nex3
BACKER
Evertried 2021
Log Status
Retired
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
July 28, 2022
First played
July 27, 2022
Platforms Played
Evertried is a by-the-books turn-based tactics roguelite with one distinguishing conceit: a "focus" timer that goes down in real time if you don't land hits on enemies long enough. And I'll give it credit for elegance: it uses the tension between planning out moves and building focus cleverly, with one upgrade track that gives passive bonuses when you have high focus and another that provides tools which require time and planning to activate. It's a very designerly construction, careful interconnections of mechanics all laid out just so.
Unfortunately, it's just not that fun. The focus timer adds stress and disincentivizes experimenting with activated effects. Choosing to ignore focus puts you at a clear disadvantage with half your upgrade options being useless. The de facto strategy ends up being "die to enemies enough that you mostly have muscle memory for how to navigate their attacks quickly" when what I really want a tactics game to test is my planning and problem-solving skills.
Unfortunately, it's just not that fun. The focus timer adds stress and disincentivizes experimenting with activated effects. Choosing to ignore focus puts you at a clear disadvantage with half your upgrade options being useless. The de facto strategy ends up being "die to enemies enough that you mostly have muscle memory for how to navigate their attacks quickly" when what I really want a tactics game to test is my planning and problem-solving skills.