The game has more going on than Darkest Dungeon because you're not only levelling your characters and town, but also your necromancer who can cast spells in each fight and use different equipment for larger bonuses. The ascent (from your crypt) feels like Slay the Spire in a good way. I could see this having some neat replay value, especially climbing the difficulties, but when you take your time to make decisions and study all the skills in detail, it's a really slow game. That is to say, going through all 5 "floors" to "Slay the Spire" seems like it's going to take more than 20 hours. I think the thing I'm most impressed with currently is how the unlockable classes all seem far more complex to play than the initial set of classes (err...undead). Oh! Also! The brain mechanic is so smart and gets around the stress of levelling that plagued Darkest Dungeon...which is to say that you loot brains of certain higher levels as you go and can plop those high level brains into new recruits to immediately bring their level to par with the rest of your team. The brains are rare enough that it's not trivial, but it's obviously really appreciated so you aren't forced to grind guys up from level 1 like in DD. Seems like a great game for something like Darkest Dungeon, but different. Also being the one to make the good guys go insane and die from heart attacks feels really satisfying after being on the receiving end of it for so long!
Smugglers is a hugely rewarding turn based space game. I loved and played Smugglers 3 and this is like Smugglers 3 with a ton of extra content and more RPG elements. My favorite aspect of the game is the four factions and the epic feel of the war. Your faction needs to conquer a large number of star systems in order to end the war. The factions also have tons of historical quotations being thrown around, which is a nice touch. Smugglers 5 adds a whole new skill tree for your character as you gain promotions and eventually become an admiral in your faction's space fleet. The worst part of the game was the slow start when you're trying to get enough credits to purchase a corvette class ship so you can leave your star system. Other then that, the game is great fun. By the time you bring the war to an end, your character will be old and have many great stories to tell. Great game!
The game itself is brilliant. It provides an amazingly depressing and yet awe inspiring atmosphere. The survival aspect is fun. HOWEVER...the game according to Russian gamers has a fantastic story. The english translation of the game is so awful that most of the story makes little sense(try reading the screenshots). Since a large part of the game is the various conversations you have with characters, the lack of a proper english translation really kills the experience. There was a community translation ongoing, but that has since died. I really hope a translation is made because that is the only thing keeping the game from being 5 stars.
PROS - Complex Gameplay - Great Atmosphere - High Replayability - You get attached to your team (Like in XCOM) - Developers actively updating game - Winning Feels AWESOME! CONS (for some) - Bad decisions will get you killed (Watch a Let's Play on youtube or read the manual) - No saving and loading, just saving and quitting Curious about Zafehouse? I've always loved strategy games, especially one's with a great deal of complexity. I get so much joy from immersing myself in figuring out how the game works so I can optimize my tactics. Zafehouse has lot's of hidden complexities and I've played through several times now to figure out things like how to optimize my team for combat, how to keep noise down, and how best to scavenge for food. I still haven't gotten it all though! The game art style adds a lot to the atmosphere. The sounds are great and actually serve to let you know how much noise you're making. Balancing relationships adds a great dimension to the game. If you want a game that requires you to think carefully, I highly recommend Zafehouse!
