Fun strategy dodgeball game with an interesting story. I wish it had some epilogue or other ending story stuff that went into the aftermath, maybe show some mixed results with a mostly positive bend. Didn't really need to be a roguelike,but that doesn't hurt the core and only adds some nice replayability
Buen juego de puzzles con un bonito arte e historia interesante.
Desta's a vibe; from the art to the music, it's mostly a comfy time, but it really nails when to bring up the tension at the right times.
The gameplay is basically strategy turn-based dodgeball, with rogue-lite elements. You mostly need to beat your enemies and utilize the different skills Desta obtains as well as learning how to effectively use their teammates. It appears simple for the most part, yet the variety in skills and teammates makes for an addicting experience as you try to figure out the most effective strategies in dealing with enemies. This is probably best represented in challenge mode, where you're given a set of skills and characters for each challenge, really displaying how handy each skill and teammate can be in what sort of situation. The rogue-lite aspect does feel like the weakest part of the gameplay however. Never really felt like utilizing it much until after I was done with the main story, and it does somewhat break the pace of the narrative too.
Speaking of, the game is narrative-heavy; through playing ball, the goal of Desta is to explore their memories in this dream world and face conflicts with loved ones they've left unresolved; they're talking it out with people through a game of ball. While I've not had the same experience Desta has had, I definitely related to a lot of the themes and situations they've had with their friends and family, and how the dream world prepared them to talk to them, to clear up misunderstandings and unresolved feelings. The game really emphasizes the different kind of conflicts that can arise between different relationships, and the importance of communication between people to solve these issues rather than prolong them for longer than necessary. I really enjoyed it and the characters.
My major gripe would be that I wish the main game was longer, but I'm satisfied with the story and I found the gameplay addicting enough to replay it and engage with the roguelite aspects. Art's a vibe, adore the music, and its a nice lookin game. I recommend it.
The gameplay is basically strategy turn-based dodgeball, with rogue-lite elements. You mostly need to beat your enemies and utilize the different skills Desta obtains as well as learning how to effectively use their teammates. It appears simple for the most part, yet the variety in skills and teammates makes for an addicting experience as you try to figure out the most effective strategies in dealing with enemies. This is probably best represented in challenge mode, where you're given a set of skills and characters for each challenge, really displaying how handy each skill and teammate can be in what sort of situation. The rogue-lite aspect does feel like the weakest part of the gameplay however. Never really felt like utilizing it much until after I was done with the main story, and it does somewhat break the pace of the narrative too.
Speaking of, the game is narrative-heavy; through playing ball, the goal of Desta is to explore their memories in this dream world and face conflicts with loved ones they've left unresolved; they're talking it out with people through a game of ball. While I've not had the same experience Desta has had, I definitely related to a lot of the themes and situations they've had with their friends and family, and how the dream world prepared them to talk to them, to clear up misunderstandings and unresolved feelings. The game really emphasizes the different kind of conflicts that can arise between different relationships, and the importance of communication between people to solve these issues rather than prolong them for longer than necessary. I really enjoyed it and the characters.
My major gripe would be that I wish the main game was longer, but I'm satisfied with the story and I found the gameplay addicting enough to replay it and engage with the roguelite aspects. Art's a vibe, adore the music, and its a nice lookin game. I recommend it.
Game makes no sense being a rogue-lite it should just be restart-able chapters, this would also come with the benefit of being able to have more complex puzzle like stages rather than the rather basic levels we have instead.
The game is way too narrative for a roguelite hearing the same dialogue and very specific story just does not work repetitively.
The story itself is also pretty crap, vague and pretentious tumblr fanfic style writing. Its about the main girl and her emotional trouble with her friends and family but its so vague and shallow that if it wanted an emotional pull to it I did not land for me.
All the characters have their pronouns shown besides there name everyone is normal except Desta who is non-binary, but its weird it doesn't really matter so much in the story except for one guy who calls her "She" one time and immediately becomes all sappy when he is correct then stops, like that's not conflict that's not an interesting character. also the game lets you skip this entire 'altercation' if you want, like if you are going to do a missgendering plot have the courage to commit to it you cowards.
In summary Gameplay is alright but basic, level design is boring and uninspiring, Rogue-lite elements actively work against this game, and the story is sappy fluff. overall I would suggest skipping this.
The game is way too narrative for a roguelite hearing the same dialogue and very specific story just does not work repetitively.
The story itself is also pretty crap, vague and pretentious tumblr fanfic style writing. Its about the main girl and her emotional trouble with her friends and family but its so vague and shallow that if it wanted an emotional pull to it I did not land for me.
All the characters have their pronouns shown besides there name everyone is normal except Desta who is non-binary, but its weird it doesn't really matter so much in the story except for one guy who calls her "She" one time and immediately becomes all sappy when he is correct then stops, like that's not conflict that's not an interesting character. also the game lets you skip this entire 'altercation' if you want, like if you are going to do a missgendering plot have the courage to commit to it you cowards.
In summary Gameplay is alright but basic, level design is boring and uninspiring, Rogue-lite elements actively work against this game, and the story is sappy fluff. overall I would suggest skipping this.
I don't understand why this is a roguelite. It's maybe interesting enough to play through to the end with save points, but there just isn't enough here to make it worth going back to the start every time you die. The story isn't enough reason for me to keep going because I always feel less like I'm piecing together what's become of Desta's relationships and more like the game has just neglected to give me context. There's no reason for this much dialogue to repeat verbatim when there's no telling how many times the player will sit through it.
Playing on a phone the controls feel extremely finicky, it might be better on a tablet but I don't think that would fix everything.
It usually takes a lot for me to abandon a game, but I just don't have it in me to start this from scratch yet again.
Playing on a phone the controls feel extremely finicky, it might be better on a tablet but I don't think that would fix everything.
It usually takes a lot for me to abandon a game, but I just don't have it in me to start this from scratch yet again.
Desta is a great combination of gampelay ideas , using dodgeball in a turn base combate makes for some fun times, using the scenario to kick the ball back and fort, pass between your teammates is so much fun. The narrative is also well thought , as for one of ustwo previous game, it brings a modern theme with such care that is nice to see it.
However, the game "Roguelike" mechanic is basically a permadeath one, when you have to restart the game from the beginning , that means rewatch all the narrative and that breaks the game loop and narrative beats, it's such a shame, a great game IF you manage to not die during it
However, the game "Roguelike" mechanic is basically a permadeath one, when you have to restart the game from the beginning , that means rewatch all the narrative and that breaks the game loop and narrative beats, it's such a shame, a great game IF you manage to not die during it
Jogado na Netflix. Desta é quaaase um jogo muito bom. A ideia de percorrer os sonhos de uma garota é interessante, os personagens são legais, os diálogos são um pouco previsíveis mas ainda vale a pena ler. A mecânica de estratégia de queimada é o que brilha, pegando um estilo que eu não gosto muito e condensando ele ao seu núcleo, tornando-se mais acessível do que parece.
Dito tudo isso, POR QUE ELE É UM ROGUELIKE? Não faz sentido algum me jogar no começo do jogo e me fazer VER A MESMA HISTÓRIA só porque sim? Fui até o final do capítulo 4 e isso foi o jogo pra mim, porque não tem nada que vai me fazer jogar tudo de novo só porque sim.
Dito tudo isso, POR QUE ELE É UM ROGUELIKE? Não faz sentido algum me jogar no começo do jogo e me fazer VER A MESMA HISTÓRIA só porque sim? Fui até o final do capítulo 4 e isso foi o jogo pra mim, porque não tem nada que vai me fazer jogar tudo de novo só porque sim.
No es lo suficientemente interesante como para comerme 15 veces el mismo nivel, lo siento. Es que ni de cerca. Nada me hace volver al juego. Al menos es resultón, supongo.
Love the animation style, voice acting, beautiful but brief cutscenes, satisfying sound effects for hitting and knocking out enemies. Reminds me of Signs of Sojourner in that the gameplay ties into the narrative in a smart and evident way. For example, the teacher enemy in this game’s special ability gives +1 movement to her teammates when she passes to them.
My perception of the game changed dramatically once I died the first time. It’s a rouge-like that doesn’t meaningfully change the gameplay, enemy variety, level design in subsequent runs. For that reason replaying through the levels was torture. And the dodgeball gameplay became tedious. I still liked all the narrative bits but I was very happy to see the conclusion of this one.
My perception of the game changed dramatically once I died the first time. It’s a rouge-like that doesn’t meaningfully change the gameplay, enemy variety, level design in subsequent runs. For that reason replaying through the levels was torture. And the dodgeball gameplay became tedious. I still liked all the narrative bits but I was very happy to see the conclusion of this one.
Combining ustwo games's striking visual design with dodgeball with XCOM seems like a winning strategy, and it certainly at least in part does succeed, but there are some confusing game design decisions which hinder this game from fully winning me over. The core turn-based tactics gameplay is satisfying and fun, but the roguelite elements are completely pointless. It's a purely story focused game, meaning each run will trigger the same story cutscenes and dialogue, giving no purpose to repeated runs. The attributes also aren't different enough to make different loadouts feel materially different aside from small tweaks to playstyle. To top it all off, the one time I died it just let me take a shortcut to the chapter I died in... so why even have the roguelite elements? It seems like these elements may have constrained the stage design, and that ustwo games would have been better served to focus on creating more interesting and bespoke stage-specific challenges. Additionally, the game is quite short, running at only about two and a half hours. There's a good amount to love here, but these things do hold back the game from greatness.
English | Español
Fantastic art, a story about facing a past that seemed already left behind and a very fun turn-based gameplay, based on dodgeball, in which only fails that this is a roguelite. This is what offers a new hit from ustwo.
Arte fantástico, una historia sobre afrontar un pasado que parecía ya dejado atrás y una jugabilidad por turnos muy divertida, basada en el balón prisionero, en la que solo falla que esto sea un roguelite. Esto es lo que ofrece un nuevo acierto de ustwo.
Fantastic art, a story about facing a past that seemed already left behind and a very fun turn-based gameplay, based on dodgeball, in which only fails that this is a roguelite. This is what offers a new hit from ustwo.
Arte fantástico, una historia sobre afrontar un pasado que parecía ya dejado atrás y una jugabilidad por turnos muy divertida, basada en el balón prisionero, en la que solo falla que esto sea un roguelite. Esto es lo que ofrece un nuevo acierto de ustwo.
Interesting gameplay but the loop is very slow and tedious.
Desta has no business being a rogue lite - its slow, the plot is wordy and completely linear. You meet the same characters and bosses in the same order every run. They repeat the same lines nearly verbatim every time. The powerups are few and don't feel signifacnt and you can only equip 1 anyways.
It's a shame because I like the mechanics, a tactical turn based dodgeball is right up my alley.
Desta has no business being a rogue lite - its slow, the plot is wordy and completely linear. You meet the same characters and bosses in the same order every run. They repeat the same lines nearly verbatim every time. The powerups are few and don't feel signifacnt and you can only equip 1 anyways.
It's a shame because I like the mechanics, a tactical turn based dodgeball is right up my alley.
Another interesting game you can get with your Netflix subscription. Lovely art style and surprisingly heartfelt story to go with it. The battles are centered around basically playing dodgeball against a series of enemies. Each one is like small puzzle boxes where you soon learn the best way to deflect shots and keep the upper hand.
I'm not convinced the roguelike elements worked that well. While you get better abilities etc, the opening chapters start to feel like a real drag if you end up back at the beginning. Still, worth a go if you already have Netflix!
I'm not convinced the roguelike elements worked that well. While you get better abilities etc, the opening chapters start to feel like a real drag if you end up back at the beginning. Still, worth a go if you already have Netflix!