fullybroKEN - A Unique Mix of 4X / Post-Apocalypse / RPG / Roguelike
Overall I think the game has tons of potential, but I think that it still needs some time to iron out some of the flaws it currently has.But as it is early access I am hopeful the flaws will be fixed.
Overall
+interesting challenging gameplay
+roguelike elements that improve the game general post-apocalyptic/survival feel
+replayable
+interesting use of match-3 mechanics
+potential to be a great game
+innovative gameplay
-not quite there
-emergent narrative is still lacking(but as I understood the developer is working on it)
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Choose Your Own Adventure Games.
Fast paced and fun, a bit too challenging sometimes(maybe the dev can balance it better?). I didn’t had much chance to play and the game is in need of some bug fixes polish and as I understood content additions, but I do hope that during the early access the game will become only better.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Dominium Mundi
I only played the game for 5 minutes, but I left the game running for 3 hours as I was doing christmassy stuff with my cats. So in short, I know very little of this game so far. The UI and map are excellent, I’m excited to go back and look at it more. I only took over one single city and explored over half of the map thus far, but it feels good to play.
If you consider yourself a fan of something, you deserve to something something good review.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Strategy Games.
Save your money. I like simple strategy games at times when I want to take a break from too much intense thinking, but this is overly basic. You get bored of it after playing once or twice; it looks far more interesting than it truly is. Perhaps prices at $0.99 it may be worth considering - do not spend more than that on it.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Hero Generations: ReGen
It is a cute game and addictive time-waster. The graphics are charming and everyone can come up with a different strategy for dealing with the end game. Endless (and forced) replay value. There are a variety of ways to earn gold or fame, and to build up towns. It auto-saves after every turn and allows several different lands to explore. While buildings do wear down, they can be easily rebuilt or repaired, or given a building that auto-repairs them for a time, although there is an irritating cap on how much ‘health’ a building can have. There are even teleporters that can be built to get from one land to another quickly!
– Real player with 56.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best 4X Grand Strategy Games.
A cute little, simplistic 4X game. I really like the risk/reward system where each space you move consumes a year of your hero’s life. The older your hero is, the fewer trait cards can be inherited by the next generation; if you push your hero too far, he/she will die of old age, and it’s game over.
You can build up towns, receiving bonuses for building all of one type. Building types will also influence the kind of traits mates will have in a given town–and of course, you’re looking for the best traits to pass down. The idea being you will improve each generation, which culminates in an hero who will have the best chances of defeating the big baddie, who appears after 15 generations.
– Real player with 20.2 hrs in game
Conquest of Elysium 5
Conquest of Elysium 5 is the next iteration of the past CoE games with more content, and with nearly the same (pixel art) graphics that were used in Civilization 2. They have gotten a little better over the years, but not much. If you played CoE4, there are three new factions, new modding tools, and new “Planes” within each map to conquer. The biggest difference for me from the previous version was not just that there was more to conquer though, it is that the “more” that exists is also now much more accessible. More on this below:
– Real player with 193.4 hrs in game
I love this game, I never get tired of it. It strike the perfect balance between complexity and accessibility.
– Real player with 167.9 hrs in game
Space Tyrant
I really like this game and it totally deserves to be as popular as games like Slay the Spire. I got both this and Slay the Spire during the summer sale and ended up refunding Spire because this one enthralled me so much. You might be wondering how the two games are comparable at all, but you must keep in mind that Space Tyrant is as much a roguelite as it is a 4x, and it very much conforms to the idea of losing horribly and repeatedly but having fun in the process as you gradually build up your deck and learn the game. In many ways it scratches the same itch as games like Spire, but something about the colorful aesthetic, humorous themes, and creative genre-mashing put the drab Spire to shame, at least for me.
– Real player with 119.5 hrs in game
TL/DR: 6/10. Great idea, beautiful game, but harsh game design. Expect hardcore RNG roguelike play that detracts from wonderful 3x/4x design and a fun narrative. Also, the devs seem to be onto bigger and better things.
For a game about being a tyrant, you sure are stuck with specific game rules and no options to revolt against the oppressive developer-made campaigns. I really enjoy the idea of this game, and it did many things right…however, some design choices left a sour taste in my mouth. It’s like eating chocolate only to find that someone laced it with lemon juice. I’ve played tons of 4x games (love the genre!), and as much as this game is thought of as a “light” beer and pretzels version, it’s actually way more punishing, and your strategy, no matter how good, might not be enough due to insane RNG and hardcore random campaign rules. I get plenty of that in real life. I want to enjoy the games I play.
– Real player with 83.7 hrs in game
Slime Fantasy: the search for the lost sword
More Reviews @ TheVideogameBacklog.com (It’s not updated a lot currently because I’m working on my 2nd game.)
Full disclosure: I went out of my comfort zone for this game because I saw a post about it on twitter about Slime Fantasy and it looked cool. It’s a Pico-8 game about a slime that needs his sword back to defend his kingdom and so I followed the link to Steam. What I saw there was a cool-looking pixel game with zero reviews. Honestly, I hated to see it. Especially when I thought the game looked interesting enough. Then it was confirmed to me that it was a “kill you a lot” platformer. I hesitated for a day or so then picked it up. It did and does kill me a lot; that much is true. Is it worth picking up though? Let me break it down for you.
– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game
Z Dawn
I’ve been playing this game a lot, being getting updated regularly, for me its a good game, good zombie survival 4x strategy games.
You gotta focus a lot on managing your survivors otherwise it will be a very pain experience.
Basically your start with a small group of survivors, 6 then you gotta find a nice place to set up an encampment, collect resources, wood a lots of wood to build camp defenses, then scavanging for resources like crazy, kill a lots lots of zombie, watch your survivors you love to much gettting bitten and some of then will die, others will get amputated. That’s ok, there’s prosthetics to solve that too. Its a bit painfull to have a leg amputee, will slow down the entire group, other than that you can assign that dude for a suicidal exploring mission.
– Real player with 153.7 hrs in game
Just started. In the first few minutes I found a factory. Each time I hit next turn my group of 6 discovers/searches the building by a percentage of total coverage that equals .01.
This means I have to hit the search/next turn button a thousand times.
On the bright side.. all my group have some starter weapons and speed of 1 or 2.
Then inside the factory I found a guy who was just bitten. The message said I could amputate him (didnt say whether it was his head or some other body part, so I assumed it wasnt going to be his head.)
– Real player with 92.1 hrs in game
Terraformers
• Explore the Red Planet
Send your leaders to mysterious locations and be the first to discover rich resource depots, giant crystal caves and stunning natural wonders.
• Develop your cities
Found new cities on craters and in lava Tubes. Make them thrive and meet your population’s rising demands.
• Manage your resources
Mine the rare metals of Mars, manufacture them into advanced goods and set up an effective transport system between your ever-growing cities.
• Terraform with ambitious projects
Restart a volcano, construct giant space mirrors or crash ice asteroids to geo-engineer the entire planet.
• Become a gardener of life
From spreading adaptive bacteria, to planting full-grown forests with bears. Each life form has specific requirements and provides strategic benefits.
• Join the Terraforming!
By making this game, we hope to inspire humankind to take its first steps out of the cradle and become an interplanetary species, starting with Mars! Do you want to join the terraforming movement, get updates about the game development, chat with us, and be the first to be considered for the closed alpha? Then join our Discord server !
Terraformers: First Steps on Mars
Interesting theme, the graphics are simple but cool, the music is nice, it does run on GNU/Linux, but after eight hours of repetitive play, I wouldn’t call this a civ strategy kind of game, but more like a deck building card game, with lots of randomness, which gets you nowhere. You just need to be lucky to get the right cards at the right time for the right random spots to get a better score. No matter how good your planning is, there is too much luck involved. Maybe the 30 days span of a gameplay is too short for seeing the bigger picture, this is just a demo after all, but that’s my take on the current game. I do wish the devs good luck and I hope the final game offers a better experience.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
A pretty solid board game
Game is very reminiscent of the popular board game Terraforming Mars, with some slight changes.
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Your starting hand is always the same 2 cards
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Beyond Oxygen, H2O and Temperature, there’s a nebulous “atmosphere” terraform setting
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Ever 10 years you select a leader, who has special abilities and traits that can be used on your turn
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Pop happiness is measured and scored.
Overall its fun for a few play throughs, but with the same 6 leaders, same starting hand, and hard 30 turn limit, you’ll only have fun for a bit.
– Real player with 4.1 hrs in game
Thea 2: The Shattering
I played the first Thea and loved it so of course I had to grab this Thea. I also am loving it but being that it is in Early Access still it is not without its flaws and bugs and crashes. I will mostly talk about the issues I see currently because I think that is what people really want to see when they read a review BUT please understand there is a lot to also love about Thea 2 and it has a lot of heart. So while I talk about some of my issues, understand overall I love this game and how it is progressing.
– Real player with 478.4 hrs in game
Thea 2 is mixture of 4X, RPG, card game and rogue-like - it’s one of its kind no game is quite like it. If you like some or even all of those you should definitely check it out.
Thea 2 has amazing replayability - if I could only play one game for the rest of my life this would be it. It greatly improves and expands on the concepts of Thea 1.
For me it’s one of the best games I ever played - hence a happy 9/10
Quick gameplay summary
In Thea you start us with a small group of characters (determined by your choice of gods and which traits you choose) - you need to survive, battle monsters, face random events, gather resources to craft new things, research new materials and recipes or just not starve. You want to find out why the world has been shattered and restore the power of your god. To do this you roam the lands, eventually found a village and recruit more characters/make babies.
– Real player with 180.8 hrs in game