Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa
It’s sort of a medium-heavy version of Gary Grigsby’s War in the East, some of the more arcane details tracked in WitE are extrapolated here. But not many, the logistics system is still very realistic in that if you don’t pay more attention to it than about anything else, your army groups are going to grind to a halt.
It also has considerably more internal political realism that WitE, you have relationships with all the generals in OKH/OKW and your theater commanders and of course Hitler, and how good or bad those relationships are can significantly alter gameplay. There are even small story lines, like your Chief of Staff is being a jerk and pissing off all the theater commanders, but he’s von Brauchitsch’s (your CO) nephew and you have to figure out what to do with him.
– Real player with 1209.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Replay Value Multiplayer Games.
I am a grand strategy junkie. I love world military history and am a master of Hoi 1,2 &3. I also have played ck2, panzer corps and other games in the multitudes of genres to death. I have stayed away from these Decisive Campaigns because of what I perceived as a limited scope. I said to myself, I don’t want to just fight to paris or just to fight the eastern front then have the game be over. This kept me away for years from these types of games and damn I’ve been cheating myself.
This game is the perfect mix of strategy, tactical combat and role playing. It is a an excellent addition to any fan of military history, strategy, tactics or lovers of the turn based game. What is so very unique is the multitude of decisions you get to make as the overall commander of operation Barbarosa. I can not stress enough the journey you get to make as both officers above and below you haggle, beg, demand and interfere with how you execute the war. While these games have been around awhile, they are relatively new to steam and this is absolutely a fresh take on ww2 that I’d like to see more of……what this game does absolutely better then another other is put you in the generals chair.
– Real player with 677.5 hrs in game
The Last Spell
A fun and addictive game that’s essentially tower defense with elements of party management/rpg, town/resource/strategic management, and enjoyable “rogue-like-lite-whatever” persistent unlocks over time. Maybe even a dash of almost RTS with how worker management flows.
The gameplay loop itself is simple - defend your little “city” against hordes of monsters by night, build/develop base/heroes/etc by day - repeat til you fail or win - earn unlocks to get stronger for the next time - and repeat.
– Real player with 136.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Replay Value Turn-Based Tactics Games.
It has been a long while since I enjoyed game this much straight on launch, last game I sank this many hours in on launch was Trails of Cold Steel IV on PS4 launch even if it is ‘just’ early access game right now there already is plenty to play and explore, in the roughly 10 hours so far I already unlocked good chunk of upgrades… And I barely made dent in the actual % of them
There are some weapons that are very obviously superior to others, at least that’s how I feel personally so far, like Spears and Daggers are ridiculously OP if you can grab bit of mana regen or in case of dagger/hand crossbows getting few multihits in, poison dagger toss is strong enough to hold a side on their own for first 4-5 nights which I think is silly (But I don’t say this cause I think it should be nerfed mind you, I actually think it is good thing that there are simply weapons that are better, while other have a nieche they can fulfill, like I personally don’t think Hammer is too good in general, but the aoe stun is good for stalling, it won’t work long term though unless you heavily spec into that kind of playstyle with your hero)
– Real player with 75.5 hrs in game
Disgaea PC
Note: If you’re able to, get “Disgaea 1 Complete” on the PS4 or Nintendo Switch instead. Since that one has remastered sprites & additional features which will make your experience much more enjoyable, also includes additional characters.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a fascination with numbers going up. Seeing small numbers turn to big numbers is something I absolutely love in video games, and Disgaea is the perfect game for this. They go overkill with numbers. Personally I never write reviews, but I have to for an amazing game like this. I’ve gotten every single achievement for this game so I believe I have a good idea of everything this game contains.
– Real player with 361.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Replay Value Comedy Games.
As of the moment I’ve never completed this game to the end. When I do - and I’m sure eventually I will as I do enjoy it - I’ll probably redo this review. But for the time being it has left me with an impression.
I won’t spoil anything in detail.
My look into Disgaea
You basically take control of a trio of protagonists in this game. Laharl (prince of the underworld), Etna (one of the prince’s demon vassals), and Flonne (an angel). The basic jist of the story is Laharl spends his time in the game exerting how awesome he is by winning fights - which is pretty accurate to how the player themself probably feels as well. The other two protagonists mostly spend their time trying to bring about a softer side to the prince. There are a ton of plot holes throughout the game’s story but I don’t feel they matter since the game never tries to take itself seriously. It’s always cute, silly, or badass. Things as random as having to fight the Power Rangers takes place in this game after all. It’s never really serious - at least not as far as I’ve gotten.
– Real player with 225.8 hrs in game
Fates of Ort
FAQ First:
“Is Fates of Ort a good game?”
Yes, absolutely. It has quests, choices, different endings, an open world, interesting mechanics, and it risks to be different, like any game in the NES/SNES era did.
“Ok, what kind of game is it?”
THIS is the first hard question. It’s hard to say, because it is really something unique, and hence cannot be hard pressed into a single category. It most probably is closest to the RPG genre, but it features so many awesome mechanics, which haven’t really been around that often and it mixes them exceptionally well.
– Real player with 29.1 hrs in game
A very unique and compelling game. I can’t say I’ve played anything exactly like this game before. It is a great little non-linear action rpg with some interesting quests and decisions to make. You are thrust right into the heart of the action, and you only have one option and one quest. You must explore, and begin to unwind the tangled web of problems that are plaguing your homeland. Some things are relatively simple, some require a little bit of thinking. The best thing is that all the quests are grounded in the reality of the game. You will use the objects you find, and sometimes you can use certain objects for more than quest, but you must choose. Who can help you more? Who deserves this particular piece of treasure more? Who do I believe, who do I follow, who lives, who dies? So many grand questions and you are generally making decisions from the gut and praying you were right.
– Real player with 28.9 hrs in game
Redemption: Eternal Quest
I’m changing this review to ‘recommend’. The developer has made a lot of positive changes over the last few days - you can tell he’s really put some time in, and he is clearly listening to the community and implementing suggestions.
It’s still not Baldur’s Gate or OOTP, but I think Redemption is at a point now where it’s worth $3.99. My impression is that the dev is going to be improving this for a while longer yet.
I’ll keep my original review below so it is still on record, but this applies to the original version that I bought on the release date.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
_Nice little fantasy sim game, but needs some work. This is one of those lukewarm “thumbs-in-the-middle” recommendations.
This game gets unfairly dinged because people/reviewers don’t take the time to realize what kind of game this is– a simulation game. You don’t embark on the quests yourself, there is no “combat” even point-and-click. You just hire/fire adventurers, pay their contracts, train them, choose what locations you want to visit and which adventurers you want to send, and reap the rewards (or pay the consequences). You also obtain minion cards that you use in certain “battles” against other monsters (see screenshot #6 on the store page)._
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Catacombs 1: Demon War
Just finished the game.
It is short as is stated and contains around 15 screens in total. I thought the story was totally ok and the writing was surprisingly good. There is a lot of variety in monster types and combats are quite nicely executed. The game - while not hard when I discovered I can flee from combats - was hardest in the beginning and I ended tha game at level 5.
The only thing which got more frustrating was that the further you got the further you had to retrace your steps back to town to heal and buy spells. But that was somewhat mitigated by the fact that you could pick up town portal scrolls and also carry a lot of healing potions but most importantly escape combats with good success.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
UPDATE: After this review and the following discussion, the developer quickly released an update to fix the balancing problems. So essentially, I’ve been paying 5 bucks to be his beta tester, thank you very much. The update fixes some of the problems, but not all of them; at least, you can’t get through the game by simply spamming the same two attacks forever. We’ll see what the future holds.
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TL;DR: Don’t spend money on this. It has like 2 hours of playtime, most of it boring grind.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager
I almost let the most prominent Steam review here dissuade me from buying this game. It’s a shame that one so well written review completely misrepresents what this game accomplished and what game it really is. The reviewer really missed the point, or else it was before some updates and long since invalid. The game and its developers deserve better.
Puzzles just have one solution. This isn’t a puzzle. But it is much like chess, and there’s lots of ways to lose at chess when your opponent wants to win. Learning chess is fun, even if you never ascend to learning what the masters tell us: the number of openings with which you can plausibly win against a competent opponent is rather finite. Is chess still fun to play even when I don’t know the game that well? Yes it is. And if chess is a deal breaker for you, should you really be reviewing strategy games?
– Real player with 146.2 hrs in game
This isn’t a game for everyone, but it certainly is the one for me.
In Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager, the player takes on the role of the administration of a space agency. Either NASA or the Soviet Space Agency, usually in competition with each other, or a fictional conglomeration of the two as the Global Space Agency (GSA). The goal, of course, is to land on the moon before your competitor, if playing NASA or as the Soviets–if you’re playing as the GSA the goal is simply to land on the moon by the end of 1973. Playing as the GSA replaces interagency competition with short term objectives set by political higher-ups, with give a small boost if achieved, but a moderate penalty if ignored. If a sandbox is desired with no pressure or competition, that is available too for all three agencies.
– Real player with 121.3 hrs in game
Gary Grigsby’s War in the East
Revised when WIE 2 is about to come (26 march 2021) :
I played it far more before it arrived on Steam (totalizing may be 3000 hours). I’ve been waiting for its finalization for a long time and at the moment we are talking about version 2 I think I can make my judgment.
It could have been a very good game, but it has some major flaws while taking into account the price.
++++++ POSITIVE ASPECTS ++++++
It has no animations and explosions… this is a real wargame in turn by turn with Hexs and Zones of Control.
– Real player with 1312.8 hrs in game
If you are a wargamer and don’t already have this game, you’re doing it wrong.
I got into the hobby way back in the paper maps and cardboard counters era, and one of the things that always was a pain and made it extremely difficult to get to play these “monster games” as we called them was the sheer amount of free space and time needed to even get the game going, much less actually play it to the end. Not to mention the unending amount of bookkeeping involved. If you want to simulate manpower, replacement rates, supply etc., and you DO if you want any sort of realism in a wargame, you’re going to have bookkeeping. Computers do all of that PLUS you don’t have to have a spare garage to keep those giant maps and thousands of counters lying around for months while you play it. IF you can find somebody to play it WITH.
– Real player with 484.0 hrs in game
Glorious Companions
EARLY ACCESS REVIEW
I’d like to weigh in here:
The Good: A fun, slightly irreverent steampunk world in which you get to experience the exhilarating high of sometimes winning battles that you absolutely did not deserve to win; Good turn-based combat run side-on/side-off; Good weapon damage balance; Good on the unpredictability scale with combat and encounters–not SO unpredictable that every fight is a crap shoot, as that would be maddening and leveling and character boosting would just further frustrate if it made no difference (I think we’ve all played that game at least once or twice), but about 15%-20% unpredictable overall; Good graphics which just got better with the latest update; catchy go***mn fife music (with tambourine!) that gets stuck in your head. Decent character classes.
– Real player with 181.5 hrs in game
A game that I believe has a lot of potential. I really dislike people that buy/invest in an early release then give it a crap review without thinking ahead and just realise “early release” means something. To me it means that I can play test a game and give ideas to developers to help build a better game. I have supported a number of early releases and can happily say that some of my ideas have helped develop a game.
This one is no different. I like the idea of building your leaderships/company skills to enable a bigger and better team. Turn based combat means that you can plan although it is obvious that your Captain will be targeted quite readily. I would like to see a bit more mix and visual options for both your Captain as well as team members. Even a few variations for each one would help add a bit more variety and individualism to each team member. I know that crafting is on the way but something started soon would be good. Even a few basic items such as turn fur into fur gloves or such. Perhaps like training it could be linked to a small amount of exp for the team member who is crafting. Of course the crafted item should have a better sell price than the raw material.
– Real player with 104.2 hrs in game
You… and who else?
There’s no shortage of RPG Maker games to be found on Steam, some of which
belong to certain RPG Maker teams. Aldorlea is one of them, having made quite
a few that have garnered some dedicated fans. Having fully completed this game,
allow me to say that if you like the games that come from Aldorlea, or are interested
in trying out one of them, you should steer far away from this game.
Although this game is certainly nowhere near the standards of Triple A games or
even some of the more professionally made independent games, it’s nevertheless
– Real player with 70.2 hrs in game
Done in 30h15 with first try and waves achieved. Real time done in 59hours +::O_o No story but strategy of well using armies. Get the world rid of monsters’ invasion from the South-East, easily located as a king won’t let us in.
Manage your armies, use them according to the type of enemies cos you can’t buy a bunch of potions to refill or revive them as you wish! But the old pirate’s cove brings a lot of money. To provide some refill for the next battle, equip the right artifact (warrior for linda).
– Real player with 59.1 hrs in game