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chuckroMonster Slayers - This is a game of card-based dungeon-delving; there’s roguelike permadeath but you earn fame and items on each run to make the next easier. I wouldn’t have thought this would be my thing, but it moves very quickly and the advantage each fame-based bonus confers to you (not to mention the benefits to retaining high-level weapons from run to run) is totally noticeable. I was reliably reaching the final boss after maybe a dozen runs, and that only took a few hours. (It was another few hours before I managed to actually beat him, mind you.) Each class has particular benefits you need to buy with fame, and not all of the equipment is useful to all classes, so there’s a bunch of new build-up each time you finish with one class. (I found the Dexterity bonus card on equipment one of the most valuable things.) Entertaining as a casual thing.
Stories: The Path of Destinies – An action/rpg with the gimmick that you have to make a choice before each chapter, and that determines the shape of the story to come. (There are four chapters and 25 possible stories.) Over the course of many replays, you unlock new swords and skills that allow you to find more secrets as you replay various chapters. How valuable this replay system is is totally dependent on how much you like the combat/exploration system. (I was prepared to be unenthused, but then I discovered how delightfully responsive the counterattack system is. You can interrupt your own combos to counter!) The combat is fast and deadly, but the checkpoints are frequent (which is good, because I think 90% of my deaths were from the exploding ravens, screw those guys). I wish there was a way to skip dialogue or even skip to specific chapters you’ve already seen, but despite that, this was entertaining.
Battlepaths - Graphical roguelike, though it’s kind about the permadeath in normal mode. It’s got all the usual trappings: turn-based movement and combat, a complicated system of enchantments on equipment, an assortment of similar-looking enemies of varying strengths, etc. The graphics themselves are...okay? Better than ASCII, I suppose. It feels too simple for someone who actually likes roguelikes (or even rogue-lite mysterious dungeon games) but at the same time complicated in the wrong ways for the average rpg fan. Maps are set (not randomly generated) but treasure and shop contents are randomized. Controls are clunky, spread across the keyboard; and you only attack by pushing against enemies you’re adjacent to. (Oh, and they can attack diagonally but you can’t.) If someone wanted to get a “feel” for roguelikes, there are better-quality games out there.
QuestRun – A casual rpg that I felt like I had played before...because Heroes & Legends: Conquerors of Kolhar was by the same dev team, and is very similar. You have a team of three heroes who auto-battle their way through “dungeons” (waves of enemies) and find treasures. The thing is, that game got tiring fast and this is even worse, because it’s got that “plot-free mobile game we stripped the micropayments out of” feel going on. Don’t bother.
Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes - Relatively short mouse-based tactical rpg that tries to be “funny”...but ends up being kinda dumb. I wasn’t wild about the interface and wasn’t particularly enthralled by the tale of a suicidal military school dropout and the Holy Avatar saving scantily-clad maidens together.
Overall: As is often the case of pick-and-mix, the choices were limited but I ended up with a few hits and a few misses.
Stories: The Path of Destinies – An action/rpg with the gimmick that you have to make a choice before each chapter, and that determines the shape of the story to come. (There are four chapters and 25 possible stories.) Over the course of many replays, you unlock new swords and skills that allow you to find more secrets as you replay various chapters. How valuable this replay system is is totally dependent on how much you like the combat/exploration system. (I was prepared to be unenthused, but then I discovered how delightfully responsive the counterattack system is. You can interrupt your own combos to counter!) The combat is fast and deadly, but the checkpoints are frequent (which is good, because I think 90% of my deaths were from the exploding ravens, screw those guys). I wish there was a way to skip dialogue or even skip to specific chapters you’ve already seen, but despite that, this was entertaining.
Battlepaths - Graphical roguelike, though it’s kind about the permadeath in normal mode. It’s got all the usual trappings: turn-based movement and combat, a complicated system of enchantments on equipment, an assortment of similar-looking enemies of varying strengths, etc. The graphics themselves are...okay? Better than ASCII, I suppose. It feels too simple for someone who actually likes roguelikes (or even rogue-lite mysterious dungeon games) but at the same time complicated in the wrong ways for the average rpg fan. Maps are set (not randomly generated) but treasure and shop contents are randomized. Controls are clunky, spread across the keyboard; and you only attack by pushing against enemies you’re adjacent to. (Oh, and they can attack diagonally but you can’t.) If someone wanted to get a “feel” for roguelikes, there are better-quality games out there.
QuestRun – A casual rpg that I felt like I had played before...because Heroes & Legends: Conquerors of Kolhar was by the same dev team, and is very similar. You have a team of three heroes who auto-battle their way through “dungeons” (waves of enemies) and find treasures. The thing is, that game got tiring fast and this is even worse, because it’s got that “plot-free mobile game we stripped the micropayments out of” feel going on. Don’t bother.
Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes - Relatively short mouse-based tactical rpg that tries to be “funny”...but ends up being kinda dumb. I wasn’t wild about the interface and wasn’t particularly enthralled by the tale of a suicidal military school dropout and the Holy Avatar saving scantily-clad maidens together.
Overall: As is often the case of pick-and-mix, the choices were limited but I ended up with a few hits and a few misses.
