XO
(I backed this game on Kickstarter, and helped out with alpha and beta testing…)
XO has a lovely mix of tactics and strategy within a relatively short three to five hour game run. But learning XO well enough to survive that final run will take you much longer. It’s a game to be played many times as you learn more about the ships, the factions, the enemies, weapons and circumstances. Each time you’ll learn how to survive longer, how to make better use of the ships, systems and resources you encountered, and how to better choose through the event paths in order to win faction allies as you go.
– Real player with 89.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelite Story Rich Games.
I’ll split this review to what I enjoyed and what I did not.
What I enjoyed
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You really get the feeling of trying to build together a rag-tag fleet of military and civilian ships, fleeing away from a seemingly unstoppable enemy while building up your arsenal, firepower and the capacity to support your fleet. Awesome feeling. :)
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Lots of interesting concepts, boarding, resource harvesting, different kinds of weapons to counter different enemies. Really enjoyed different weapons, upgrades, ship types, keeping civilians in cargo holds (then performing a crew transfer to abandoned/disabled ships) and the ability build up my fleet. :D
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
h8machine
h8machine is a cardgame set in a dystopian future in which Artificial Intelligence 🤖🤖🤖 has completely overtaken the online world 🌐🌐🌐 but the worst part is - it learned to behave just like us…
but the AI is not just in the story! an in-game neural network allows you to customize and randomize 2D art in real time! with this TECHNOLOGY, you can fully immerse yourself in the world of anime profile pics posting complete garbage. it’s just like real life social media!
no one uses realtime-with-pause in cardgames, probably for some good reason. but screw it, I like RTWP so I just put it in!
you will strategize around the use of timers as the flow of time is your main resource! there is no turns and all cards time out, resulting in a gameplay like you haven’t seen before. will you get lost in the hectic chaos of ticking timers, or will you optimize every fraction of a second at your disposal? remember: the active pause system allows you to play any card you want while the time stops. use it to make your decisions and execute powerful combos!
are you tired of collecting cards one by one and having to remove the crap ones from your deck as a deckbuilder game goes on? in h8machine, instead of trying to collect a deck card by card, you grab packets of cards with their own “personalities” - internet stereotypes and whatnot. each of these personalities contributes 1/3 of your deck, and you can mix&match them to easily form decks with a pre-constructed feel
Read More: Best Roguelite Roguelike Deckbuilder Games.
Hell Loop
Enjoyable.
Pros:
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It’s fun to find effective strategies.
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The “no escape” mode is very challenging and fun.
Cons:
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Your trap choices can make some playthroughs on higher difficulty impossible.
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Difficulty levels are hidden in main menu.
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Roguelite Tower Defense Games.
The game is pretty great as a tower defense + strategy game. The drawings are perfect and looks pretty great for your eyes, you can’t wait that much from a platformer. However sinners can scream and that would make you feel like you’re a real Evil LMAO. However, traps are pretty enough to kill all the sinners. I had one problem with achievements. I tried many things to solve it but I didn’t had achievements while I was completing them. Contacted developer about that and he said yeah there can be a bug about achievements which will be solved %100.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
RFM
It was all going so well.
One day the world is experiencing a golden age of technology, the next it’s forcibly merged with an alternate dimension. It happens.
Now there’s a new reality, a world between worlds: The Bast.
RFM is a roguelite tactics game where you can play, pause and plan. You are Morgan, dimension-diving merc, delving deeper and deeper into The Bast at the behest of the factions looking to exploit this new reality.
But you’re going to need help to survive in the depths. Help, and a whole lot of skill.
RFM combines the tactics of grid-based strategy with the thrills of an action game. Each level plays out in realtime, but you can pause to assess the battlefield, prep your attacks and plan your next move. Use mods and equipment to enhance your preferred style of play and overcome your foes.
Inspired by the Golden Age of Space and seventies retro-futurism, RFM’s cel-shaded art and unique atmosphere, set to an irresistibly catchy soundtrack, means diving into the unknown has never felt so stylish.
You’re not alone on your journey into The Bast. As a mercenary you’ll deal with close associates and vying factions: everyone wants a piece of this new reality. But going deeper means getting better, and you’ll have to create unlikely alliances to procure the equipment you need to dive deeper.
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Unique tactical battle system combining real-time action and time-freezing strategy
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Every dive is different: change your strategies on the fly to counter a dimension in flux.
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A hyper-stylish retro-future set to a catchy original soundtrack
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Discover the secrets of each world and work towards a mysterious final goal
Last Days Of Tascaria
Disclaimer: I personally know part of the team behind the game.
The game is a party-based roguelike (up to 4 characters) that features two different gameplay layers. One strategic, where you advance through different types of randomly generated regions composed of locations and one tactical, where the combat is resolved.
The Journey
At the strategic level, to get to the next region you have to reach the portal location. In your way you will be hard pressed to make choices: you are in the way of a horde of orcs making time a luxury you don’t have.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
I found it fun and engaging, specially the combat.
I’m a big fan of “Choose your own adventure games” and I really like how they integrated this genre with a very tactical combat.
I got this game in Early Access and I’ve seen how devs have enhanced things I complaint about, like polishing the story or improving music during combats.
Pros:
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Your decisions change the game
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Replayability
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Combination of attacks during combats
Cons:
- I’d like to be able to pick the other existing characters to start the game
– Real player with 21.0 hrs in game
3 Minute Heroes
i love this game! its an awsome tower defence game and i love the feeling of wining a boss when it looks like all hope is lost. really gets the blood pumping! i love to unlock new charectrs and use their new playstyle in battle. my kitten has meowed at the screen quite a few times, so i think she likes it too
– Real player with 213.2 hrs in game
Perfect game!
There are many unique styles (character combinations) which guarantees new experience each run.
– Real player with 27.2 hrs in game
Crying Suns
IN A WORD: UNMISSABLE
IN A NUTSHELL:
WHAT TO EXPECT: Space themed. Strategy rogue-lite. Epic sci-fi story. Numerous battleship types. Unlockable officers with abilities required for events and combat. Vast number of bridge-view encounters. RTS ship-to-ship tactical battles. Hex-tiled maps with minor dynamic elements. Abstracted text-based planetary missions. Stylised presentation and GUI. 2D pixellated graphics. Hard reset every chapter. Singleplayer only.
– Real player with 47.9 hrs in game
Something I’d recommend, but with some reservations.
tl;dr It’s FTL: Faster Than Light , but story-oriented and focus on fleet-level rather than ship-to-ship combat. Overall FTL is the better one of the two, with more run variety and less time wasting fluff, not to mention it’s cheaper, while Crying Suns shines in presentation and other “meat around the bone”.
The good
- Gameplay wise the game copies many of the good parts of FTL, but puts its own twist on the formula by instead pitting whole fleets against each other. Your mothership dictates your playstyle – alpha strike, turtler with lots of mothership guns, suicide swarmer, general space superiority etc. – and there’s a good number of different squadrons and weapons that either affect the battlefield or directly attack the enemy mothership, with their own quirks and special powers, plus officers that confer unique bonuses to your fleet or ship systems.
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
Star Souls
Hi there! Well, I’m from development side, so don’t be surprised by my hours on record. I was responsible for music and sounds, so I’ll just skip that part and try to describe other areas as independent as possible.
Cons:
- There are still some bugs. Some of them are unnoticeable, some of them like to show off, and some of them are actually features, so please finish the tutorial and check out the “How to play” thing in case of any doubts. Anyway, your gameplay shouldn’t be affected much, existing bugs don’t block you from finishing the game and getting all the achievements.
– Real player with 157.9 hrs in game
Hi there!
My impression of this game is quite positive to recommend it to other gamers.
Pluses:
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interesting plot
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funny text quests
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simple and clear UI
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awesome art with unique style
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music sounds great
+Vicky. No comments.
Minuses:
-tutorial could be more detailed
-some little bugs. They don’t strongly affect on the game, sometimes help to win faster.
- not for children, esp. because of some offensive things.
I especially like the music. It works perfectly in the game itself, but it’s also really nice to listen to on it’s own. It gives the game a feeling of tension and urgency when things are getting hectic. It also has a very nice contrast between more ambient and wonderful tracks, while the player searches empty or friendly locations, and the stimulating tracks of hostility.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
Winter Falling: Battle Tactics
Prototype available! Play it here: https://rarykos.itch.io/winter-falling-price-of-life
This game was just announced! I’ll update this page with detail, images and features as we go!
**** Wishlist the game to be kept up to date with development. ****
Follow the development, offer suggestions on [the Discord community
](https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=https://discord.gg/2JRjkku
)
Winter Falling is a strategy roguelike inspired by FTL and Total War. The undead are coming - only you can stop them. Travel across the crumbling empire. Gather support. Make enemies. Lead troops in tense tactical battles, just you and your brain against the dying world…
Features:
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COMMAND your army in battles: Battles play out in real time, but you can play at your own speed, just pause and ponder. You will need to pause often, battles require many difficult decision, every second full of tension!
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Plan your STRATEGY outside battles: Manage your army on the worldmap. Here you will gather support, rest, make friends or enemies. Will your army be well-fed and well-paid? Or will you loot cities to fill your chest? Will you save the empire?
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CUSTOMIZE your army: You choose what orders to use, what items to take, what units to put into battle, which road to go.
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Strategy focused on SKILL rather than chance: Every decision is yours to make. Every fault yours to bear. No chances to hit, no random unfair percentages.
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TRAVEL across the crumbling empire: Explore, gather support, make friends and enemies. Learn the history of the land. A uniquely generated path for your every journey.
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Be the Commander you WANT: Hundreds of tough choices await you. Will your army be a force for good? Or will you stir conflict and chaos in the land?
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Craft YOUR BATTLES: Use the in-game map editor to create your own battles, share them easily with a copy-paste!
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Inspired by the CLASSICS: FTL, Total War, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, Invisible Inc, Atom Zombie Smasher.
Has-Been Heroes
This game is fun but not perfect. The game has 2 major flaws. First, the lack of infomration in the game. I’m sure someone will write a good faq soon that will cover the pages of missing information that should be in the game I’m not talking about damage formulas and such but basic mechnics like Candles. (I saw one reviewer say darkness was random it’s actually 100% non random and a good game mechanic that’s not explained at all). Also the discoverable section that shows what you the items and monsters you have seen is not too bad until you get to the monster section where no special unique abilities of the monsters are listed. Just basic stats. I feel like this was a major fail.
– Real player with 195.5 hrs in game
This a duo review of sorts as when I originally bought this game on release I ended up refunding it, I just couldn’t get into it. The games tutorial is pretty much non existent, lots of things are unexplained and many useful mechanics that can be used to make fights easier are not unlocked yet. It was very frustrating, I saw the potential which is why I bought it in the first place but at the same time it felt like a cobelled mess where I was at the mercy of the RNG spawns as to how much progress I made.
– Real player with 84.8 hrs in game