Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure
Update: amazingly, the game was ported to Unity five years after release and many of the issues were fixed. I still encounter the occasional bug, but I have no reservations about recommending it now.
[original review below]
One of my favorite roguelikes ever.
At first the strange mechanics of the game make you feel impotent. Why can’t I just attack monsters!? But pushing monsters into water is the name of the game here and it feels way more satisfying than simply hacking at them. Beyond that is the spell system. In each round you get 4 randomly selected spells + a slot for a one-use pickup. If you’re clever enough, you can wipe out a whole screen of monsters at once. The way your spells recharge by picking up energy from floor tiles is tactically interesting and not something I’ve seen elsewhere.
– Real player with 279.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hex Grid Pixel Graphics Games.
Disclaimer: I am currently a part time developer for Dinofarm games. I was lucky enough to fall madly in love with the mobile version of this game (where I player well over 1,000 runs) prior to joining the dev-team, though, and can safely say that I would enjoy this game tremendously even if I wasn’t one of the programmers behind it.
Auro is a turn-based rogue-like that introduces two key innovations to the genre. The first is its ranking system, which generates levels for the player based on their persistent skill level. It cuts down dramatically on the stress you may experience in the first few hours of most rgue-likes, and helps make sure that you always have a fighting chance and that all of your runs will be exciting and dramatic.
– Real player with 121.3 hrs in game
Sandwalkers
If you’re interested in Sandwalkers, please wishlist and follow us :)
Every decade, the Mka tribe sends caravans of adventurers into the Phithi, the meteorological chaos that keeps the Uwando tribes isolated from each other and makes life outside the refuges almost impossible.
Their mission: to establish diplomatic and trade relations, to explore and reclaim the lands left to the mercy of monsters and pirates, and, most importantly, to plant a new tree city that can become a refuge for the Mka and their allies. Regardless of the success or failure of their mission, the caravans must send the memories they have gained back to the capital, using the crystospheres carried by traveling beetles.
-
Guide a caravan of adventurers through ever-changing landscapes.
-
Fight and survive in the face of acid rain, sandstorms and heat waves.
-
Tame hostile creatures, rescue refugees, seek allies for mutual aid, or follow the blood path and loot everything you can.
-
Seek rich arable soil to plant a new tree city for your people.
-
Progress by passing on your knowledge to a new caravan.
-
Repair the broken climate, and put an end to centuries of wandering.
-
Make choices that will affect your future expeditions.
-
Each character has a different job that greatly influences the gameplay. It’s up to you to explore mythical ruins as an Archeologist, or track down huge beasts as a Hunter.
-
Don’t underestimate the weather! It influences the movements of the characters and the outcomes of confrontations.
Read More: Best Hex Grid Turn-Based Games.
Dungeoneers
Very very fun. Counting the web version, I’ve put hundreds if not thousands of hours in to this game. Strategy is very important. Like backgammon, it’s still skill even with RNG. My review is mostly using the version from about a week ago. I’ll update it when I’ve spent some more time with the new version.
Pros:
Strategy is easy to learn but hard to master
Art is pretty cool
Very few bugs
It manages good variety without excessive complexity
I can’t say exactly what it is, but I really like the gameplay
– Real player with 175.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hex Grid Early Access Games.
A great casual hex based strategic beat em up rpg, like a classic D and D one shot campaign. Weigh the options of attacking vs. sneaking and grabbing swords, bows and shields vs. counting your potions and scrolls for the dragons. No story lines to remember, just dragons to beat up, and mummies, and trolls, and those pesky firebugs.
Run in the daily hunt against all other players, how many skeleton elbows can you collect in one run? 100? Inconceivable!
A lot of strategy in each room, should I sneak by the orcs and just grab the loot, hoping to not be spotted? Can I take out the casters and snipers before I get clobbered? Can I handle the rain of fireballs? (p.s. if you get stuck in a rain of fireballs, you are doing it wrong).
– Real player with 116.1 hrs in game
Guards of the Gate
I am definitely having fun with this game, so I can recommend it. I didn’t really like it at first, but as I experimented with the different team combinations and learned more about the game play, I really started to get into it.
This isn’t a fancy game. You create a team of three characters. Mutant, Knight, Ninja, Ranger, Wizard, and Shaman. You navigate a world map by moving from spot to spot. Each spot is either empty, has a battle grid with monsters, has a reward statute, has a merchant, has a new skill, etc. The maps aren’t that big.
– Real player with 22.2 hrs in game
I like turn-based tactic games, and I am hardcore gamer who dedicated many hours to the XCOM series. However, sometimes I turn to obviously more simple games, like Guards of the Gate.
Pros:
-
Nice look, for the game of that kind quite fair;
-
Interesting map system without out-of-battle healing and statues which strengthen teams in next runs;
-
Some skills that I have not encountered in other games of this type;
-
Simple but enjoyable battle system on small hexagonal fields.
Cons:
- The game is very badly balanced, for now. Some classes are more useful than others; teams of certain type make walkthrough very easy, and others - very hard, but irritating hard, because of bad skills combination and artificial weaknesses. This is very important, because for turn-based tactic game to be replayable it must have various strategies and approaches. Now there is only one effective approach.
– Real player with 19.8 hrs in game
Gloomhaven
Need a break from the endless grind of looter-shooter games or from the stress of endless pvp?
Well look no further, because Gloomhaven has got you covered.
Gloomhaven is a turn-based strategy rpg that can be played solo or co-op. You work together as a team of mercenaries adventuring through dungeons and saving the city of Gloomhaven from evil (or maybe not.. depending on your choices hehehe).
It plays like a classic roleplaying game, such as pathfinder, or Dungeons and Dragons. This is a digital adaptation of a board game and offers both the full campaign with 95 quests from the original game as well as a new guildmaster mode with 150+ unique quests and some new bosses. There are 17 playable classes, with 6 starters and 11 that you unlock as you progress through the game.
– Real player with 1123.1 hrs in game
So let me start this review by saying that yes, I do own the board game. I have a 178 hours into Gloomhaven, most of which I accumulated during Early Access playing the Guild Master mode. I am currently playing the campaign mode, and I have done the bulk of those hours, outside tutorials, in multiplayer.
I love this game.
So if you’re either struggling to work with a 20+lb board game and keeping a steady gaming group going, for me the challenge is my gaming group is almost always 5 people which is one too many. For reference, I do play a lot of board game digitally, Through the Ages, Carcassone and Ticket to Ride, to name a few. I also love Zombicde, Hero Quest (got the new edition this week), Vindication and 7 wonders to name a few physical games.
– Real player with 230.1 hrs in game
Dudes on a Map: Virtual Grid Paper
I can’t say enough about how great this tool is for helping with running my game! It’s simple to pick up and start playing with, without having to study tutorial videos. Easily import your own maps in jpeg form, and you’re on your way to having a great time with friends. There are some ‘fancy’ features, like having 2 different types of fog (one standard and one for secret areas you don’t want to accidentally reveal), marking up areas of effect, initiative tracker, add in your own monster/NPC tokens, and a dice roller (with the option of using symbol dice for different game systems). While these are great, you don’t need to use them if you don’t want to. I tired of trying to learn how to use other systems, and my experience of using dudes has convinced me that I don’t need to while still having a great time with my friends.
– Real player with 241.7 hrs in game
Been playing since the earliest Alpha releases. Also, for respectful reasons of this review, I did not get it for free but I am close to the creator so, anyone reading this, perhaps you’ll feel that there’s bias BUT, I will happily preface it at the top here first.
Dudes On A Map, for me, can be described as the easiest non-tech proficient program for playing RPG’s online with your friends. While some may say “Scoff, there’s not nearly as many tools and all these bells and all those whistles.” I would reply to them “Good, I don’t want all that and, to be honest, I don’t want to take a small 101 course just to get my games running.”
– Real player with 125.0 hrs in game
Deity Empires
Short description:
DE is the most faithful (playable) successor to Master of Magic. It has some
*4x Fantasy Strategy with seperate magic and civic research
*points to spend on perks at game start
*sophisticated economy
*incremential elements like resource upgrades and unit leveling ( (which you can turn off))
*Tactical battles and Rogue like dungeon diving (simplistic Rogue Like at the moment but there is more to come)
A negative point is, that this game is complex and/but has very limited manual (and no tutorial). As I understand it, the devs wait for the big and essential updates, before they spend time on manuals. The DE community is very welcoming. The forum search function is your extended manual.
– Real player with 783.5 hrs in game
This review is from the perspective of someone who has played a significant amount of the Age of Wonders series and the Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ4. I’ve also dabbled in Endless Legend, Fallen Enchantress, Dominions, and Master of Magic.
Right now this game feels like a cross of Age of Wonders and FFH2, and I love it. Below are some of my thoughts:
City Development (Tall vs Wide):
Cities start weak but can become incredible powerhouses given time and investment. For example, a starting city will produce approximately 100 gold per turn, which is enough to fund a low tier army or a level 1 improvement every 5 turns. My capitol in my latest game, however, produces 4000 (!) gold a turn, and is still not yet fully developed. I basically don’t have to care about income because this city is basically El Dorado.
– Real player with 357.3 hrs in game
Lucid Steam
This game is currently a bit rough around the edges, but with a bit of polishing could end up really great!
Right now though, it could use more tooltips to help people understand what’s going on and what effects what.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game