Where it Shines:
Music - 8.5/10
Just Vibing - 9/10
Simple Story - 7/10
The Good:
Cobalt Core really surprised me. In an ocean of overly complicated roguelike deckbuilders, most of which don't hold a candle to StS, Cobalt Core managed to easily stand out as being a good #2 for best of all time.
The characters are charming, the music and art are top notch, the gameplay delivers for the most part, and there even is a cute story if you like having that sort of thing - but unlike games like griftlands or gorian quest that have EXCESSIVE dialogue as "story", Cobalt Core tells it simply, with brevity. I really appreciate the thought behind that choice.
The Bad:
The game errs on being a bit too easy - this can be mitigated by upping the difficulty, which I appreciate, but most of those setting feel unfair and not really "more challenging" as much "more annoying". The problem with this game really lies in it's core mechanic of having a mixed deck of 3 different archetypes - you choose three characters, all with different styles. But the issue is that some of the later characters are just flat out too obnoxious to figure out or not worth it, and the early characters just provide too many staple cards that the others don't, like basic evasion, shielding, and medium attacks. If you go for too frilly of a deck with the special characters, you will just find that you have nothing to attack with, nothing to evade with, or nothing to shield with, all of which are run enders.
I do appreciate the idea behind this idea, but the characters really needed to be more balanced.
So what winds up happening is the game feels too easy if you stack your characters, and too annoying if you throw in a "fun" character.
I would go as far as to say some of the characters are just flat out unplayable garbo.
Summary:
Although it does have it's flaws, it is overall a better game than a bad one, and it stuck my interest better than other similar titles like Monster Train. I highly recommend this game, it feels like StS meets FTL in all the right ways, and is a perfect chill game to play for 20 mins at a time.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Music - 8.5/10
Just Vibing - 9/10
Simple Story - 7/10
The Good:
Cobalt Core really surprised me. In an ocean of overly complicated roguelike deckbuilders, most of which don't hold a candle to StS, Cobalt Core managed to easily stand out as being a good #2 for best of all time.
The characters are charming, the music and art are top notch, the gameplay delivers for the most part, and there even is a cute story if you like having that sort of thing - but unlike games like griftlands or gorian quest that have EXCESSIVE dialogue as "story", Cobalt Core tells it simply, with brevity. I really appreciate the thought behind that choice.
The Bad:
The game errs on being a bit too easy - this can be mitigated by upping the difficulty, which I appreciate, but most of those setting feel unfair and not really "more challenging" as much "more annoying". The problem with this game really lies in it's core mechanic of having a mixed deck of 3 different archetypes - you choose three characters, all with different styles. But the issue is that some of the later characters are just flat out too obnoxious to figure out or not worth it, and the early characters just provide too many staple cards that the others don't, like basic evasion, shielding, and medium attacks. If you go for too frilly of a deck with the special characters, you will just find that you have nothing to attack with, nothing to evade with, or nothing to shield with, all of which are run enders.
I do appreciate the idea behind this idea, but the characters really needed to be more balanced.
So what winds up happening is the game feels too easy if you stack your characters, and too annoying if you throw in a "fun" character.
I would go as far as to say some of the characters are just flat out unplayable garbo.
Summary:
Although it does have it's flaws, it is overall a better game than a bad one, and it stuck my interest better than other similar titles like Monster Train. I highly recommend this game, it feels like StS meets FTL in all the right ways, and is a perfect chill game to play for 20 mins at a time.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite