SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech

Steamwold heist is one of the very few games that I played more than once. That game was truly entertaining. My initial enthusiasm to this new addition was unfortunately quickly put down by the grind. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the grind. The game is unfortunately getting quickly very repetitive and even if the graphics are really good and the concept with cards and cogs is decent, it was not enough to keep me engaged. Even the section of characters was not really sufficient. It is simply the battles that are just dead booooooring. Boss fights were just simply the worse. Prolonged chop chop burn burn scenarios that went for loooong minutes. I had no pleasure there at all. The apex of boredom hits the fan at the end of the game when you have to rind through 41000 life points of Behemot and his two 6000 life hands… . I bit my teeth and ended this sad episode of my life.

THE SERIES: The Steamworld series is a clever way for the developer to set a lot of games from different genres in the same universe. While the gameplay is markedly different in most of them, they all have a similar appealing visual style that still manages to make each game look distinctive. THE GAME: Dig was the developer's take on the Metroidvania genre. Heist was their take on the X-COM formula. Quest mixes JRPG with CCG (Collectible Card Game) and it's another success in putting their own spin on an existent genre. The game's traversal system is simple enough. You walk from area to area, interacting with objects or characters and fighting enemies. There are no random encounters, as every enemy is visible, so you can try to attack them from behind to get the advantage. Pretty standard stuff, but well executed. Where things change are in combat. While the combat is turn-based like in every classic JRPG, it's actually done by drawing random cards from a shared deck and using them to attack, defend or buff/debuff. Each one of your characters has its own deck with a set number of cards (no more, no less), which are chosen by you. The system is simple to learn, but quite deep. While building the deck you have to make the choice between cards with low attack that can be used normally, high-attack cards that require mana (which is obtained by playing weaker cards), cards that boost your status or debuff enemies, and cards that are any of the previous ones but also execute combos when played with other cards. In combat you have to make the most of the cards you draw. Do you play certain cards now or do you wait until they become more useful later? Play a middle-strenght card now or bid your time with weaker ones until you get mana to play a stronger one? Do you wait until you get a chance to combo with two characters or play a personal combo? There's a lot to consider. Items, equipment and upgrades also come into play. It's a lot of fun. A definite recommendation.

As I rate Steamworrld Heist and Dig very highly I was excited for this game. I enjoy card based games and absolutely love turn based strategies. Knowing what the devs have produced previously Gilgamech sounded like a dream come true. Unfortunately I havee to saay I am disappointed. Despite enjoying the hand drawn aesthetic the production values seem non existent. Movement is clunky. Combat is sooo slow you're forced to fast forward moves which takes out any appreciation for the effects. You will have very little of that though as the animations for combat are recycled and extremely basic. I definitely think things began to pickup in act 2. Exploration was very boring at the beginning but this improves somewhat in the new environment. One thing I dislike is when you come across new characters their skills are quite limited and I've found (particularly with the twins) that right around when you find them is when youre old characters unlock their best cards/equipment. As you only level up the characters you use this really limits experimentation which is a huge shame. One positive is I'm playing on legendary and the challenge is just right. You have to play your cards right ti survive some of the tougher battles. Overall I would say don't come in with high expectations. As disappointing as it is to say I can't see me finishing this one it's just too much of a slog to get through.

I was incredibly pumped to play this game when it was announced, but after having put more than 7.5 hours into it, I can't help feeling like this isn't Image and Form's best effort. The game has a lot of promise, but the pacing is extremely slow, and it doesn't feel like you're actually accomplishing much at all. The scenery is also a bit repetitive. It actually feels like the Phantom Forest scene from Final Fantasy VI, only stretched out over the entire game. There's not a lot of variety when it comes to atmosphere, but it makes up for it with the rather enjoyable battle system. However, I will say that the boss battles weren't that enjoyable. They typically involve a lot of annoying spells like sleep, blind, confusion, and berserk, so be prepared to go into these battles with the right cards to counter these attacks (over and over again). There's also an abnormal amount of talking throughout the game ... and when I say abnormal amount of talking, I mean there's WAY TOO MUCH TALKING! At first I thought it was clever because they were telling jokes and keeping it light-hearted, but after a while I found myself skipping the odd conversation, and eventually I couldn't care less what they were saying. That being said, it's still a pretty good game, so it's worth trying out if you have some time to spare on your weekend.