Even on sale: skip it 1st It is a direct copy of slay the spire, just worse in every way. Character are just card pools. Think playing monk with card from the defect pool. Even if this does sound interesting, it isnt, as every build will be the same and some pools are ... less than stellar. 2nd You can "boost" cards by playing a card adjacent to it. This is interesting until you realize, that you only ever have three energy and cards can't be moved around. The boosts are mostly uninteresting, with some bugged. Every combat you can select cards to add boost levels. Most cards will never be better at higher boost levels than their first. In fact the easiest way to get through the game is the "shiv" build (a summoned 0 energy card). Which means that you never want any card at a higher boost level than 1. 3rd You can't get rid of cards (or if there is a way, i have not found it or it's so arcane as to be worthless). Not only can't you ever get rid of the trash starter cards, but ANY card that you pick up will make the deck worse. There are two engine cards, and even adding more of these will make things worse. Pick a card that does 20 damage for 1 energy? Great, skip it, because two floors down it will never ever get played again. 4th Defense is wonky. Adding 1-2 defense for one energy against an attack that does 12 to all? This game feels like playing against the goblin elite from slay the spire for every single combat. It is not fun, not interesting and once you have an infinite, every run will be the same. 5th Healing and rest, o boy ... where slay the spire has actually meaningful descisions regarding when and where to rest, there is nothing like this here. A resting site allows you to recover 8 HP for a single charcter, which is worse than a healing potion. 6th Charcters can level, but there is no meaningful effect that i can see. And you can equip things, Equipment is usually only for one charcter and overall ... not good. 7th The game is butt ugly.
You can learn a lot about games looking at the global rate of achievements. One out of 10 players have found the game fun enough to play more than the first two areas of the game. Buy a new ship 14%, so only 1 out of 7 players globally have gotten to a major selling part of the game. Finish 10 jobs, (takes about an hour) 12% So 2 out of 5 stars is more generous than the global stats. The Good Voice acting: I like it. This is one of the few games where I actually sit through the spoken dialogue. Graphics It has a mobile game feel to it. Personally I don't like "slick" graphics. Nevertheless the indicators are functional and for the most part you can see where things are. The OK Gunplay Most guns are not very exciting and range is more important than anything else to the point that getting range to over 2k starts to break the game. As you will probably want a beam laser (increases mining gain), which is also one of the better weapons and you'll basically have one weapon to "try-out". Encounters I've done every distress signal I came across in the first area and then never again picked one up. Areas are similar, lots is copypasta, but the puzzles aren't bad. The Bad Doing things If you play the game as a walking simulator its sort of fine. If you play it as anything else, you'll waste hours flying somewhere. Upgrades Well its +/-3 and none of the upgrades/perks are meaningful. (9 components for 0.2% shield resistance ...). This includes equipment, which basically means it is not a loot shooter and playing at level 10 is the same feel as playing @25. Except then there would be no reason to upgrade, which would make the other 4 major selling points moot. So here we are. Story Yeah, it is terrible. Lots of Deus Ex and chasing one McGuffin after the next. Caves The light doesn't work right (screen is black) and during rotation the ship doesn't stay level but rotates. So you can't make a full circle without turning things upside down, which doesn't help navigation.
an ugly baby. Intro: 4 train crash survivors in Siberia. You have a number of actions on things that need doing, plus two "socialize" actions per night. A lot of items, each of which can potentially be used for more than one thing. This was intriguing for all of 2 minutes, until you can't use 1 canvas and 2 rags to build a shelter. Either 4 rags or 2 canvas. Characters have opinions about other characters. It is interesting and something that encourages getting to know your people. Only, everyone absolutely hates everyone else. Working together builds friendship and trust, only the first thing they do is insult each other. Just imagine: An old woman, hungry and extremely tired. This young guy comes over and suggests to build a shelter and a bed so she can rest up a bit. Of course her first words are going to be "I hate you. I'd rather have anyone else around me right now. I cannot imagine a person more despicable than you. Get out of my sight." This game tries very hard to go for progression (dead in xxx series) plus the feeling of despair (this war of mine). And yet, everything that happens is just 20 dice rolls. For example it is entirely feasible to cut your hand building a makeshift bed from 20 tree needles. Speaking of needles, it is amazing what you can do with needles in this game. Sorry, but I don't think this game can be saved. If you are looking for alternatives: This War of Mine is quite good, but extremely depressing. Dead in Bermuda/Vinland series, they are quite a bit longer and overall more consistent and quite interesting. If you have real life friends, try to get your hand on "Robinson Crusoe" the board game, which basically does everything right. (look it up on boardgamegeeks.com) This War of Mine also has a board game variant, which is quite as depressing as the computer game, but lets you "enjoy" as a group. Be prepared to permanently damage your relationship with your better half playing it. Summit and Discover are also quite good.
