Himeko Sutori
Himeko Sutori is a short story about a family of sisters and a journey they are forced into. The game is all delivered by a very small group, mostly a single developer as a labour of love and some contracted elements. This does leave some rough edges, but those work well enough.
I have played through multiple variations of the game and systems since its EA release 2 years ago, and my biggest praise has to be towards Nathaniel’s (Developer) commitment to his project, fixing things promptly and engaging with the community.
– Real player with 317.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crafting Turn-Based Tactics Games.
I’m quite torn about this game. The positive rating is mostly to even out the negative ratings because I think the game is worth buying. But it could be much better than it is.
My biggest grudge is the leveling system. Instead of being allowed to pick whatever perks you want you have to choose something from three randomly picked cards. This means that quite often you can only pick things you do not want on that character. Welp, there goes a wasted level. You can always reload (and that’s what I usually do) until you are happy with the result. But that is a colossal waste of time and NOT FUN AT ALL. Much of my displayed playing time is actually reloading time and as such the opposite of fun playing time.
– Real player with 120.0 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
Read More: Best Crafting Turn-Based Combat Games.
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
NEO Scavenger
NEO Scavenger is a turn-based, post-apocalyptic, survival roguelike with perma-death. I also now sometimes fondly call it a Procedural Death Michigan. It’s mean, immersive, annoyingly addictive and seems to strongly dislike players wearing right boots (left boots are fine).
Basically, you scavenge around (and die after the building crumbles on you), fight other people scavenging around (and die valiantly with monkey wrench in hand) or try to talk to them (and die a turn later by drinking a celebratory made-it-through-the-turn sip of poisoned water), try to kill creatures that would like to eat you almost as much as you’d like to eat them (and die hungry), craft items to help you survive (and die warm because your fire alerted every deadly thing around), keep track of your hunger, thirst, diseases and injuries (and die very informed) or try to get to the seemingly last big hub of civilization (and die trying to get there; or trying to get in; or after you get in; or on your way back out).
– Real player with 389.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crafting Perma Death Games.
Picked this up on a lark, as I am heavily into survival games lately. I was hesitant due to the low res, pixel graphics, but man am I glad I took a chance on this!
What stands out immediately is choice and consequence. You can’t have it all. You have to build a character with weaknesses, and weaknesses can just be not having some of the skills you might like to have, or it can be actual weaknesses to give you points to get more benefits.
You might take Fragile for example, making you take more damage than normal if you get hit, and you might do this because you really want the points it gives you to take Trapping so you can make fire right away at the start of the game.
– Real player with 168.4 hrs in game
The Monster Breeder
This is a turn-based fantasy strategy game with RPG elements. The game has two main layers: the first is the monster breeding, the second is the tactical turn-based arena combat.
Main Features
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Create Monsters
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Tactical Arena Combat
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Large variety of tournaments
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Warrior training
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Forging
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Alchemy
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Base upgrading
Players can purchase eggs and juvenile creatures from local hunters. The next step is to set up a magical treatment to enhance the creatures’ strength, agility, and other attributes. Nearly all these traits can be manipulated with magic scrolls, potions, blood infusions and runestones, although overuse of magic and potions can cause severe illness, infertility, shorter lifespan, or even death.
Natural species are weak and perform poorly in the arena, but all have at least one valuable ability. There are three classes of creature available: insect, reptile and carnivora. Players can only crossbreed species within the same class, and the best offspring can then be selected for magic treatments to improve their combat performance. Only eggs and juvenile creatures can be treated. Adult monsters earn experience fighting in the arena and learn new skills when leveling up, but these skills are not inheritable.
There are multiple options for players to house their monsters in the various chambers and cellars of the Old Keep, or they can build a small hut or kennel in the courtyard and upgrade it. Depending on their temperature tolerance, some creatures can live in a flooded dungeon cellar while some others need a warm environment to remain healthy. Only healthy creatures can fight and earn money for their masters.
Combat in the arena is tough but not always deadly. Beginners can participate in non-lethal tournaments without the risk of losing a character or monster. Lethal combat pays much better, but this is a game with permadeath, so be aware!
How much risk are you willing to take? Which tournament are you going to enter? Only you decide. Players get money if they take part in a tournament, but only the winners receive the glory and extra rewards.
Warriors, archers and sorcerers can be hired to fight side-by-side with monsters in the arena. Players can personalize their training and equip them with weapons that match their skills and strength, although to be overburdened with armor comes with serious penalties in combat.
Characters earn experience in the arena and gain new skills when leveling up, and older warriors can be valuable trainers depending on their intelligence and trainer skills. Some hired characters may refuse to participate in lethal tournaments, but slaves can also be trained for combat.
Players need to hire a blacksmith and alchemist to be able to craft items like weapons, armor or potions. Every craftsman has unique skills and traits affecting their products’ quality, their rate of work, and the amount of material they use.
Various types of equipment can be purchased to enhance productivity: recipe books, alembics and extractors are all useful accessories of the alchemist’s lab, while weapon and armor molds, alloy smelters and special forges are exceedingly beneficial to the blacksmith. Apprentices can be hired to improve productivity and players can employ them as blacksmiths or alchemists when they graduate.
Players can construct or upgrade various types of buildings, allowing them to keep more monsters, incubate more eggs, create more weapons and potions, or increase storage capacity and the size of their living quarters.
Some buildings have unique features: Hatchling’s Cabin provides the possibility of using runestones and magic fields to modify juvenile creatures’ traits, while the Alchemist’s Shack and Blacksmith’s Hut provide more places to hire craftsmen and also give an efficiency bonus. The Old Keep is the default building at the beginning of the game. It has multiple chambers and cellars, all of which can be assigned to any purpose.
Thea: The Awakening
About time I wrote a review for Thea. I have played the game for 900 hours now and I still don’t see myself getting bored with it anytime soon. More on the replayability later but first a quick overview.
Thea: The Awakening is a turn-based survival strategy game on a procedurally generated hexagonal world. It plays a lot like the early exploration phase in Civilization. The main difference is that the game is about survival instead of expansion. You won’t build an empire with a large army, instead you have to defend your only village from evergrowing threats while also finding the time to go out and gather materials and do quests so you can become stronger. If you don’t keep up with the enemies in terms of power they will overwhelm you but don’t worry, there are many difficulty modifications. You can play on 50% (very easy), 350% (very hard), and anything in between. The game has a lot of RPG elements, an excellent crafting system, and a card game to resolve various types of conflicts. The game combines regular fantasy creatures such as orcs and elves with slavic mythology. If you don’t know anything about that you’ll meet a lot of new creatures here such as Stryga’s and Baba Yaga’s.
– Real player with 1201.0 hrs in game
A Review of: “THEA: The Awakening”
A Single-player, 4X Dark Fantasy, Hex-Grid, Turn-Based Strategy-RPG, Card Battler, Resource Management Survival Game where Choices Matter with Crafting and Replay Value.
I’m usually either a fan of Grand Strategy games or RPGs, turn-based War-games and War-sims. I had this game in my library a couple years before getting around to trying it out. Now that I’m playing it; it’s great or certainly could have been with a few GUI and QOL improvements.
It’s very RPG-like, with lore and Slavic-based mythos. I love deep lore games that tell a storey (BG / Planescape). I also like games that base their lore on “real world” mythos (Inquisitor) and this game makes tons of references to eastern European folklore.
– Real player with 177.2 hrs in game
Lost Scavenger
How long could you survive in a parallel universe where the Mist dictates its rules? Would you be able to find the way to your homeworld, or will you adapt to live under the Mist domain? Fight for resources, get together with other survivors and discover the secrets of this world. This is your story.
Lost scavenger is a hardcore game about surviving in an open world that is overrun by the Mist. You play as an ordinary guy from our world that has fallen into an anomaly and found himself in a world that has been haunted by the Mist for the last 30 years. How far could you make it in a dying world in which every step may be your last? Would you be able to find the way to your homeworld, or will you adapt to live under the Mist domain? Fight for resources, get together with other survivors and discover the secrets of this world. This is your story.
Features:
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Unique world. The postapocalyptic world shrouded in impenetrable Mist. Small anclaves of survivours are scattered around what has left of the world. Do you have what it takes to find your path through all this?
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Active pause. It triggers after your every action so you can thoroughly read your surroundings, make assessions and plan your further actions.
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One life only. Your characters live only once. If they die, they die. Game over. And yet, it is a cruel world you’re going into, and nobody says that you can’t expose your companions and sacrifice them in battle to save your own life!
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No grind. No character leveling, no skill trees, no EXP whatsoever. Instead, you have to learn to play better, use your strengths and compensate your weaknesses. Git gud!
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Randomly generated world. Different biomes, weather conditions, anclaves and quests make every playthrough unique.
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Immersive simulation. The narration is dynamic and depends on your world generation settings and actions that you perform in that world. Every playthrough is a new story. And it is not necessary to follow the storyline: you can just wander around the world to try yourself!
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Virtues and flaws. Choose what you’re good at and what you’re not every time you start the new game. Unlock new traits during your adventure. New traits will give you the access to new abilities and dialogue options!
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The vast crafting system that lets you experiment or craft unique items from recipes that may be found throughout the world.
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Battles with a wide range of tactical techniques.
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Realistic damage. Creatures have a complex damage system, including locational damage, bleeding, painkillers, infections and aggravation.
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Realistic metabolism: fatigue, hunger, dehydration, hypothermia, diseases, intoxication.
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Mutations: characters affected by the Mist might get their limbs or organs mutated, which will grand them unpredictable effects.
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Realistic inventory. A complex item management system with both weight and volume limits forces players to carry only what is most necessary to character’s survival.
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Hexagonal map. Travel through ruins, hills, forests and plains on a hexagonal map. Direct visibility, altitude and daylight affect the viewing distance.
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Settlements: meet other survivors in their enclaves. They may provide food, rest and medical care. If you have something to give in return.
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Scouting: use your gear to explore your surroundings.
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Stealth tactics: search hiding places, use camouflage and ambush your enemy.
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Hunting: hunt wildfowl for food and fur, or hunt down big ones for rare ingredients.
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Use your lockpicking skills to open stashes with precious loot.
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Foraging. Search for edible plants and water sources, and use special skills to determine what is safe to consume.
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World inhabitants AI. Everything on the map lives its own life. Creatures wander around, gather resources, hunt each other or gather into packs to higher their chances to survive, which means a great danger to the player.
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Dynamic weather: daytime cycle, temperature, precipitation - and all of that depends on a season. For now, you always start in the middle of the autumn, and if you’re strong enough, you will be able to live until winter.
Harmless Demons
1 creature, bug where the mushroom house doesn’t go away when deconstructed (giving infinite research). I thought there would be more to it.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Really cool!! These creatures are super interesting and they make you play with curiosity.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
The Ancients
Earth in prehistoric times. The continents are shifting, the last ice age is coming. Fierce predators roam the land.
KEY FEATURES
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Survive in harsh conditions of prehistoric earth and wild creatures of virgin nature.
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Research and craft new tools according to your geographical needs.
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Protect your tribe from wild animals, cold winters, drought, make them feel safe.
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Discover the language and build an identity for your tribe so your people will be a whole.
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Create root religious ideas and combine them to create your own religion.
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Observe every change of your tribe. (Further reading tribe scene below)
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Build your own culture, make your tribe patriarchal or matriarchal, polygamic or monogamous, etc.
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Shape your tribe policies, authoritarian or free people, brutal or peaceful, equal or hierarchical. Each decision will help you deal with difficulties in its own way.
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Migrate different nodes on earth, to even the most impossible areas and try to survive there, you will be native to where you stay in the end.
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Meet the prehistoric animals, and be prey to them or make them your prey.
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Witness the historical development of humanity or create your own history.
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Try to make the best decisions in various events caused by internal or external sources.
From being starving hunter-gatherers, you will develop a great tribe with many options on prehistoric technology to great cultural breakthroughs. Your goal is to survive and thrive in real-world-inspired locations and migrate to new lands.
CULTURE TREE
The culture tree is where you discover religion, policies, and human interactions inside and outside of your tribe, the main purpose of the culture segment is to allow the player to shape the cultural development of the people. We worked on it to make it as real as real tribe’s decisions.You decide the roots of the culture of your community and what they are like when they advanced to settled life.
RESEARCH TREE
The research tree aims to help the player overcome the obstacles of the game by inventing new tools materials and crafting options. Research Tree is composed of six different categories inspired by historically correct ancient technologies. Our research tree consists six different categories, and six consecutive historic periods. You can become better in any category than others, like historic tribes.
TRIBE SCENE
The Tribe Scene gives you a close-up look at your tribe’s development. You can see the results of your tribe development on this screen. In addition to visuals, tribesmen and tribe states can be observed here. You can check if your tribe members are fed, feeling safe, and bound to the tribe socially. Otherwise, they may fight, steal or leave the tribe. Being a tribe doesn’t mean traveling and eating together, you have to live together and survive as a community.
MIGRATION MAP
While surviving against the wild, relentless nature of the last ice age; travel the vast landscape of the ancient earth. The ancient earth was geographically different than the earth we know today. The world was not like today at the last ice age, do you want to try to walk to America from Asia? Do you know Britain and japan weren’t islands at all…
Discover the ancient earth with your tribe.
HEXAGONAL MAP AND TACTICS
In the game, the player controls different clans of a tribe. These clans may gather food, hunt animals, make camp, or later in the game improve campsite with basic structures like tents and fences against wild animals. Our maps consist of hexagon tiles which is very useful for planning tactics for your clans.
Industry Idle
No waiting on energy / stamina / turns. bloops you down with 5 million cash and you do the rest.
After playing about 5 maps and at the current stage of the game ill rate it like this.
R = rating / S = suggestion / Number links both
(R1) Game play 9/10
(R2) GFX 8/10
(R3) Menu Layout 5/10
(R4) Misleading Overwhelming-ness 6/10
(R5) User Overly Clicking Fatigue 6/10
(S1) Solid Game (people should be required 2 hours of play before reviewing on steam)
(S2) (more color never hurt. building colors. and background green when same type selected) (S3) (needs a right click on map or building with wheel menu option.)
– Real player with 511.2 hrs in game
“Oh yay.” I thought; “another idler to waste my free minutes on whilst I’m busy answering my emails…”
Boy was I wrong….
Welcome to Industry Idle; a minimalistic game in the spirit of games like Factorio and Satisfactory. The game places you in the shoes of a company CEO tasked by setting up a profitable factory complex in a city of your choosing. Build a booming automotive industry in Rotterdam, go deep into IT-development in Detroit, arm Toulouse with nuclear armaments and sell it all on a dynamic market…OR your competition !!
– Real player with 352.6 hrs in game