Stoneshard

Stoneshard is early in development and it might not be for all. In Stoneshard you play cautiously, accept (and feel joy in) minimal increments, and suffer infuriating death. Play the (free) tutorial on Steam to get a feel of the final game in overdrive. It contains most (current) mechanics at an increased pace. The core game is at this moment bare-bones. No custom character, limited dungeons, non-optimized and subset skills, merely two towns, rehearsed quests, lack of polish, etc. Yet, I put 80+ hours in. Why? The slow progress and lack of save points (adds tension and some exploring) are for me selling points. You make choices like swapping your old axe for a bit less fumble chance at cost of a point of bleed damage, browsing food merchants for a non-spoiling sausage or a cheap old cheese, walk cautiously through the forest at night with your high level mage in fear of running into a wild bear, and have a real tactical puzzle to solve with an engagement of 5 bandits of whom 2 have bows and one is a mage. The difference between early and later game is that you are actually able to win a fight like that. A level 1 character might need to run away, or have some luck by being able to lure the bandits into a pack of wolves, and bring home some wolf pelts instead. The game is turn and square based. Battles are over in 10-15 turns, and you have to come up with ways to optimize your skills and surrounding environment. The best are the skills that modify positions, movement or sight. My mage can cast a boulder that blocks sight, funnels enemies to hidden traps and blocks a narrow path avoiding a direct charge. The next turn I can let it explode, throw it to a distance enemy or simply let is remain for a small damage bonus. When it rains my fire skills do half damage. Stoneshard does not shy away from brutal language and graphics. The apparently cute figures are beheaded and molten to a pudding. I hope the devs keep adding, and keep the minimalistic and brutal gameplay.

This is a really fun and difficult turn based RPG but is held back by its lack of saving options. Adding save anywhere or at the very least, save on quit would make this game a lot easier to recommend.

If credentials mean anything; I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. From my father's Commodore 64, all the way now (born in 1982). CRPGs, Roguelikes and dungeons crawls are my favorites. I enjoyed this game for what is on offer at the moment. Only one thing made me not play more than the 30 minutes I spent on it. I died. And went back a good bit of progress. If this was a permadeath thing, I wouldn't be unhappy. But it allowed me to resurrect at some kind of checkpoint. With all progress lost, and not able to save when I need to do something else (a lot of us don't have time to play games anymore, Adulting stuff getting in the way), it would be nice. I hope the next round of updates includes some more robust save system. Until then, I have to give 3 stars. 4 would have been given as the current incarnation of this game is fun, but not too notable. My score will change once my socks get wow'd.

If you do not like random looting, don't go there. If you don't like dying easily, don't go there. The game is challenging, and it seems it'll be the core of it, however we can hope that quests and story content will greatly improve during development. You'll have to deal with many stats you don't want to see worsen : hunger, thirst, intoxication, pain, sanity, morale, injuries. Each time they reach a certain level, you get malus, and those can add-up pretty quickly. Your (small) inventory will be full of herbs and food and beverages trying to help you. But beware, drinking alcohol to ease pain makes you drunk, giving you some malus too. At the moment, you can only save at the inn, so prepare your expeditions if you want to finish a quest as there's chances you won't find any help until coming back. Evolve wisely your character to improve the numerous stats they affect, as for skills as you won't be a jack of all trade soon enough. The game need a lot of improvements at its current state. But it'll please people who like difficult games. It's kind of a niche game. After about 15 hours on it, I'm waiting for some updates to experience it more, the Trollslayer recent content was really convincing. I feel this game can provide a very nice experience, with plenty of updates even after its official release. There's plenty to do and what we already have is engaging. Try the prologue, it is available for free and gives good insights on the mechanics.