You know, I've been putting this review off for a while now, I am not sure how it's going to come out for I've went thru a number of completely different feelings towards this game. I will try to reconstuct them now, while the memories are still fresh.
My first acquaintance with SK took place back in 2011, back then I was both a new and a heavy TF2 player and I'd work hard even to get a simple craft hat, I was told that you get one for completing some achievement in this game, a Spiral Sallet I believe, so I did head over and got it, unfortunately I did also have the misjudgement to craft it together with another hat of mine into something so appalling I prompty deleted it. The game didn't really catch on to me.

The time went on. We survived 21/12/12.

In the year 2013 I started playing it again, I think I did make it pass Tier 2, can't say much else, my memories are pretty void as to why, what sparked my interested, anyway I decided to give it another try. By the way, just in case you are wondering how is it that I know what years things took place, I checked achievements, the earliest ones date back to 2011, some were unlocked in the 2013, some are recent.

Speaking of recent.

If my brain doesn't lie to me, about 3 weeks ago I had a little flashback, so my memory of this game have come alive once again.
I've deleted my old character and started off fresh, this time paying all attention I could, I really took this game seriously this time. Very too seriously actually, with pretty interesting consequences.

I developed an addiction, I spent hours playing it daily, like 7, it was pretty bad. My first 3* handgun choice was so bad I sold it to Basil just to get it out of my sight and out of my heart, I had something rapid firing in mind, didn't have much knowledge and got an 3* shadow alchemer, what was actually 2 shot weapon, what a disappointment that was, however it taught me a valuable lesson.
I realised it's better to know what you are doing, so I begun reading wiki pages day and night, every little detail, every aspect, I wouldn't make a step without getting relevant info off a respective wiki page, also I had a lot of question wiki wouldn't have the answers for, so I sought out help from more expierenced users.

For about a week or so, this game was more important to me than sleeping or even eating, it really was pretty bad.

My personal goal at the time was getting to the Earth's core, I made sure not to spoil it for me, I was wondering if it would be anything like I envisioned it, however there was a problem in the way, to get to tier 3 I had to have full 4* gear, I had a cobalt helm and some angelic coat, I didn't really care what gear path I took, I just rushed and got any gear I could find cheap. However it wasn't 4* and I had pretty bad luck at getting elite orbs and I needed a bunch of those, like 7 I believe. You guessed it, in-game purchases time! Yes, it was the first time I spent money in this game, 5 USD I believe, to give myself a little boost, or so have I justified it. That was the first time. First time.

I did get the gear and also I did get my first gun I actually liked, I got an Antigua, no I didn't get it myself, I paid a person to unbind one for me, which was a pretty nervous expierence on my side, since You pay people up front to unbind the item, we will get to that later. All in all, the guy didn't scam me I did get the Antigua and was very happy with it, later I turned it into an elemental one. Just a side note later in the game I did get one myself, bloody jelly palace runs, and turned it into a piercing one.
Actually, expanding on the Antigua business, that was also my first real betting expierence in this game, before that I'd just buy stuff like orbs for the B/O price. There was one for sale pretty cheap, but it had bets and it was Medium, so that ment it could last for what, 6 hours? I was pretty determined to get it so I kind of wanted to stay up, but then I realised I am better off getting some rest, unless I want to risk having an aneurysm and dying on spot, I was quite tired and weary of the day.
I was outbid.

The core. The moment have come, I think in about 70 hours of gameplay I got to the core aaaaand (Spoiler alert) [spoiler]I was a little bit underwhelmed. I imagined it something like a big, green, wooden pulsating ball of stuff with roots branching out everywhere, lots of crystals illuminating, some kind of natural light source, birds, uplifting music, but no it was a pretty utiliterian looking giant ball with cracks in it, I assume for cooling, a lot of mechanic sounds, all in all it resembled a nuclear reactor to me, probably exactly what it was. Well, then again, it's supposed to be an artificial planet, so my expectations were a bit out of place.[/spoiler]

Having achieved my personal goal my will to play the game did shrink a bit and my goodness gracious I wish it ended there, for what came in next was something from a madman's LSD induced dream.

First off, I invested 25 USD into the game. It took me about 5 mins to decide, not because it was a clearly good decision, but because I didn't much thinking into it, also there was an item I craved and I knew it would take me a lot of money / weeks of grinding to get anywhere near it. To cut a long story short, I liked to bash things a lot with me shield, so the moment I saw my friend use one of the the tortodrone line, I knew I had to get one. I choose the elemental one because I knew my next goal was getting a Snarbolax armor set, we will get to that. It took me 7k energy out of the 9.5k I had from the Battle bundle, as well as a pinch of courage to pay 4k up front to unbind it, we will get to unbinding later, he says, for the 2nd time in this review stroke story. So yeah, 7k energy well spent, I don't regret it however, I did enjoy the shield very much, was pretty proud of having one, it was an annual event weapon so it was unobtainable at the time, quite a rare thing.
It doesn't end here. Oh no.

As I already have mentioned, my next goal was getting a Snarbolax armor set, which of course required a trip to the mysterious Shadow lair, which on its part required a Shadow key I already had! Pure coincidence, I bought it from a guy I knew, as well as a bunch of other stuff, I actually got the shadow key before I knew what it was used for but I thought it might be useful to open something, so I did go ahead and traded for it.
I got a hold of the Ash tail armor, leveled it up to the required level 10, double checked all the materials I needed to craft it, was pretty lucky on the orbs' getting front, I got like 11 of them just by leveling up the armor, doing the tier 3 runs.

Then came the part that I now like to call the beginning of the end. I knew I had to have a good team to take to the shadow lair with me, one, because I did some heavy research on what was waiting for me there, 2 because I actually went to the lair before! Yes, shortly after achieving tier 3 clearance, on one of the runs, a random guy came in, waving about his shadow key and he actually used the bloody thing, by the way that was before my quest for the Snarby armor. It was a traumatic expierence. We didn't make it even pass the first depth, it was the Snarby one / elite, just in case you are wondering. I spent 11 sparks reviving me and my team, hoping we will get thru, we did not. I felt really sorry for the guy, he did indeed spend a 1.900 ce worth key and got absolutely nothing out of it, maybe me feeling guilty for not being able to help my team much was the reason I was ok spending all those sparks. We left.

For my own quest, it didn't take me long to realise I'd have to have an entrance fee. 1, it would be fair for everyone to pay the cost, 2, people are usually motivated to do things better when there's something at stake, in this case, the fee, 3, in case everything failed and people would just leave in the middle of the fight for w/e reason, I would atleast have fees to keep, 3/4 the costs, and not just loose the key, that would have been disasterous.
I took both the AH prices and the store prices in account and came up with the fee of 25k, which is rather low, considering the math: usual AH go price is 130k cr, /4 ~ 33k cr would be the fair fee for everyone. I first tried 25k however to see if people would be more interested. I got the first guy almost the second I posted the invitation on the Steam / SK forums, however he wasn't very much seen online by me, probably due to the timezone differences. On the said thread, a guy gave me a couple of rather nifty advices on the SL and the game itself, we made casual friends later, he didn't mind me bugging him about stuff I didn't know, plus I always liked idea of having a mentor. I feel like I should mentioned his name now, Sebastian, there, everyone's happy now. Also he did say he'd be glad to join us so we were only 1 guy short.

I met a random stranger and that random stranger have randomly uttered he's looking forward to get a Snarby set and I thought he's the guy we need. What it turned out to be was actually a huge waste of time, he spent about 20 mins trying to justify as to why he can't pay the fee, going all the way from that he doesn't have the crowns, then that he shouldn't pay and that I should let him go just this once, that we are best friends and all, then perpertuating this mess into pretty much hinting that he thinks I will run off with his crowns. Unfortunately, I've already went thru friends-that-only-friends-because-I-pay-for-their fun time, it left a scar, so none of this worked on me, also principles can be very strong with me, eventually he said oh I can actually pay it. You'd think our team was ready, no it bloody wasn't. The very first guy was never seen online again and the one I just described cancelled on us and went did it with someone else.
2-3 days have gone by.

There were some other people somewhat interested, all in all, as the text is being written, my Snarby armor goal stands unaccomplished.
What happens next is beyond what I can comprehend with my brain. I bought the Starter Pack, so ye, now its 50 usd spent. I have little to no idea what caused me to do that. Actually scratch that, I do have a vague understanding why I bought 7.5 ce with seemingly no purpose, I did want to get an Obsidian Edge, but that wasn't the main cause for sure. It was more to do with my subconsciousness making its own preparations for what was coming.
Deep inside, I realised that my will to play the game have gone thru the floor, but I'd still would come on and join a party and grind Tier 3 and gasp every time I'd open a loot crate. That was more or an involuntary action if anything, an aftermath of a once obsessive addiction I was once enveloped by. I felt compelled to play the game, without it actually being fun or enjoyable.

I think we will go a bit off topic here and say that, well, anyone who's ever had anything good in their life will know that good things rarely end seamlessly good. Whatever that is good you were fortunate enough to have had, spanning from a simple strawberry icecream to a love affair, in the end you are usually left face to face with the feeling of either wishing there was more, or in other cases, left with a bitter taste of loss of what was once precious and important to you, now serving as another reminder that nothing lasts forever, as well as feeling guilty for wishing things you once held dear has never came to pass.
Bet anyone's reading this now going "the hell is he going with this".

It all had to go down in flames, that would be the only way I would quit this game with no remorse and I got exactly what I wished for. The shards of my former obsession have found an embodiement in me getting ASI VH Brandish by crafting, I spent an hour at the AH house making sure nobody outbet my 3x bets, I won them all, also had an extra brandish I got at some point I don't remember. I took 4x swords and 9500 energy to Punch for the last showdown, as I hoped, I got nothing higher than ASI Med. I just blew about 700k cr into the sky and I felt nothing at all.

I was free of my obsession.

All-in-all, it was great while it lasted. It did make me go thru an array of emotions, even as I was writing this article of mine. I am not sure if I will ever want to play this game again, maybe in a few days, maybe in a year, perhaps not another time in my life, can't really tell.
If anything, this experience was re-learning that's not the goal but the path that is important. It's something we all learned years, decades ago, but just need to be reminded every once in a while. I am cool with that.
This was supposed to be a review on steam you know, I do have the feeling I will have to come up with something else. Yes I know I've not covered many crucial things you'd normally do in a critical, well thought-thru, unbiased and well organized review, not even ones I said I'll get back to in this article, that will have to wait for the steam version aaaand will probably be none of those things >.< There are over 2500 words in this text if anyone's wondering.