Kein schlechtes Spiel, aber die Schwächen sorgen dafür, dass ich es nicht lange spielen konnte.

Folgende Dinge sind gerade im Vergleich zu Slay the Spire sehr schlecht. Und.. ich finde auch keine Möglichkeit das irgendwie schön zu reden:

Die Karten sind nicht komplex, weshalb man in der Regel immer dieselben Karten nutzt. Dies zu schaffen ist ganz einfach, da man sich das Deck viel zu frei modifizieren kann. Bereits in der Anfangsstadt.. in der man genug Ressourcen hat, weil man die aus dem letzten Run gleich benutzen kann.

Neue "Wege" finden, Kartendecks zu bauen braucht man nicht. Gute Karten sind auch immer besser als schlechte, während Slay the Spire wirklich jeder Karte einen positiven Aspekt verleiht, der mit irgendeinem Relikt oder irgend einer Machtkarte plötzlich gut wird.
Bei Across the Obelisk ist es ein Zahlenspiel.
Wenn eine Karte bei einem Energiepunkt 11 Schaden macht und die andere nur 9, dann ist die Entscheidung vom Spiel getroffen worden.

Das andere große Problem ist das, was das Spiel eigentlich besser machen soll.
Das Verteilen von dauerhaften Verbesserungen.
Das motiviert 2x und danach nervt es bereits, weil die ersten 2 Kapitel absolute Selbstläufer werden. Die Monster bleiben ja gleich schlecht, aber man selbst zieht plötzlich 20% mehr ab, hat 20% mehr Health und kommt schneller an die Reihe.

Wenn jedes Mal das halbe Spiel nur durchgeklickt wird, warum sollte ich es dann spielen?
Die Hürde ist doch der Reiz.

Und was bleibt ist dann eben nur noch die Beschäftigungtherapie.
Möglichst weit kommen, damit man möglichst viele Punkte auf die dauerhaften Perks ausgeben kann und das so oft, bis man vor Langeweile stirbt.

The balancing of the roguelite deckbuilding is fairly poor, the range of abilities and status effects is needlessly complicated, and I would typically dislike the nature of the roguelite upgrades this game offers because they artificially increase playtime without adding interesting variation (i.e you just died, but now you can add +1 to all melee attacks and go again..).

Having said that, roguelike deckbuilding is an inherently satisfying genre that's hard to truly get wrong - and Across the Obelisk saves its many flaws with its one defining feature: online co-op gameplay. Cooperative turn based strategy games are few and far between, and all the nitpicks fade into the background when you try to figure this one out with a friend or two.

As a solo game I don't highly recommend, but in co-op AtO works really well.

Not too sure when the best point to label a rogue like beaten since they're nearly infinite playtime in theory. I have however won around 7-ish times at this point both solo and co-op and my addiction to it doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
The story feels straight out of the NES which is to say there isn't much of story. The visuals aren't exactly amazing either and look more fitting for a phone/browser game. Once you get past that there's a lot of fun ways to experiment with card and character comp to make big numbers get bigger. There's a suggested placement of what character classes should go where in your party but you can ultimately do whatever you want. In my last run, I actually ran a party that was 2 healers and 2 rogues. Not only was it optimal, it ended up being a little on the busted side even with the difficulty modifiers.

A game about doing countless runs grinding for miniscule (+1 block/attack/etc.) upgrades in a game with terrible class and combat balance based around (de)buffs where normal encounters will suddenly outstat you from one combat to the next. The kind of game where it feels like the roguelite aspect is solely there to absurdly increase the amount of time it takes you to get anywhere in the game by slowly stacking mainly uninteresting, flat bonuses and getting town upgrades... instead of being an aspect used to make your future runs and tools varied. Disappointing, to say the least.

When I first started playing this, I was hooked. I thoroughly enjoyed it up until I beat it a few times. After beating it the first time and then replaying it on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th difficulty levels, the game started to wear me down. The runs just take way too long. It's a lot harder to come back for another run when you just lost after 3+ hours of playing.

Easily comparable to Slay the Spire (which I think is one of the best roguelikes around and an easy 5/5) which takes maybe an hour or a bit longer to complete a high level run, this game takes a toll on you.

I liked all the different mechanics but setting things up and executing them just takes too much time/effort. After really, really enjoying this for the first 30 hours or so of playtime, it fell off pretty quick due to frustration. Unlike games like Rogue Legacy, Hades, and Slay the Spire which immediately encourage "another go!" this one just beat me down.

Across the Obelisik ist das beste Koop-Spiel des Jahres! Und das obwohl das Genre „Roguelike-Deckbuilder“ sich auf den ersten Blick nicht wirklich für kooperatives Spielen anbietet, denn wirklich parallel kann man in einem Kartenspiel nicht spielen. Allerdings habe ich in meinem Freundeskreis schon immer gerne einfach jemand anderem bei einem Arena-Run in Hearthstone oder Legends of Runeterra zugeguckt und gemeinsam über den richtigen Zug gegrübelt. Diese Art des Zusammenspiels ist bei AtO allerdings nur eine Komponente. Denn hier können 4 Spieler mit 4 unterschiedlichen Charakteren und 4 unterschiedlichen Decks an gemeinsamen Kämpfen teilnehmen. Dabei ist es extrem wichtig sich gut abzusprechen und seine Züge untereinander zu koordinieren. Zusätzlich ist auch in der Overworld die Koop-Komponente wirklich super umgesetzt. Entscheidungen, wie sie in einem Roguelike Deckbuilder üblich sind (zum Beispiel welcher Weg als nächstes eingeschlagen werden soll) werden per Abstimmung beschlossen auf die die einzelnen Spieler auch noch geringfügig Einfluss nehmen können.

Doch nicht nur die Koop-Mechaniken machen AtO zu einem fantastischen Spiel, auch das Kartenspiel an sich ist sehr spaßig und spannend. Auf den ersten Blick wirkt es deutlich weniger Variabel und Komplex als zum Beispiel Slay the Spire, denn die Startcharaktere verfügen über die simpelsten Karten ihrer Klassen und auch die Auswahl zusätzlicher Karten ist stark beschränkt zu Beginn. Doch nach und nach entfalten sich die Klassen und die Kombinationsmöglichkeiten mit jedem Run etwas mehr. Das liegt vor allem daran, dass AtO eine wirklich gelungene Progressionskurve hat, bei der man mit äußert simplen Karten, Charakteren und Items startet, aber durch Fortschritt immer komplexere Möglichkeiten freischaltet, die man dann auch von Anfang an in zukünftigen Runs nutzen kann. Zu Beginn jedes Runs startet man nämlich in einer Stadt in der man recht schnell alle ungewollten Karten aus dem Startdeck entfernen und neu freigeschaltete Karten von Anfang an hinzufügen kann. Dadurch bleibt jeder Run, auch in den frühen Kämpfen, abwechslungsreich und man bleibt lange motiviert, da auch die Schwierigkeit der Runs ähnlich wie in Hades variabel angepasst werden kann. Das i-Tüpfelchen auf der Progressionskurve sind dann noch Perkpunkte, die man mit der Zeit freischaltet und die Charaktere permanent stärker machen und somit allgemein ein gutes Gefühl von Fortschritt vermitteln. Durch all diese Punkte ist AtO meiner Meinung nach der Deckbuilder mit den besten Roguelike-Mechaniken, auch wenn es nicht zwangsläufig das beste Kartenspiel ist.

Als Letztes möchte ich noch die Präsentation lobend hervorheben. Across the Obelisk bietet zwar ein recht klassisches, generisches Fantasysetting, allerdings ist die Overworld immer wieder mit Events gespickt, wie man sie aus Tabletop-RPGs und Spielen wie Wildermyth kennt, die es einzelnen Spielern ermöglichen heroische Momente zu haben und sehr gut diese Tabletop-Atmosphäre generieren.

Mein einziger Kritikpunkt ist, dass das Freischalten neuer Charaktere ein sehr langwieriger Prozess ist. Man muss für jeden Charakter einen bestimmten Punkt in der Overworld ansteuern und anschließend eine Aufgabe erfüllen. Diese Aufgaben sind allerdings nicht immer offensichtlich und da einzelne Runs sehr lange dauern können, kann es ganz schön viel Zeit in Anspruch nehmen Charaktere freizuschalten.

Insgesamt ist Across the Obelisk aber ein durch und durch spannendes und spaßiges Koop-Abenteuer mit einer nahezu perfekten Progressionskurve und einem guten Deckbuilder als Fundament.

Provavelmente um dos melhores jogos do gênero, joguei várias e várias horas sozinho e com amigos e ainda comprei todas as DLCs, o jogo tem bastante conteúdo e uma progressão bem satisfatória, ele permite criar várias e várias builds combinando 4 personagens diferentes entre 4 classes: mago, arqueiro/assassino, curandeiro e guerreiro, só que ele não te limita, eu já joguei e consegui ganhar com um time de 4 curandeiros o que foi muito divertido. Pretendo pegar todas as conquistas algum dia copium.

Trying out different party compositions and builds and the like is very fun and probably the core selling point of the game. Sets itself apart from other card-based roguelites by 1. giving you 4 characters, and 2. giving you massive control over what winds up in their decks (in adventure mode, anyway), so you can deckbuild super freely. To that end, there's a lot to experiment with and a lot of fun to be had if you like the genre, but the core design and balance is just not on the level of slay the spire or others. Also, the last world takes way too long to get through and turns the end of most runs into a chore, especially if you have a good run going and winning is practically a foregone conclusion.

The whole thing stinks of Newgrounds. Ostensibly the co-op is the selling point here, but my group spent well over half of each groaningly long run suspended in awkward silence. There's nothing to discuss, no improvisational strategizing, once you've decided on your initial synergies; deckbuilding is easy enough (at least on the lower levels, we lost interest at Madness 5) that you can generally achieve a workable version of your desired build by Act 3 at the latest. A bloated slog with an obscene hard-on for unlockables. Gustav innocent tho.

The four-class deck system leaves a lot to be desired but when it comes to the game's overall construction, it was delightful. Especially love the depth they've put into map navigation and generation; every event/combat node is static, but has a rarity system where better events - which can be multi-act quest chains that guarantee good rewards - replace certain nodes. Add an item system and character-unique dialogue choices in the mix, and you've got gold. Im not too "in" on deckbuilders admittedly, but its a huge step up from the pseudo-random path generation system that appears to be the norm in the genrespace. Worth playing this game for this system alone.

I do think the decks in this game leave a lot to be desired though. The sore point is how rigid both card draw and energy is. The only way for a character to draw more than 5 cards on turn start is mostly 0-cost situational cards that you put on a character. And every card that draws cards within a turn are all the same: draw 2, put 2 on top, or draw 3, put one on top, with rare exceptions. Energy generation is almost completely dictated by the mage class and some repeatable, boring cards otherwise. And without them, you are stuck generating 3 energy per turn - there are barely any items that help with this.

The end result is that deck building feels like an exercise in exhausting many cards to reduce the deck down to a controllable level that can work within 3 energy, and it feels like a waste of potential depth and especially fun. Im no card game design guy, and I can vaguely understand why they didn't go further, but the end result is too suffocating. By extension, I do wish the decks were more individualistic ala Slay the Spire, rather than this weird class heirarchy system that barely works as a heirarchy when you remove certain cards. Remove the energy gen cards on a mage and you've functionally got an elemental rogue, for example. Its things like that, including the gargantuan hours you need to sink to fully level up character ranks to unlock their full potential, that put me on the fence about going back into this game.

But ultimately, I "did" play it for days on end and really, really enjoyed my time with it. And Im definitely keeping an eye on this developer's future projects based on the systems they've made here, something I do not say very often. On that note alone, I recommend giving this a go!

Rating overall: 4/5
Hours of time played: 128h
7/7 Fun: In my opinion the best rougelike card game out there and better than Slay the Spire. While Slay the Spire is very fast past, AtO is very slow and a run will take much more of your time. But it is also the way better card game in itself. It has more mechanics, more playstiles, and for me they difficulty is way better. While in Slay the Spire you try to mitigate your luck so that you can always be on top, sometimes that doenst work and you lose because you draw the wrong cards or an enemy spawns, that perfectly counters you. In AtO you can also lose to randomness, but this factor is way smaller. You can negate so many risks just by learning the game, they paths, the enemies, the attacks. I learn that I shouldnt bring thorns into the Ice World, because many enemies will steal them and the boss in the end hard counters me. Or I can play around that. If I play a slow deck in slay the spire, there are elites that hard counter me but I can only handle this by having a lucky flask, or doding elites or drawing lucky.
6/6 Genre: You have 16 heroes, many pets, cards, supply crates and equipment to unlock and find, 128h into the game I have not unlocked everything yet. But it doenst feel sluggish like in Slay the Spire where you do multiple runs for 2 new cards. You have so many variants you can test out, rogues as tanks, mages as tanks, no tanks at all. Playing Fire as Cold damage, everybody spamming dark stacks and so on. I have not played a blunt stacking combo yet so 128h in I have still things to try out.
1/3 Graphics: Grahpics are fine for an indie game, I like dark fantasy way more but it suits the game.
3/6 Atmosphere: There is not much going on. You can play this game and watch Netflix by it side or play with friends and talk about other stuff. The story is non existent and there are no real animations for attacks besides maybe the legendary cards. Combined with the child friendly popish art style there is no real atmosphere but in the boss fights.
3/3 Gameplay: Coop in this kind of game is really refreshing to see. I doesnt make the most sense because often there is one right way to play which can lead to an alpha leader problem where one person could play alone and not all classes are equally fun. If I have to tank alone I mostly play some shields and thats it. Sure everyone can play hybrids but that only gets you so far in this game. But its just fun to play as a group of four.