the entire game is just a bunch of chess puzzles. It's even on an 8x8 grid. so if you like chess puzzles...

...in all seriousness, i may just be bad, but it seems that the game puts you in lose-lose situations rather excessively whether by accident or design. this would be fine, and even ludothematically resonant with the utilitarian greater good and self-sacrifice themes often found in mecha and kaiju media, but a lose situation in this game means losing one of your three units (don't have them for the rest of a level and lose a pilot, who give critical benefits) or losing power (HP, you lose if it's 0). in other words minimizing losses in lose-lose situations is often just delaying a game over. and this is a permadeath roguelite.

i wish the defense grid mechanic was deterministic and just acted as a once-per-level (or multiple-per-level, if you upgrade it as you already can) shield/damage nullification for buildings rather than pure RNG. that seems like it would solve the problem completely, actually, and make the mechanic more in line with the determinism of the rest of the game.

Reviewed on Dec 11, 2021


2 Comments


2 years ago

I don't mean be to rude, but, coming from someone who has platinumed the game and beaten the game with every squad, at every length, all on hard mode, you were just really bad. Whenever I thought I was put into a "lose-lose situation" (in any roguelike), I would take a screenshot. However, looking at almost, almost all the the dozens of screenshots, I can immediately find a really creative situation the would have gotten be out of the fight witthout any losses Roguelikes are traditionally have high skill curves anyway.

As long as it's not the Secret Squad, I can consistently beat the game with any squad now.

2 years ago

i got bored after beating it for the first time, but maybe i'll revisit it in that case. frankly it does seem like several "take grid damage or lose a unit" situations inevitably come up each run. i don't know what roguelites or roguelikes (i.e. traditional roguelikes: http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php/Main_Page) you have played, perhaps ones with less bullshit, but the ones i can beat consistently are still full of bullshit.