Stoneshard

The game in the current state will appeal only to people who have no life. All due to the lack of a balanced save system. The game map is very large and to complete the first contract, you can spend 15-20 minutes. Only to be killed by the boss or even an ordinary enemy in the second or third fight. As a result 20 minutes wasted due to the lack of even simple autosaves between locations. While performing other tasks or even just while exploring, for example, a city, by accidentally clicking on some thing or going to the wrong place, you can "ruin your reputation" or go to jail, which is equivalent to starting a new game. This leads to the fact that the player is forced to repeat the same actions and dialogs again and again. There is no explicit warnings about it in the tutorial whatsoever. The difficulty of the game should not consist in the fact that the player is wasting his time by performing the same actions several times. The well-known principle of "trial and error" does not work here.

Most Helpful Review is outdated - as of 0.9.2.12 you can save when exiting the game and you can save when using a bed (beds are in predetermined spots, or you can purchase a bedroll or create one using crafting). Overall Stoneshard (as of 0.9.2.12) is missing 2 or 3 mechanics and a lot of content before you can call it "finished". Even as is, however, it is still one of the most immersive, original and well-crafted "roguelike" "dungeon crawlers" (I hesitate to call it that, since Stoneshard straddles the fence between a roguelike dungeon crawler and an RPG; I would personally like it to tip even more into the RPG side, because the setting is chef's kiss, it begs for more content and lore).

BETA 0.6.0.171 I like this game a lot and if you like NetHack and similar, you will probably love this one, too. "Lack" of saving is not really an issue, instead it fits into the game design: you go on adventures, you survive (barely sometimes), return to base and save there. It is a compromise between the unforgiving permadeath of roguelikes and the "save before each breath" of popular RPGs. This makes it truly challenging and this also makes it very rewarding if you survive your day. Graphics and user interface are what I always wished NetHack and similar had, controls are fine and the general atmosphere fits the setting.

Still being in development, some planned features of this game are still missing. It is fully playable though, and runs very well (no bugs, glitches, crashes, etc.) The pixel art, the turn-based combat, the character progression, the story (as far as I've seen it), the open-ish game world, the loot and equipment to collect, the wound and healing systems, the magic system, the combat abilities - all of those are great and make for an enjoyable experience. I'd happily give this game 5 stars and a wholehearted recommendation, if it wasn't for the save-system. Combat is designed to be tough, and the turn-based fights are quite exciting as a result. You can be in prime condition (fully healed, no negative effects, no hunger or thirst or anything) and still randomly loose to an enemy you’ve easily bested before. Fleeing is not an option either, with enemies following you around the map, and often still being able to hurt you each turn. Since you can only save in town, by sleeping in a bed – you will end up loosing a potentially large chunk of your progress. Since vendors are only available during the day, you might have to replay even the preparation part before you take off. Loosing progress like that, and having to replay chunks of the game multiple times over – in a way that feels unavoidable as you see no appreciable fault of your own that caused your demise – is utterly infuriating. If you are not highly resistant to frustration, you might just end up rage-quitting the game.

The game is quite boring tbh. Exploring the forest itself is slow and tedious (dungeons are much better though) I don't usually complain about the lack of inventory space in rpgs but this game really annoyed me with constant item menagement. The game is in early access so you don't have access to half of your perks and there's only one map to explore. I recommend waiting for more updates because there's a potential in this game.