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 Dungeon Crawler 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
Curious Expedition
The Curious Expedition is yet another Kickstarter-spawned entry into the ever-growing field of Rogue-Likes, but with a refreshing new twist. This time around, the player takes on the role of a small party of 19th-Century explorers engaged in a gentleman’s wager - to travel the world on six concurrent expeditions, competing to see who can gain the most fame. It’s a fairly quick and lethal game, but that’s exactly what it’s meant to be - a good way to kill a few hours at a time, running expedition after expedition off to their doom.
– Real player with 150.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Hex Grid Moddable Games.
The Short Pitch
TCE is one of the best games in its class, a Roguelike-inspired strategy/adventure game that will leave you wanting more. Easy enough to beat several times in one day if you’re dedicated, yet hard enough to make every victory feel like you clawed your way to it from the depths of hades.
If you’re looking at this game and you’re even half sure you want it, get it. If looking at it fills with you a warm and gooey sense of longing for the hours spent huddled around CRT monitors taking turns playing The Oregon Trail, buy it. Even if you’re a more modern gamer, but you’re a fan of FTL, Caves of Qud, the Binding of Isaac, or similar, buy it.
– Real player with 82.6 hrs in game
Hex of the Lich
Hex of the Lich is a turn-based hex-combat roguelike with a twist!
Every attack is built of hexes:
Colors = Damage!
Upgrade attacks with hexes:
Can you break the Hex of the Lich?
Read More: Best Hex Grid Turn-Based Combat Games.
Alina of the Arena
ABOUT
‘Alina of the Arena’ is a roguelite deckbuilding tactics game that combines elements from ‘Slay the Spire’ and ‘Into the Breach’.
Play as a gladiator that must fight for a bloodthirsty crowd to survive. With roguelite deckbuilding and hex-based tactics, players are no longer bound by simple attack and defense. Make use of dodges and knockbacks to stay alive!
#### FEATURES
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Dynamic Deckbuilding
Pick up dozens of cards, keep the ones you need, and craft a unique deck as you fight your way through randomized levels that present a different challenge each run!
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Hex-based Tactics
Unlike traditional deckbuilders that focus on attack and defense, the tactics element adds a dimension of positioning. Dupe your enemies into attacking each other, or use the terrain to gain an upper hand.
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Dual Equipment System
Carry equipment in both hands to enhance your cards! You can dual wield daggers for extra damage, go with a sword & shield combo for rounded performance, or wreak havoc with a two-handed weapon. Figure out the best combination for each fight!
Beard of Stone
Beard of Stone is a fantasy turn based 4x that tell the story of a world’s creation all the way to the twilight of the gods. Not exclusively a turn based strategy game, real time bidding mechanics keep everyone actively involved. Who is up for their next turn is constantly in contention! The game is fast paced and quick enough to be played in a single sitting.
Players take the role of Gods, bending the prophetic destiny of the world to their ends. Every event and action in the game is public information from the very first turn, displayed on the Prophecy Track. Players spend their Influence currency to gain control of these prophecies in real time. Anyone can bid and be outbid before a prophecy arrives as the current turn. Prophecies span a wide range of actions, from the creation of the continents of the world, the birth of all the various races, disasters, military campaigns and more.
As Gods, players are not playing as any specific race. They strive to make the warriors and nobles of the land believers in their faith. As the races expand and worship each God, the Influence invested is redistributed to the Gods to be bid on further prophecy turns. Having the most believers in the most prosperous races will lead to one of the Gods dominating the world and winning the game.
The Machine’s Garden
Good puzzler with half a dozen tricky levels that will probably test your patience. There is a
some kind of weird and creepy story also. If you like puzzles you will like this game, no timers and no limited moves.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
I’m 16 puzzles in so far and honestly I just want to say how much I LOVE this game. It’s amazing. It feels so satisfying to play, every click and drag of the mouse feels weighty, with effects and sounds that match perfectly, reverting puzzles is a joy to watch, and every time I get stuck on a puzzle I have a really satisfying little moment when I work it out. The ambient sound is so nice to listen to and doesn’t distract at all, it sets the mood perfectly. I’m also completely in love with the style and graphics.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Gem Wizards Tactics
Ok, I don’t know how to write reviews so I’ll just tell you an experience I had with the game wich shows why I think it’s great.
My small team of Potato soldiers were about to be wiped out by an overwhelming force of soldiers from the Azure Order. I had already captured three of the four flags I needed to win the battle, but I was getting swarmed and pushed out towards the northwestern corner of the map. And my leader, Andromeda Robin, was already dead. My only chance to get the last flag was to kill an enemy squad leader. Unfortunately the squadleader was behind a ton of spearmen, knights, archers and catapults.
– Real player with 381.3 hrs in game
Exceedingly good and long-lasting gameplay value for those with limited time–each match lasts anywhere from 20-30 minutes at most. The player factions are varied and fairly balanced from my limited exposure of each. Gameplay is simple at first glance, but the synergies among units adds deep, tactical and surprising complexity to the Advanced Wars-like formula.
About the only thing that would add value to an already enjoyable game would be at least two or three more player factions, but the developer has already hinted that this is a possibility. Could we get a robot faction please?
– Real player with 38.9 hrs in game
Death Crown
This is a simple, yet fast paced, game that takes me back to retro game vibes.
The main thing that pulled me in was the style of cut-scenes.
The graphics, while all 2-D pixelated, are quite enticing.
The artwork is dark medieval, and the color schemes are variable.
You beat levels to earn diamonds, to spend on upgrades.
You can upgrade gold mines, defense towers, or troop barracks.
Gold mines earn gold, towers turret intruders, barracks spawn your army.
You place the three buildings across the grid, strategically, to gain territory.
– Real player with 30.9 hrs in game
I was on the edge fist, but this is actually an awesome space & resource centric RTS–the famous Z by the Bitmap Brothers comes to mind–but Death Crown is much more minimalistic.
The in-game graphics are unusual but cool looking, however, at times it’s a difficult to see certain things in the heat of the battle (esp. in the human campaign DLC which features a lot more terrain types).
It takes some time figuring out the minute details of the simple but not really intuitive controls but this is part of the game, I think. I really like the music (which is rare) and the black-and-white line art cut scenes. However, the story is a bit vague, and only shown not told.
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
Hexonomy
Hexonomy is a game of strategy and economics. Choose from hundreds of different businesses to build and use the resources at your disposal to create the largest economic empire before time runs out. Be sure to keep your eyes open for any weaknesses in your opponents business strategy, placing the right business, at the right time, in the right place, could mean the end of it all for your opponent.
GAMEPLAY
Start with a blank slate. You begin by creating Resource nodes on the map. These will set the basis of the game. Where you place your first resources could affect the outcome of the entire game. All businesses derive from a resources in some shape or form.
From there, you advance into Tiers. Each Tier requires a business from the Tier below it. For example, a Tier 12 business requires a Tier 1 supplier. A Tier 6 supplier requires a Tier 5 supplier. And Tier 1 suppliers always require Resources. The higher the Tier, the bigger the risk, and the bigger the reward. Higher tiers will requires a wider variety of supplies from multiple businesses, so you have to be sure that all the suppliers are met. For each supplier on the map that supplies your business, you get a boost to efficiency, which results in more money for you.
If you own the supplier to your business, you get a HUGE discount on supplies. Meaning, chaining the suppliers and business makes great economical sense when possible. But that may not always be the case.
THE CATCH
There can only ever be ONE of any business. Which means if you need birch wood, and your opponent owns the only tree farm, you HAVE to buy from him. You cannot decline to buy from a supplier. If the supplier is available, you have to buy from them, and you have to pay their price. Meaning, if you know your opponent needs Gold in the future for their Jewelry brokerage, it would be wise to put down a Gold mine if they haven’t already. You would profit tremendously selling to your opponent, they wouldn’t get a discount, and that means leverage by trying to hike the price up as much as possible.
However, they can do the same to you, so its wise to be careful about leaving any vulnerabilities in your supply chain. These vulnerabilities sometimes may be unavoidable, since the higher Tier business may already require resources that your opponent bought early in the game. This is where prediction and smart calculations will win you the game.
TACTICS
Businesses location and information varies as well. Certain business only do well in certain time of the year (the time of the game is calculated in a 12 month system, using economic quarters and sprints). Some businesses have higher shipping costs than others. Some require a higher amount of resources to produce their product. Other business may have to be placed next to other tiles. Some business cant be within x amount of tiles of another business.
These placement restrictions and variables make it a little harder to create good economic chains. However, they can also be used to your advantage in order to put your opponent in a tough spot. If you know what their strategy is, you can restrict certain businesses from being built by creating others that counter those businesses. Knowing the supply and demand will help you overcome this as you learn about the Hexonomy.
UPGRADES
Once you have businesses placed, you can start thinking about how to upgrade. There are many types of modifiers in the game. Ones that apply to the whole board, ones that apply to all your businesses only, some that affect an area, and some that affect a single business. You can purchase these modifiers for Capital. By doing this, it will effectively cost you Net Worth, but in the long run, may help generate significantly more income. Spend wisely.
WINNING AND LOSING
As the game goes on, you are constantly trying to increase your company’s Net Worth. The more property you own, and the more successful businesses you have, and the more Capital your businesses earned you, the higher your company’s value. The player with the highest Net Worth at the end of time is the winner.
Create the empire you want! You can choose a hundred different paths to victory, as long as you have a great strategic and economical mind!
Generals. Positional Warfare
You are a general. The war has begun, and your country expects only victory from you. The action takes place in the headquarters. Here are schematic images of battlefields. You place figures of your soldiers on the field and give them orders for the day. Test the strategist within yourself. Waiting for you:
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Simultaneous moves - You don’t know your opponent’s intentions until you make a move. You will need to consider all the possibilities of the enemy before you give the final orders for the day. Only at night will you get a complete picture of what happened during the day. And you have to adapt to the changes.
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Multiple battlefields at the same time - you must control the situation on all front lines. Develop the attack in all directions, or concentrate your forces on one-it’s up to you.
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Addictive gameplay - you control a huge army. You will have to correctly allocate the reserve. Choose a convenient direction to attack, or an excellent position for a blind defense.
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Various types of units - soldiers, engineers, tanks, artillery and aircraft. Each has its own distinctive features. And they also interact with each other in different ways.
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Unique countries - Bluelands, Kingdom of Greendagar, Kredsanokia, Zoldania and Perputsk Republic. Each has its own specialization, landscape, and history.
Guide your country to victory in a turn-based strategy game Generals. Position Warfare.
The game was developed by one person.