The game has great concept, VERY fun mechanics, satiric, black humor. I would recommend it to anyone, but the problem is with the length: the game has only 7 missions (plus a very short and simple tutorial), each around 1 hour of gameplay. There are a lot of great mechanics, but since the game is relatively short and not really hard (so you won't restart missions with different strategy and mutagen setup), you simply won't even try out all possibilities (I know, you can replay any level, but if you've beaten it once you won't replay it just to try something different). In the Steam version you have at least some challanging achievements which adds to the play time, but the GoG version sadly lacks this. Still a good game (you only have a few unit types but all of them are increadibly useful and the mutagen upgrades really make them better, the map designs are cool and the humor is genuinely good), but a map editor/package, random maps, challanges, etc could have made this game a true masterpiece.
Hidden tresure is basically a braindead version of the point'n'click adventure games: typically the puzzles are way easier (and half of them is just find items on the screen), there is some really generic story, and no dialogues. They tend to be really short games, and usually targets the mobile game market. Grim Legends is does everything perfectly in the limits of the genre: the puzzles gets gradually more difficult as the story (yes, there is one even if not grandiose) progress, you get a map which provides fast travel AND mardks the locations where you can actually do something, provides an alternative minigame (domino) to the object finding, and has several collectibles (sprites, evasive items, achievements) to prolong the gameplay. I gave it 3 stars because even though it does everything well in the genre, it is still just a hidden treasure game. On Google Play I would immeadiately give it 5 stars, but on PC we have so many better alternatives. Still, if you want an easy puzzle game with ~3 hours of playtime, and the price is not too much for you, its not a bad choice.
I don't regret buying the game, since I've spent around 50 hours playing it, but I have to admit it is not great. I compare it to Diablo and other classic games of the genre (called ARPG, but the RPG aspect only means you level up and increase stats, don't expect dialogues, choices, character development etc.) Positive: + simple combat, but has some variety: all 8 (10 with Motörhead) weapons have a different skillset and plays differently, you can further customise your style with destiny cards, talismans, etc. + tons of maps and challanges + local coop to play on a shared screen with a friend (also online multiplayer naturally) + lots of little jokes + a lot of excellent map design and challanges + you don't need to keep several characters: you don't spec in anything via skills, and your inventory is virtually endless, so you can change your whole character anytime while keeping everything Negative: - story is nonexistent, even when some dialogues show up you skip them since they are uninteresting - the "simple" becomes tedious after a while. Tons of content, but most of them are either repetitive, or requires so much grinding that it is masochistic (no, I will not grind for 40 hours to get the last normal challange on the map just to prove something to myself - you basically can't find any useful stuff after a while. Top gears require crafting, thus a ton of grinding. So there is no excitement from a drop system, you just gather everything in your endless inventory and sometimes sell stuff or craft them. There are a few dozen legendary items with unique attributes, but most of them are actually weaker than well crafted rares Personal: - the gameplay is so simple that you can watch movies while playing. That can be good or bad, depends on what you seek. - Motörhead worths the price, fractured world only gives you 5 endless random dungeons. - buy it on sale, doesn't worth the full price
The world is interesting, but story is lacklusting. A lot of puzzles are illogical, and the game does not really support trial and error, you have to bear with the repeating and very long dialogues again and again. For the better half of it I used a walkthrough to get by, and most of the puzzles had a solution that even after knowing the solution I said "how the hell should I knew that?". The card minigame is completely optional, but somehow enjoyable if you had no previous experience with Go Fish. Very similar to caravan in Fallout NV, but a lot bigger part of the game. Even so, the game has a very good amount of content, and the visuals are all really nice. 13 hours of gameplay makes the price worthy. Spoiler-free tip: unlike most other point'n'click games, the some items are really designed to sit in your inventory for quite while. If you get stucked, try to use your newly gathered items and the spells first, it is rare you have to use an old item for going forward.
It is a very sweet story, but not unique (if you've played the Whispered World or Child of Light then you'll get a deja vu at some point). The puzzles are mostly logical (except at the very beginning, and 2 other ones), and the graphics are neat. But there are a lot of negatives: 1) quick-time events in a point'n'click game simply doesn't work well, especially with such clunky controls as Tsioque has. 2) that damn sewing minigame 3) no item combination (not necessarily bad though) 4) in a lot of puzzles you have limited time, and you can't do anything while the animation takes place 5) The artwork in the description has absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay. I would even call them misleading. 6) very short. It took 2,5 hours to play through withsome trial and error guessing, and a single time looking up the solution in a walkthrough. Buy it if 2 hours of playing worths the price for you. Otherwise wait for a discount. Still a good experience.
It is rare that I'm this disappointed in a game. The concept is very pleasant: zombie survivor base management with JRP-style combat system. The problem is that the game is glitchy and unituitive. Quests, base management: I've set an NPC as a guard, yet raiders come while the rest was away, and the notification said that there wasn't any guards. Another quests says to make a cap and sell it to the smuggler in the cantina: you actually need to sell it in the regular shop. Another quest says meet Lydia outside of the town: no matter if I go alone or in party, I don't meet her anywhere, she dies and everyone is pissed off on me. Battle: certain skills make zero use since the participants have a predefined order to act. For example I cannot make my melee fighter act first to weaken the enemy, then the others attack simply because that specific NPC acts later than the protagonist (who looks like an idiot btw) or the other NPCs I have. Don't buy it.
I really liked the game, but it is as simple as a stone. It can be finished casually in 8 hours, and I've seen a lot of free flash games with more comlexity. +The leveling system is very simple, but offers just enough options +There's some strategy behind constructing your party (heroes, items) +Have a simple, but good sense of humor. +Searching for secrets is fun -As you progress the older units tend to be useless, so you'll just use the newest ones either way. -The quest, maps and level design are mostly linear -New Game+ doesn't really offer anything new. -If you can't finish a map (die, exit the game and/or part of it is blocked by the time) you'll have to kill everything again, which is very boring for the second time. Overall nice game to play, but wait for a discount.
+ Has atmosphere + Will warm your heart + Language-independent - Some puzzles are quite illogical - controls are clunky, especially with gamepad
The most important thing if you are not familiar with the game it is NOT a standard RTS, but a god simulator. You will not command your heroes directly, only manage your kingdom (build and upgrade buildings), the only way to directly affect the game is bounties and spells. The basic concept is: you build guilds, hire heroes, who go to the adventures to get money. You build marketplaces, smiths, mage towers so their hard earned coins return to your pocket. Rinse and repeat until you accomplish the mission goal. What really makes the game shine (except the randomness caused by the AI of the heroes, which can be ridicolous sometimes) are the actual scenarios. Almost all of them have some tweaks: theres a big dragon harassing you constantly, conquering armies arrive each week, you can't build certain things, each mission is different. You need to learn the game by trial and error and userguide (especially which temple does what and which gods hate each other, plus the maps themselves), the tutorial only covers the basics. The GOG version worrks perfectly even on a modern PC, although the buttons are very small thanks to the increased resolution (the resolution adaptation could be way better, you are limited to text boxes and menus covering only 1/40th of the screen). No crash occured during the whole campaign.
Difficulty: The normal game works really well, even though it is ridiculously easy even without grinding, which contradicts the genre. New Game+ is very enjoyable: the enemies get +3/5 level boost (for reference, the game has 30 level, and every 2-3 levels doubles the difficulty of a monster), while you can keep the perks, and unlocked bestiary/skills/etc from your original run. This means the fights are much more difficult (sky pirates gows from easy xp/shadow coins to a constant menace). Good: The graphics and music are almost perfect. My only problem with it was the inconsistency: the map itself is hand drawn, the dungeons and battles uses the same well-made graphics, but during bursts the 3D animations are very immersion-breaking at the beginning. The combat system is intuitive and very enjoyable, all 6 characters have synergy between them and can fulfill different roles based on the party composition. The map design is almost linear, yet at any point of the game you find multiple things you can and want to do. The randomized dungeons makes the grinding way more exciting. I especially like that the game doesn't think you are dumb: the side missions and puzzles are to be solved by reading the item descriptions, not by following stupid arrows and indicators popular these days. Bad: -Resources are divided to zones/tiers -Shops only restock if you complete a dungeon These 2 things together means that you can't separate the grinding for items and XP from each other: if you want better equipment you need to go to the last dungeons, which also increase your level. It also means that the collected lower-tier ingredients are useless after unlocking a new zone. This is especially bad in new game+, where you will use equipment 8-10 levels below you most of the times, and will be limited by parts which spawns in small amounts in shops, yet you need hoards of them to craft. The character limit on these reviews is a nonsense.
