Tales of Maj'Eyal

It's approachable. It's hard. It's fun. It's your mistakes that kill you. Again. And again. A very fun and easy to mod Roguelike, especially for someone (me) who doesn't play roguelikes all that often. Doesn't require you to read a lot to get started, has a decent tutorial, and you don't die in the first dungeon... usually ;) Lots of classes and races to pick from, some of which you'll need to unlock first (mostly the more complicated ones, so that's good).

When I first saw Tales of Maj'Eyal(TOME), I thought WTF!? It looked like an amateur game project. But, I read the many positive reviews, watched some video reviews and it was inexpensive, so I decided to buy and try it. The best way I can describe TOME is that it's a fast paced, turn-based RPG, rogue-like game. The speed-up mechanics take all of the annoying wait time away. The turns happen simultaneous between your character and the enemies. You don't have to wait for each character's turn to load. Also, you can skip through explored areas instantly. Click on an area on the map, the game will calculate how many turns it would take and you are instantly there. The action on screen can look like an action RPG, but it should still be played like a turn-based one; take time to think about your moves. The best part of TOME is the content. It's a complex RPG with lots of stats for each character, items and equipment. No consumables, but use reusable items to heal and cure or just speed up the waiting time for your character to recover. There are many class-types to unlock and has two expansions which adds lots of replay value. It has been in development for over 6-years, maybe more, and is still supported by the developer. Visit the website for add-ons and mods by fans. You can create your own add-ons and mods, too. Also you can choose from 3 modes; unlimited, limited and no continues. The weakest part of TOME is the art style, animation and NPCs. The art style may not be for everyone and doesn't have that professional look. Characters don't animate and look like paper figures. You have brief encounters with NPCs during quests and don't really care about them except to protect them to get stat points and abilities. So, the story unfolds through narrations and poems found in the game. For the content, gameplay, replay value and lack of bugs and glitches, it is well worth the price that will give you satisfying, addictive game play.

I am 70 hours in and it still feels like I am very much a beginner— tons of replayability, especially with all the expansions. If you like traditional roguelikes (or would like to get into them), this game is an absolute must! The base game can be downloaded and played for free on te4.org - the expansions need to be paid for, but you won't be needing them for a very long time in the first place. There are some microtransactions in the game, but considering how much content is FREE (even the engine is open source...) and how non-intrusive they are (and frankly, completely irrelevant!), they are only a way to support DarkGod, who is the only person behind this game. (People who are paying for the game are equal to donors on te4.org, despite what another horrible review says.)

Being an entry point to the genre, ToME provide everything to stick with it forever - challenge and feelings of classic roguelikes, mixed with hack'n'slashy action of diablo 2. Its hard - but difficulty is optional. All challenge locations arent essential, yet rewarding. And even perma-death is optional mode, not requirment. Its tactical - but you can play it as d2. Well, kinda. To be honest, you will die this way. But you can try, atleast. Its random... Well, its random. This run you will get two-hander with 175% damage in 1st dungeon; and on next you will be stuck with "slightly-better-than-default" gear for eternity. There are plenty of unlockables. Really lot of unlockables. And some of them arent that obvious, as you can think. I mean - there is an unlockable bikini (and even achievement for beating game without wearing it off). I will get one star off for the sake of RNGesus (sometimes you die in unfun ways, coz random decided that), some bugs and amount of online-exclusive content (you dont NEED to create an online account, for this version, yet game asks you to do so in the same manner, as gog promote their galaxy. You cant even store more than 3 (!) items in your shared stash, without doing so. Annoying). Aside from that - its one of the best (if not THE best) roguelikes out there. Period.

For ages now, I've been searching for a game that was open world, had a deep customisation system and a butt ton of classes. This game has all of this and so much more! The game is roughly 20 years old and yet the dev still makes updates for it TO THIS DAY. This rougelike brings the exciting fun of unlocking new races and classes. Each class is unique in itself, the Alchemist, for example, uses gems to create bombs and has a golem guardian whereas the Magic Knight is a beautiful mixture of offense magic & close-combat. It uses a D&D-esque levelling system, meaning you can put all the stat & skillpoints exactly where you want when you level up. There are prereqs of course, but despite that, each character you make can be entirely on its on. I could go on and on about this game but this is a must buy. Especially for the price and especially if you're a fan of open-world RPGs or rougelikes