Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
Been following this game since announcement, could only buy it recently
Not as polished or filled with content as reboot XCOM titles and has a lot of balance issues, but i like it, i hope devs will keep on supporting the game.
The biggest difference from other x-com-like games is that you can aim at different body parts similar to fallout’s VATS system, effectively letting you disable individual bodyparts of enemy units or strike the least protected spots to maximize damage as guns fire projectiles and not just mimick that feel, making cover work as actual cover and not just decrease a chance to hit and damage received
– Real player with 344.1 hrs in game
Phoenix Point is an evolution of the turn-based tactics genre. The free-aim system allows the player the control to make meaningful decisions in placement and in utilizing the soldiers rather than praying to RNG-esus to give us a good roll. Snipers don’t miss shots right in-front of their faces, there are no ‘99% but whoops it missed!’ moments. For this alone it’s a worthwhile and substantial upgrade to classic tactics games.
The over-world is on par with X-Com 2 with the player moving from point to point looking for cities and supplies in addition to trading opportunities. The great bulk of the player’s time in the over-world should be spent either moving to a mission or moving between havens to trade resources. One of the major missed elements of Phoenix Point, and what I see giving players an endless amount of consternation is in finding enough resources to make it through the game. I’ve also noticed the achievement for ‘Trading 10,000 Resources’ is also under 10%.
– Real player with 177.2 hrs in game
Dungeon Deathball
Fun tactics game. It plays like into-the-breach-lite.
What this game does better than into the breach:
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Every turn is more connected. Enemies can only move a small amount and won’t jump across the map and target something else unlike ITB.
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Enemies can be manipulated easily; A big part of mastering the game involves manipulating enemies which is really fun
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The orange monsters and goalies chases the ball
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Cyan monsters that chases players.
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You can stand in an enemies attack range to make them attack you the next turn
– Real player with 102.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Procedural Generation Turn-Based Tactics Games.
Quick note: My actual playtime at the time of writing this is closer to 8-10 hours, as I’ve been playing it since the first public demo on itch, months before Early Access release.
Dungeon Deathball is a compact, turn-based strategy game, in part inspired by Into the Breach - it shows you exactly what enemies are going to do next turn and also allows you to turn them against each other by pushing them around. Unlike ItB, it’s a very easy game to pick up and play a quick round or two while on a short break.
– Real player with 45.2 hrs in game
Gunslugs 3:Rogue Tactics
Disclaimer: won this game in a competition, so I didn’t pay for it, but did not receive it in exchange for this review.
Excellent randomly generated shoot ‘em up. Has stealth elements which, while not a major part of the game, do make it much more interesting than just a simple shooter. Difficult, but definitely has the “just one more go” factor. Very simple to pick up with loads to discover as you continue to play through.
Has the 8-bit feel that we expect from this dev.
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Procedural Generation Stealth Games.
Great pixel combat rogue-like game with loads of various missions together with a good varied enemy lineup, weapons and gadgets/items to keep you addicted.
Procedurally generated maps for unlimited replayability
– Real player with 4.1 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
Killer Bean
After being betrayed by the Shadow Agency and learning the truth about their evil ways, Killer Bean has made it his life goal to destroy them. Yet this is easier said than done, as Killer Bean will face armies of enemies, and mysterious Shadow Beans who are better trained and more powerful than him.
This is a third person, roguelike shooter. Every time you start a new single player campaign, everything changes. The locations change, the missions change, the characters change, the bosses change, and most of all, the story changes. Characters who you trusted before, may turn against you. Enemies who tried to kill you, may end up helping you. Simple missions can turn into deadly traps. No two campaigns are the same.
Key Features
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Totally procedurally generated missions and story, packed with plot twists and surprises
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Level up Skill Trees for your style of play: Stealth, Melee Combat, Parkour, Guns Blazing
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Different factions of enemies who all dislike each other
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Ragdolls and physics combat galore
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Lots of vehicles to drive, and lots of weapons to try
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Main characters that roam the map, who will either help you or hurt you
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Design your own Shadow Beans that will hunt down Killer Bean
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Create your own missions
Ancient Frontier: Steel Shadows
This is a fantastic little gem of a game. Very moody and thematically perfect for the tone it tries to set.
Its a turn based strategy game very similar in gameplay mechanics to games like X com, Fire Emblem, and other turn based fare, only instead of commanding characters, you command ships, ranging from quick but deadly little fighters, to huge battle cruiser/carriers that come with disposable “body guard ship” as well as a few other surprises that were quite pleasing. Its truly an addicting title, with great music, recently added passable voice acting (some of its really good, such as the pirate queen and her entourage, including one guy who does a minor role as a pirate who sounds like a pro, to others which sound a bit plain and uh….not-so- pro. Its a mixed bag, but thats ok because it really helps with the immersion anyways).
– Real player with 154.6 hrs in game
Having played the original Ancient Frontier, I really welcomed the new addition of Steel Shadows. Everything in the game is improved over the original and it is clear that the developers listened to the players and thrown in some of their own ideas for good measure.
New and good things:
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new faction and ships, which previously were unavailable;
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new feel (pirates);
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new side mission types;
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new graphic assets;
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new story with a mix of characters old and new (nice for the veterans of the original, but the newcomers won’t feel
– Real player with 113.9 hrs in game
Gondola’s Adventure
Even after playing for a little while this game will become very addictive, making you want to play more and more. It’s a well made game with great animations and beautiful music, making it a very nice expierence. I highly recommend it.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Ebin :DDDD
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Monsters and Medicine
Charming game play with a nice puzzle mechanic.
If you want a pure puzzle where you can win every time, this isn’t it, but a casual player will find satisfaction when winning a level. The monsters are so cute, how can you not help them?
– Real player with 471.5 hrs in game
Lovely little game with great graphics and sound and interesting mechanics. My only complaint is that sometimes RNG will kick you in the pants and there’s nothing you can do but restart. But even losing is fun!
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Overland
Only 69% positive with only 285 reviews? I really feel sad for this game as it only got a Mixed Score on steam.
It’s really actually pretty good but the restriction of Rogue-Like difficulty, Random Generated map plus some designer choice made and many other factors made this game lost a lot of the scores.
The story itself is very basic that a meteorite strike earth that brings an alien specie of bugs that grow and expanded out of control beneath the earth. They are attracted to sound and noises and have infinite quantities so civilizations of mankind brought to an abrupt end with few survivors scattered about. They have to constantly stay moving to avoid the alien bugs and salvage what’s left of the old world to stay alive in a hopeless earth.
– Real player with 81.0 hrs in game
In short
Overland looks beautiful and has a cool concept, but it’s too focused on tedious tasks. It’s also a game that does not like to reward its players, which makes it hard to enjoy.
BTW, the game’s difficulty has been nerfed quite a bit since launch, so disregard reviews about the game being impossible. If anything, it may currently be too easy.
Long version
For me, the lack of fun in Overland starts with the self-contradictory nature of the game. Indeed, Overland constantly offers cool toys, but says NO whenever the player wants to use them. For example, you’d be forgiven for thinking this game was about tactical combat, with weapons aplenty and critters to use them on. Turns out that the game punishes you for killing a critter, as it results in a snowball effect that makes the map harder. You could actually argue that Overland’s core gameplay is to make dumb AI run around in circles, without hurting them, to give your other characters enough time to find fuel. It’s hard to remain excited about such a tactic after you’ve done it 4-5 times. Another example of this kind of contradiction is the equipment system. The game likes to drop all sorts of useful items, be it weapons, fuel, med packs, repair kits, flash lights, and so on. But characters in Overland only have 1 or 2 equipment slots which means you can’t pick up most of the items you find. The result is that you spend a ridiculous part of your time doing things like dropping your flashlight on the ground to be able to carry the newly found can of fuel, while your other character stores his med pack on the car in order to pick up the flashlight you just dropped … you get the idea. None of that is fun; it’s just tedious and annoying.
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
Sproggiwood
This game will always hold a special place for me as the introduction of my kids to roguelikes. There’s no auto-explore here, it’s more “puzzle roguelike” than I’d really prefer, but it’s ideal for my 7, 10 and 13 year old to play and get far too much enjoyment out of. Add to that the developers are some of my favorites (I don’t know them personally, but they also make Caves of Qud, a roguelike that I enjoy quite a bit as well) and I can heartily recommend the game to most anyone dipping thier toe into roguelikes without knowing what all the fuss is about.
– Real player with 35.0 hrs in game
THE ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY…
Okay at best, only somewhat charming, and worth a casual playthrough at most.
[➕] THE POSITIVES
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The MUSIC. Is delightful. If anything, you’ll keep the volume turned up just to hear the cheery tunes as you play.
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ENEMY VARIETY. Is nice! Each level serves as a foundation for the next, so the game is always building on itself all the way through to the end.
– Real player with 26.4 hrs in game