you need an excuse to have "out of place" furniture, how about having some "ransacked" or "destroyed" rooms with furniture obviously tipped over or otherwise not in a traditionally desirable state? I mean it seems a lot of the areas are overrun with monsters anyway.
• The stake feels somewhat overpowered against Minions on Normal as you can take out groups by just spamming it repeatedly, perhaps make the stake attack slower? (EDIT: Again, "gen1", see later post.)
• It seems that the Big Bad can use the same lines in a row in dreams, which is a bit odd.
• Perhaps doors shouldn't instantly open upon picking as you might not want to open a door at the exact moment it is picked.
• Perhaps opening a locked door from the "inside" should require unlocking (instant of course) before opening to make the locking behavior of doors read more clearly.
• Perhaps "hostages" should occasionally be added to other mission types? I mean if the area is overrun by vampires and their minions I think it would make sense that they would have the same "cower in place" behavior they do in "rescue" missions, not to mention it would be quick way to add "civilians" to other mission types.
• I feel like the "Patrol" mission does not make sense in its current form.
  • Since you can hit the markers without killing anything what are you "patrolling" for? Then again, I guess a pure extermination mission would be a bit boring.
  • Since we only have one field agent in this case (the player) a "patrol" strikes me as something you would only do in the absence of other more solid objectives, having them be equal options alongside things like "Steal" or "Hunt" doesn't make sense to me.
  • Possible Solution?: Maybe replace this with a mission where you're supposed to place something? Maybe traps, cameras, or vampire repellents or something like that.
    • Since the player doesn't directly determine what mission types are available, I don't think it would be exploitable to have a mission type with minimal risk of harm or death.
• I feel like the "Rescue" mission looks really awkward the way it works now.
• It's not clear why these people are standing around cowering and the vampires + minions are seemingly completely ignoring them.
• All these people are in completely different places and are often unattended? What's holding them there?
• Possible Solution?: How about having fewer "hostages", have them be unconscious/incapacitated, and require the player to carry them out
• This would provide a pretty logical excuse for the vampires and minions to not interact with them.
• Avoids pathing issues of many hostages trying to run away back through the level.
• If you need an excuse to have them be unconscious, present them as being harvested for blood. As an added bonus this would add a little something theme-wise.

I'll post more later as I play some more.