Gordian Quest

The combat feels good and turning your characters into omega level threats is fun but ultimately the game is laughably easy on normal. Almost all ancounters ended in 1 turn oncluding bosses unless a mechanic demanded otherwise. End of game damage stats for my 3 characters by order of initiative: 300k, 100k, 6k. Final boss? 1 turn kill. The tinkering with cards and items is fun, but the skill grid is needlessly complicated and random, the loot is bad (maximum values go up in late game but minimum remains the same, legendaries are mostly useless), the explorer minigame is a chore and when you pick a starter deck for a character you will have to stick with that strategy for a very long time and it will cost a lot to change it taking out a lot of the flexibility. But again, combat is fun and with 10 characters with 4 starting decks each there's a lot of variability.

It's still somewhat early in EA and they tend to add and then fix bugs as they go. I bought the game on Steam EA when it first came out and I hope to own it here eventually. I was skeptical when I saw this game originally in a Facebook ad, but it's not a mobile port of a scammy pay-to-win fake game. It's a legitimate PC fantasy strategy deckbuilding game with several playable characters. It can easily can take 50 or more hours just playing out runs with all the different characters using different primary stats and deck setups. The main downside for me is that you tend to steamroll at the end once find the cheese and go all in, and I hope they address this somehow to make the late game more interesting. There is significant potential for Gordian Quest, and if half-stars existed, I would give it 4.5. The developers have a pretty active Discord where they are looking for suggestions. The game has several characters who can each be built a few different ways or hybrid. The balance is all over the place and late-game thin decks are a bit too powerful right now, so it's not perfect. Some weaker strategies are worth trying for the lulz, even if you already "solved" the game with a reliable cheese strategy. The main adaptation is that specific legendary equipment can't always be fished for so easily, but overall deck composition and size is mostly within reach, some times faster than others. It's not as tense and you don't have to "listen to your draft luck" as delicately as with Slay The Spire, but overall GQ is its own thing. A lot is still in the air and I hope they can achieve hard-but-fair at max difficulty in the end. But it's too early to know for sure. Lower difficulties give you plenty of things to play with, but balance is really unstable right now. I could see my rating tilting to either 4 or 5 stars in the future, but if I'm forced to choose, I'm satisfied enough to give benefit of the doubt here.

I'm doing my third run (2x Act 1 and 1x Act 2). The game is excellent. It starts simple. You have turn combat with a initiative order, and receive a hand of 5 cards (skills) which cost different action points (you have 3 fixed AP, but can get more through the use of certain skills). The characters can equip items and as you level up you will get skil points and bonus talents. First of all try some builds and have fun. Don't mind if you choose something wrong. The game is usually forgiving. Then go crazy and try to min/max. Dont know if it will stay the same way, but for those trying to roll through Nightmare what I can say is: 1) Get a balanced party (STR/DEX/INT-wise for rolls) 2) +1 Card draw is nice (can get from amulet, head gear, etc) 3) "Draw a card on kill" is really useful on a ENDGAME DPS character, 4) Best control is to kill early and fast 5) Have a dedicated tank As of now, my fav character is Pure DEX Lucius (Deck: En Garde x2, Flash Cut x4, Double Slash, Lunge, Swift Strike x2, Blade Flurry, Phantom Edge x2; PLUS from items: Fate to Shadows and Surge x2). With a draw on kill glove, Bloodstained unique amulet (1 Might on melee attack) and Surge armor. It means 4 Free Openers, 5 Draw a card, +6 AP, Draw on Kill, Perma Might, and a Ultimate that do a attack for every point over DEX 10 (like 30 attacks with DEX 40). In Short: if it is a battle without wave, it ends at first round.

The game is fantastic. The art is great, and the capabilities for different builds and strategies are myriad. The combination of deckbuilding, RPG mechanics, and team-based, positioned-based gameplay is unlike anything I've ever played before. The devs have caught lightning in a bottle with this superb feat of game design. The only downside is the story, which is lacklustre so far. The characters are entirely forgettable and after 2 acts of the game and dozens of hours played I am not invested in the story whatsoever. It's simply too sparse. That being said, I recommend treating it as if it was a fun action movie. The story is nearly worthless, but it's doesn't matter because it moves forward enough to continue with the gameplay. 9/10. Please buy it and support these extremely creative game devs

The developers aren't treating the GOG version seriously and updates lack behind months.