Shadows Behind the Throne 2
Remember “That Which Sleeps” the kickstarter game that promised that you could play as Cthulhu and corrupt the world and a million other things, but then the dev took the money and ran and never delivered.
Implausibly Shadows is not only the game that was promised, but it delivers. The graphics are a little off and the interface is a little confusing, but goddamn is it fun to corrupt and dismantle several civilizations until eternal winter falls upon the land. There is a lot of room to grow, and here is hoping it keeps growing.
– Real player with 119.6 hrs in game
Great game. It’s a bit like Ruinarch, if you’ve ever played that, except on a strategic level. Lots of variety in the ways you can take down a kingdom. Very replayable and it’s right up my alley.
That said, it’s EXTREMELY rough. As EA as you can get while still being playable.
- Kind of a crap, poorly thought out UI. For example, saves are placed in alphabetical order instead of chronological order where your most recent one is at the top. You might have 7 autosaves, and the one you’re looking to load is save number 3, halfway down the screen and you have to look at the time to know that’s the one you want. I called my manual save aaa, so it will be at the top of the list. That’s a small thing, but there are a lot of poorly designed UI functions like that and it impacts the level of information you get from the game.
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land
H. P. Lovecraft entertained us with stories of madness and the unknown back in the early 20th century. Known for his works of ‘The Shadow out of Time and ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, his other work, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ is what this game is based on (obviously). Now a registered trademark of Chaosium Inc, this game is centred on The Call of Cthulhu RPG. Originally made for the iOS, the ported PC version is quite reasonable, despite its apparent handset limitations as there are no real extra features to take advantage of the PC. Yet it’s entertaining enough to finish due to its tactical nature.
– Real player with 28.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy RPG Games.
Enjoyed it. Definately a throwback to 90’s style controls. For its price its fun enough to play through. Looking at the complaints mentioned, I myself did not actually get any of the described errors, although this may be due to it already getting fixed by the time I brought the game.
As for the control issues mentioned, it is answered by playing the tutorial mission, as already said by previous comments.
I do advise playing this on hard though, to get the challenge that some others are demanding. For the price paid it was able to keep me entertained to the very end, and was a fun introduction to the cthulhu mythos.
– Real player with 26.6 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 Turn-Based Strategy Roguelike 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
Archons of Doom
This can be a fast paced game, but if you are very crafty you can slow it down and make it yours, but you will have to have worked on your skill with your spells and any objects you may find.
You can think you are winning and then BAM you are lost! Very good challenging game play by the enemy Archons, they’ll trick you and surprise you with their antics!
A very very addictive game. You lose so you want to try again, you win so you want to better your score. Very repeat playable. I Beta tested this but there were times I loaded this up just to play it anyway as it is that good!
– Real player with 306.7 hrs in game
This is in the top 10 games of any turn-based game on the market. I is in my top 20 of all turn-based game I’ve played, ever. It takes a while to hone one’s skills, but that is the fun of the game. I was fortunate to beta-test the game and subsequently I learned a bunch about the mechanics. However, the finished and polished game is even more challenging, despite me knowing several of the maps.
We can also create our own Archons! Having played around 175 hours when this specific feature was added, I thought, “oh, I’ll mop up with my hand-designed Archon along with a hand-picked team. Nah. Wrong. This game is challenging. There is always another Archon with minions that counter your advantages.
– Real player with 187.1 hrs in game
Empires Shall Fall
Empires Shall Fall is a turn based tactics set in a dieselpunk world. Exploit terrain for combat advantage, combine troops, upgrade your army, eradicate your enemies with sheer power and sharp tactics.
In a world very resembling our own, a Great War is waged. Three vast superpowers struggles for domination. Black Empire wages conquest wars since first days of existence. Blue League unites the world under rule of faith and market economy. Red Union stands above geopolitics and leads a class war of opressed against opressors. Who will stand victorious and write a history of a new world?
Evil Cult
Evil Cult gives the player control over a Cult which tries to take over key figures in society to spread its influence and complete the Final Ritual, before any of the competing cults.
Generators generate resources, making them an obvious prime target for expansion, yet the easier (cheaper) to influence Adepts increase the probability of gathering Virgins, which serve as resource wildcards and are of course necessary for rituals as a sacrifice.
Sects within the cult allow for some optional micro-management. However, the player’s attention is mainly directed at the expansion on the map, resource balance, and awareness of the Investigator.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game
This game represents a very niche and rare computer game genre: the cult simulator. There are only two games I know of in this genre: 1. Evil Cult, and 2. Cults and Daggers, which is also available on Steam. This game has great potential, and is being improved with expansion sets. I highly recommend this game, which also has an excellent soundtrack.
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
Stirring Abyss
I have received a free key as being part of closed [i]beta test[/i]. Neither am I affiliated with the developers nor have I received any compensation for my review.
Stirring Abyss is a turn-based tactical game set in the depths of Lovecraftian ocean. It has been made by three-man indie studio Sleepy Sentry from A Land of a Thousand Lakes.
You will control a handful of Salem USS submarine’s crew members while exploring procedurally generated ocean floor missions, fighting strange enemies and managing resources at Salem to repair different parts of the vessel, unlock upgrades or craft items. Your goal is to save the crew by fixing the damaged submarine and leave abyss.
– Real player with 63.4 hrs in game
yes i’d recommend the game, and while it sound odd’s, i’ve not followed it’s progress either or enjoyed the demo, so i’ll now give my reasons why i’d recommend it all the same,
the demo was ok, but for me i didn’t play enough or see enough to really say i liked the design or think that it was going to be long enough for me to really enjoy and play, as i have more than enough un started un finished game already, not played,…
my was i wrong, so very wrong tbh, as i saw many saying it was too hard and or too short, i thought well in for a penny in for a pound and jumped straight it, my play style is how i test, so no reading, no watching and with little thought going in, i started on easy in the story mode, and the rest is history, i died, many times and had little clue overall on what i was doing or doing right or wrong, so i stepped back and looked at the diver i was given, then understood what i was doing wrong, the design wasn’t wrong, it was the idiot who was playing it, firing a speargun from X numbers of hexes away and missing isn’t a issue with the game or design, but a lack of understanding on who was firing it, what skill or lack of they had and my understand on how things work under water for one, so the basic design is well done, now with the better understanding on just because a certain diver gets given a certain item, doesn’t mean there the best person for it, so like any RPG, understanding stats is key to longer play, level and skills, items used are key to staying alive, progress from story missions are only a small part of the game, side missions giving items needed to stay alive and gain more exp and level up for the story means 13 missions alone, your not going to get the extra ability to really do the game justice unless really skilled, which i’m not so good at, so learning how the game works, getting the extra pieces of equipment, leveling up and altering your stats to stay alive for longer is key, not just endless grind and lucky dice roles, alter your base sub, add more items, build more, search more and research more is key to happy and longer game play, so what on the surface seems a easy to play game, becomes something with more depth than of first inspection, most won’t get to the 4th diver and really get into the game in under 3 to 4 hours of play, so won’t understand or enjoy this, the first few hours of the game, aren’t really the game at all, just the tutorial and the basic’s of how it plays, it’s mid to late game, which really makes this shine, then again what do i know, i tend to test more and game less and die often, but with trial and error and 7 hours in, i’ve find the depth of the game which for most may or could stay hidden from less time in game, don’t take me word for it either, spent the time, it’s worth it, as 2 hours won’t get you anywhere or enough into the game to really see either, yes it’s a challenge, but those who refuse to play on anything other than the hardest setting from day one, will be in for a hard game unless you pick up more than the basic’s and are lucky from the off, so either way play and enjoy and see you at the bottom of the sea, with luck you will get the parts needed to repair the sub and use that as a base to explore, finding new bits and bobs, maps, plans and items and parts to level up your every growing crew, to carry on the mission in hand, if you die to often, just take a step back and see what’s killing you and ask why? as some crew are better when surrounded while other have the skills needed for other task, plan to use them correctly and the game is more than just doable, but enjoyable and not just a challenge, but fun into the depth.
– Real player with 56.8 hrs in game
Alder’s Blood: Prologue
Phew! What a wicked ride this was. Okay, time for reflections.
The Good:
✔️ The audio-visual fidelity is unbelievable, for an indie game.
Is this for real your first game?!?! God damn.
✔️ Turn-based Dark Souls
Really. I am not over-reacting. This ain’t no hack’n’slash. You kill or get killed. No damage tanking - everything’s lethal. You make a mistake - you’re as good as dead. At the same time, if you actually THINK before you ACT - you can be as deadly as your foes.
✔️ Fallout + Lovecraft = Alder’s Blood
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
A short, free, story prologue showcasing what the full game will have in store for us.
Really, really well crafted, you see the obvious like how the art is made, the style it goes for, but I also appreciated the hud, interactions and information and how it was conveyed a lot as well.
Hover over an area and it’ll neatly and clearly show with red lines if an enemy can see you crossing over there, how much stamina is used from your bar, have a faint but distinct purple line showing if you’re concealed in that location, it was intuitive, easy to understand– But by no means an easy game, this is primarily a stealth game, where you do get to hunt by the looks of things, but the monsters are still a serious threat, and you need to be mindful of that.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
My personal favorite of the first two XCOMs. But that comes with disclaimers. The first is play it with OpenXCOM to deal with some of the bugs.
Good: UFO Defense had good music, the but the music here is insanely good. Creepy, ominous, and uses variants of the same thing. It has a creepy Cthulu vibe in general. Ion armor looks much better than power armor, and you can see the soldiers face’s in the inventory screen all the time.
Alien (sonic) weapons are much better balanced than UFO’s plasma tier because the sonic weapons all have clear strengths and weaknesses. So you have to bring a mix of them. The underwater maps look great. The underwater dungeons look even better.
– Real player with 191.8 hrs in game
Ok, before I get into the good, the bad and the ugly, I should say that I DO recommend this game, the reason I’m saying this is that my initial review may sound quite negative. I am writing this just moment’s after playing terror from the deep and I wanted to have a clear view of the game, so without further a due.
This is, without a doubt, THE MOST INFURIATING GAME I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISSFOURTUNE OF PLAYING!!!
This game did the impossible; it managed to be harder than UFO defence! HARDER!
Right, lets go through this in a bit more detail.
– Real player with 95.6 hrs in game
Cthulhu’s Catharsis
This is a lite turn-based strategy game for world domination in a Lovecraftian setting. It is like starting with Risk, adding some depth and dark humor, and subtracting the random element.
– Real player with 15.3 hrs in game
The friendly Mi-Go enjoyed this game a lot.
– Real player with 9.4 hrs in game