I actually like this rogue-like game. And this is from someone who believed his platform gaming days were over. I enjoyed this game so much, it made me want to buy a controller for my PC to make it easier to play (and it very much did - so highly recommend using a controller to play this game). I think the balance on this one is the best of all rogue-likes I've played. Yes - your first 10 runs (at least) will be very difficult and it won't seem like you are progressing. But a weapon upgrade, an armor upgrade, and a few more hit points (plus a little luck) will make a load of difference. You will find each type of character has its pluses - in the early stage of the game, you want use use knights (balanced fighter) or Barbarians (high life but softer hits). But once you get some upgrades, the high hit/crit characters become more fun. The castle is randomized though so at some point you will probably die in the first or second room...just take that one on the chin and try again :) The biggest con is the game is very repetitive, borderline monotonous...I don't mind that but I know it can be a big negative for some.
This is a game I should have really liked. Its like Rogue Legacy in space - and I like Rogue Legacy, And the game is visually beautiful and the fights are pretty good. But I just could not get into it. I can't really say what turned me off of it, but I would play one game, die, and then not want to play again. Whereas with Rogue Legacy, I would die and want to get right back in to play "just one more time." I think for me the action is just not addicting enough, or I don't feel I make much of any progress after each game. Maybe if they increased how often credits dropped but then decreased their value, then I would want to go back in to get more. Plus you lose the credits you don't spend so it makes you want to spend everything instead of saving up for one big thing that I really want. So, again, that slows progression too much for me.
I will say the game is beautiful and I liked the idea and would have loved to really get into it. Unfortunately its one of those games that they couldn't quite get the right UI. The controls are too funky on the PC and too complex for the controller. I wish they would just make games for console OR PC...they rarely ever work out when trying to please both crowds - and this one doesn't work either way for me. Plus this game gives zero learning curve...it expects you to understand the combat (including the funky controls) without any real practice/tutorial and then throws you into the meat grinder. It would have been nice to either have a little more combat experience or an easier game mode to play first and then ramp up the difficulty by starting a new game. I don't have time to fart around with replaying a mission over and over again until I get the hang of the game.
I played through the first adventure...once the enemy was able to shoot one of my team members through a tank, I knew this game was going to be trash. Cover means nothing and the enemy outnumber you and are all snipers. No thanks...
The game started out well...you can learn some tactics and achieve victory with a few bumps. But the very next mission your weapons are pretty much the same but the enemies HP have doubled, making sneak attacks impossible (you only get one hit - if you actually hit - which doesn't kill them and then the enemies just swarm). And at one point the odds were 6 against 2, and not in the my favor. I restarted the area multiple times, trying multiple different strategies and it all ended the same. So one mission in this game is great and then it is just a waste of time. But the game looks great and the UI is easy to use. I didn't come across any bugs but I also didn't get very far in the game - but from what I saw it is pretty polished. But it (very!) quickly devolves into the player character constantly missing enemies who have no cover - with underpowered weapons - while the enemies are crack shots no matter how much cover my guys have. I hate games like that, so I guess I will have to hate this game.
I have to say this game is more addicting than I thought it was going to be. Now don't get me wrong, its a game about doing the same thing over and over...and over and over again. So if you hate monotony, then this game is probably not for you. But I find that even though I keep having to repeat the same steps, it's still a fun experience. The most interesting part of the game is rehabbing a house, since you can knock down every interior wall and design it however you want. If you want one bedroom and three bathrooms, then go for it! The graphics in the game are excellent. Many houses start out in such bad shape, and it is great to see the finished product after all paint and tile and lighting have been completed. It is exactly like the "big reveal" like in those shows on HGTV. The dynamic colors are brought to life, and you are able to take photos of the house within the game which look very realistic. I would have liked there to be more choices in regards to some of the items in game (furniture, lighting, appliances)...but with a DLC for rehabbing the yard/garden, then perhaps we'll see some future DLC to add more of these items into the game as well? So even though I'm sure I'll get bored of the tedium in this game after a while, I'm very much enjoying the game so far.
I went in to this game not knowing exactly what it was going to be...I thought it might be the Surviving Mars type of game. But it is definitely more like SimCity except that I enjoyed playing this more than that last few SimCity games that have come out. My only advice is to play the first few Campaign games first...if you try playing a Sandbox right away (like I did), you will not know what the heck is going on! But after playing a through the first three Campaign missions, I am totally hooked on this game.
So I played the game all the way through to the end and found it fairly engaging. Yes it is (sort of) grindy, in that if you want to collect everything from the dungeons, you will have to play them multiple times - but most dungeons I played through twice...once with my main team and another time with the three other characters in the game. But the dungeons are pretty randomized so I didn't find it all that boring or too repetitive. It took me a little over 50 hours to complete the game, but I wanted all the ultimate weapons, so I had to do all hunts and arena battles. My only complaint about the game, really, is that it was too short. When I finished, I wanted more :) However, sometimes the game got slow when I found myself forced to fight battles I had zero chance of losing because I was 5 or 6 levels higher than the enemies I was facing. And you have to wait for all the animations before, during, and after every battle, so that is the only time I felt a little bored. All in all, though, it is definitely a game I would play again. It was very reminiscent of the Final Fantasy games, although not quite as epic and didn't have as deep a story. Which is probably why I was left wanting more in the end.
This game is why I love GOG! I had never heard of this game and probably never would have played if it had not been on sale on this website. This is a fun game that takes aspects of several different games and matches them together very well. I would call it a 4k-lite, in that you don't get a ton of management but the game is non-stop action. Missions continually pop-up, many with time limits to make sure you have to choose whether to fight an enemy fleet or finish off some research to buff your ships. There is so much going on later in the game that it can almost get overwhelming - luckily the game time can be paused so you can plan out some strategy. The space and land combat are turn-based but the action, again, is quick and the fights only take about ten to fifteen minutes each. But with so many fights to be had, you can easily burn through hours of play and not even realize it. A very nice game, very addictive, and a lot of fun. I'm not sure its the type of game you would want to replay over and over several times in a row, but I think it will be a nice game to break out every once in a while and burn through several hours of your life...
OK game for a while but it quickly ramps up the odds against your party. Allowing the player to only bring 6 soldiers (one of whom has to be a medic so as to prevent all the poisonings - so, really, only five soldiers) while the enemy constantly has anywhere from 8 to 12 is unrealistic - why would the other members of the party sit on the sidelines and watch their comrades get killed? The exploration and supply management part of the game is done well and was probably my favorite part of the game...if only the combat had been better balanced.
