reavingband
2020
NOTE: only played the demo
great graphics and solid gameplay but i'd rather play gunfire reborn
great graphics and solid gameplay but i'd rather play gunfire reborn
2019
NOTE: only played the demo
i am obsessed with the aesthetics and the level design, they remind me of a ps1-era game but upscaled to the modern day, which is great.
however! i really dislike how it's basically just guns with fantasy skins. the melee-looking weapons are just guns. the staves are guns. everything is guns. the ammo is called "mana", but again, it's just guns.
there doesn't seem to be any depth or complexity to the combat, either. weapon-swapping is too slow to set up anything interesting, there're no environmental interactibles, no powerups, no alternative movement aside from a slow crouch and a toggle walk...
there's nothing to do except shoot folks with your not-guns, and even that feels meh. strafe and spam, all day long, nothing else.
i am obsessed with the aesthetics and the level design, they remind me of a ps1-era game but upscaled to the modern day, which is great.
however! i really dislike how it's basically just guns with fantasy skins. the melee-looking weapons are just guns. the staves are guns. everything is guns. the ammo is called "mana", but again, it's just guns.
there doesn't seem to be any depth or complexity to the combat, either. weapon-swapping is too slow to set up anything interesting, there're no environmental interactibles, no powerups, no alternative movement aside from a slow crouch and a toggle walk...
there's nothing to do except shoot folks with your not-guns, and even that feels meh. strafe and spam, all day long, nothing else.
2021
so the full game is definitely worth playing and does a lot of unique, fun things with the format.......but the meta-story does not always land, it can feel intrusive, and--way too often--outright silly
i'd recommend it, but i'd say that you need to have some tolerance for cringe - and that, while the gameplay is fun, the story will actively prevent you from enjoying it in a way that feels intentional but is still really annoying
i'd recommend it, but i'd say that you need to have some tolerance for cringe - and that, while the gameplay is fun, the story will actively prevent you from enjoying it in a way that feels intentional but is still really annoying
2023
NOTE: only played the demo
i think the choice to merge a turnbased hexgrid map exploration system with a card battle/navigation system was unique, and the aesthetics are nice, but i don't really see much potential for longevity here.
the characters are nothing more than themed decks, whereas the story is simple enough to the point at which it might as well be absent.
the gameplay feels limited, the map-dependent victory conditions feel redundant, the maps themselves are bland, and the addition of upgrade trees makes the game's scope feel tangibly restricted.
i just don't get the sense that the creators knew what they wanted to make with this.
i think the choice to merge a turnbased hexgrid map exploration system with a card battle/navigation system was unique, and the aesthetics are nice, but i don't really see much potential for longevity here.
the characters are nothing more than themed decks, whereas the story is simple enough to the point at which it might as well be absent.
the gameplay feels limited, the map-dependent victory conditions feel redundant, the maps themselves are bland, and the addition of upgrade trees makes the game's scope feel tangibly restricted.
i just don't get the sense that the creators knew what they wanted to make with this.
2023
NOTE: only played the demo
another fun contribution to the genre, with just enough to make it stand out. the artstyle is nice, and i think the idea of having established characters is great, and i love the idea of character-themed decks.
unfortunately, something about it just didn't click with me. i think it was the feeling of drawing and using cards not satisfying me enough; i frequently found myself wishing i could do more with discards and draws. positioning also felt more like a chore than additional tactical depth.
maybe you see those features in the full game, but the demo didn't make me want to find out.
another fun contribution to the genre, with just enough to make it stand out. the artstyle is nice, and i think the idea of having established characters is great, and i love the idea of character-themed decks.
unfortunately, something about it just didn't click with me. i think it was the feeling of drawing and using cards not satisfying me enough; i frequently found myself wishing i could do more with discards and draws. positioning also felt more like a chore than additional tactical depth.
maybe you see those features in the full game, but the demo didn't make me want to find out.
NOTE: only played the demo
it's not outright bad or anything, but it's a visual novel disguised as a dress-up doll game disguised as a card game. i enjoyed a lot of the little conceptual snippets associated with the cards, but the writing is very dull, and the humour is very... online?
i also notice a juvenile attitude towards sex, too; i rolled my eyes pretty hard at the cosmic orgasm door that exploded someone into dust.
there's just not much here, and what "here" there is tends to be overbearingly cringe.
it's not outright bad or anything, but it's a visual novel disguised as a dress-up doll game disguised as a card game. i enjoyed a lot of the little conceptual snippets associated with the cards, but the writing is very dull, and the humour is very... online?
i also notice a juvenile attitude towards sex, too; i rolled my eyes pretty hard at the cosmic orgasm door that exploded someone into dust.
there's just not much here, and what "here" there is tends to be overbearingly cringe.
2021
NOTE: only played the demo
great aesthetics, fun spin-off from the slay the spire format, and actually adds some storytelling and context for itself. the mechanics are simple to grasp but the tease of greater depth really compelled me.
i like that you can do other stuff that isn't card battling but ties into the card battling, and i like that the cards have personalities.
will be buying this, for sure.
great aesthetics, fun spin-off from the slay the spire format, and actually adds some storytelling and context for itself. the mechanics are simple to grasp but the tease of greater depth really compelled me.
i like that you can do other stuff that isn't card battling but ties into the card battling, and i like that the cards have personalities.
will be buying this, for sure.
2023
NOTE: only played the demo
fun card-battler with a gorgeous artstyle and lovely soundtrack, but, much like with most of these games, i just don't see what sets it apart from its peers.
the town upgrade mechanic is neat, i guess, and i liked the card aiming idea, but there're no characters, no real story, the core gameplay loop felt too simplistic, and the RNG overly punishing.
i don't know why i'd play this game over its myriad competitors.
fun card-battler with a gorgeous artstyle and lovely soundtrack, but, much like with most of these games, i just don't see what sets it apart from its peers.
the town upgrade mechanic is neat, i guess, and i liked the card aiming idea, but there're no characters, no real story, the core gameplay loop felt too simplistic, and the RNG overly punishing.
i don't know why i'd play this game over its myriad competitors.
2021
NOTE: only played the demo
fun little idle game! i love the setting, it has an okay story, i like the gameplay concept, and it's engaging enough to keep me occupied while i listen to audiobooks/lectures - but it's never distracting that i can't pay attention
i couldn't see an option to have the game play with the window out of focus, though, which kinda brings it down a lot.
will be buying it for sure!
fun little idle game! i love the setting, it has an okay story, i like the gameplay concept, and it's engaging enough to keep me occupied while i listen to audiobooks/lectures - but it's never distracting that i can't pay attention
i couldn't see an option to have the game play with the window out of focus, though, which kinda brings it down a lot.
will be buying it for sure!
2022
NOTE: only played the demo
honestly a fun little roguelike. the backpack inventory management system is fun, the gameplay loop is simple while having room for some complexity, and the artsyle is very charming.
if i hadn't played so many of these, i might even have bought it right away! as of now, though, it doesn't do anything unique enough to make me want to sink any real time into it.
honestly a fun little roguelike. the backpack inventory management system is fun, the gameplay loop is simple while having room for some complexity, and the artsyle is very charming.
if i hadn't played so many of these, i might even have bought it right away! as of now, though, it doesn't do anything unique enough to make me want to sink any real time into it.
gorgeous art style, and i enjoy the presentation of the areas on cardback, but there's no actual sign of card decks influencing the gameplay. doesn't seem to be any randomised card draws, doesn't seem to be any implementation of card-based rules in how the attacks/skills function... i don't know why the game is using cards at all, honestly.
it's just a standard RPG with standard RPG menus and standard RPG quests, but everything takes twice as long to do bc it has to animate a card draw instead of simply selecting your actions from a normal drop-down menu as you would usually.
the single voice actor also grates incredibly. he's fine, but he's not good enough to carry the weight of an entire game's worth of voice-acting on his own. i muted him almost immediately.
it's just a standard RPG with standard RPG menus and standard RPG quests, but everything takes twice as long to do bc it has to animate a card draw instead of simply selecting your actions from a normal drop-down menu as you would usually.
the single voice actor also grates incredibly. he's fine, but he's not good enough to carry the weight of an entire game's worth of voice-acting on his own. i muted him almost immediately.
2020
This review contains spoilers
decent concept, but horribly executed
the game is buggy as hell, missing a bunch of content, and each new patch breaks as much as it fixes - if not more
it lacks meaningful choices bc anything you do is forgotten after either a single conversation or, if you're lucky, a single long rest. my evil durge committed every atrocity possible and everyone talked to her the same way they did my goody two-shoes paladin bc there's no morality or reputation tracker in this game. i genocided the tieflings but thankfully a single good night's rest cleared that up and nobody ever brought it up again, despite gale killing refugees in cold blood himself and having a crisis wherein he almost left the party over it. in fact, just a few hours later, gale told me how much of a kind person i was, because i saved some tiefling kids - who i then went on to murder! if you let isobel be kidnapped, jaheira will come back at moonrise and join you as if it never happened, and aylin (her soulmate, apparently) will throw a quick "oh damn that sucks" at isobel's corpse and ALSO join you as if it never happened, never bringing it up again. the game is filled with fake options like that & it really falls apart once you realise that nothing you pick will actually change anything.
ties into my next issue - the game lacks features that other games have been including for decades. no morality system (in DnD???), no reputation gauge, no transmog system, no "hardening" system or equivalent, banter dries up completely after act 1, characters barely acknowledge each other in camp, and nothing happens unless tav is there to spur it forward.
but tav also has no meaningful background, either; there's no origin system or way to define who your tav is. the only thing you do is pick a menu option and sometimes you get a different dialogue line every now and then... not that it changes anything, because none of these different dialogues actually do anything to how characters perceive you. you get a single changed spoken response and maybe an approval point. absolutely nothing else.
the most variance i noticed was in act 1, between whether or not the goblins let you into the camp based on whether you picked a drow, but even that doesn't matter bc you can just shapeshift into one.
plot choices are railroaded as hell: there's only one way to resolve act 1's tadpole issue (the resolution is that you do nothing); act 2 ostensibly has two resolutions in how the shadowlands is handled, but these resolutions are "successfully complete the quest" or "fail to do the quest" (there's no actual choice here, the only choice is whether or not you do the quest - there's no nuance, like kidnapping isobel but keeping her alive after the myrkul fight just means she dies basically off-screen for no reason and no explanation is ever given and characters don't acknowledge it); act 3 is the same, with a minor superficial divergence if you picked durge.
there's barely any narrative structure at all and the game flops narrative thrust HARD. you're tadpoled and your party members spend the first long rest telling you how important this is, but you experience 0 negative consequences for ignoring this and you quickly find out that actually it's not a problem at all and there's no sense of urgency really at all.
in fact, there's only one way to "resolve" the tadpole issue (which, again, is to do literally nothing bc the prism has it sorted, so everything in act 1 is pointless), but act 1 is filled with false leads that don't accomplish anything. act 2 ends with an army marching on baldur's gate. act 3 opens with you going to a circus and fucking around doing minor sidequests because the army was completely irrelevant and was never a threat.
extremely inconsistent content between characters, too. wyll, a character whose father is mentioned throughout all the acts and rescuing him is an important plot point that ties into a main villain's ascension to power in act 3, gets the LEAST amount of content. astarion, a man whose personal quest and circumstances have absolutely no relevance to anything at all in the plot, gets 6 hours more content than wyll. wyll also has no agency in his personal quest, either - you have to directly tell him what to do bc the game neglects his development entirely.
the combat is janky, easily cheesed, and, thanks to aforementioned bugs, barely works. some turns can take over 2~5 minutes to get through bc each enemy npc takes their sweet time processing whatever random, dumbass actions they're going to get themselves killed over next.
the fans and the company and the VAs are all annoying. never seen so many parasocial relationships with a game before, it's wild. ppl defend this game like they're defending their cult leader, and the company/VAs spend so much time intruding on fan spaces. it's giving jobless.
i wish these characters were in any other crpg. i wish this game was made by any other crpg developer.
the game is buggy as hell, missing a bunch of content, and each new patch breaks as much as it fixes - if not more
it lacks meaningful choices bc anything you do is forgotten after either a single conversation or, if you're lucky, a single long rest. my evil durge committed every atrocity possible and everyone talked to her the same way they did my goody two-shoes paladin bc there's no morality or reputation tracker in this game. i genocided the tieflings but thankfully a single good night's rest cleared that up and nobody ever brought it up again, despite gale killing refugees in cold blood himself and having a crisis wherein he almost left the party over it. in fact, just a few hours later, gale told me how much of a kind person i was, because i saved some tiefling kids - who i then went on to murder! if you let isobel be kidnapped, jaheira will come back at moonrise and join you as if it never happened, and aylin (her soulmate, apparently) will throw a quick "oh damn that sucks" at isobel's corpse and ALSO join you as if it never happened, never bringing it up again. the game is filled with fake options like that & it really falls apart once you realise that nothing you pick will actually change anything.
ties into my next issue - the game lacks features that other games have been including for decades. no morality system (in DnD???), no reputation gauge, no transmog system, no "hardening" system or equivalent, banter dries up completely after act 1, characters barely acknowledge each other in camp, and nothing happens unless tav is there to spur it forward.
but tav also has no meaningful background, either; there's no origin system or way to define who your tav is. the only thing you do is pick a menu option and sometimes you get a different dialogue line every now and then... not that it changes anything, because none of these different dialogues actually do anything to how characters perceive you. you get a single changed spoken response and maybe an approval point. absolutely nothing else.
the most variance i noticed was in act 1, between whether or not the goblins let you into the camp based on whether you picked a drow, but even that doesn't matter bc you can just shapeshift into one.
plot choices are railroaded as hell: there's only one way to resolve act 1's tadpole issue (the resolution is that you do nothing); act 2 ostensibly has two resolutions in how the shadowlands is handled, but these resolutions are "successfully complete the quest" or "fail to do the quest" (there's no actual choice here, the only choice is whether or not you do the quest - there's no nuance, like kidnapping isobel but keeping her alive after the myrkul fight just means she dies basically off-screen for no reason and no explanation is ever given and characters don't acknowledge it); act 3 is the same, with a minor superficial divergence if you picked durge.
there's barely any narrative structure at all and the game flops narrative thrust HARD. you're tadpoled and your party members spend the first long rest telling you how important this is, but you experience 0 negative consequences for ignoring this and you quickly find out that actually it's not a problem at all and there's no sense of urgency really at all.
in fact, there's only one way to "resolve" the tadpole issue (which, again, is to do literally nothing bc the prism has it sorted, so everything in act 1 is pointless), but act 1 is filled with false leads that don't accomplish anything. act 2 ends with an army marching on baldur's gate. act 3 opens with you going to a circus and fucking around doing minor sidequests because the army was completely irrelevant and was never a threat.
extremely inconsistent content between characters, too. wyll, a character whose father is mentioned throughout all the acts and rescuing him is an important plot point that ties into a main villain's ascension to power in act 3, gets the LEAST amount of content. astarion, a man whose personal quest and circumstances have absolutely no relevance to anything at all in the plot, gets 6 hours more content than wyll. wyll also has no agency in his personal quest, either - you have to directly tell him what to do bc the game neglects his development entirely.
the combat is janky, easily cheesed, and, thanks to aforementioned bugs, barely works. some turns can take over 2~5 minutes to get through bc each enemy npc takes their sweet time processing whatever random, dumbass actions they're going to get themselves killed over next.
the fans and the company and the VAs are all annoying. never seen so many parasocial relationships with a game before, it's wild. ppl defend this game like they're defending their cult leader, and the company/VAs spend so much time intruding on fan spaces. it's giving jobless.
i wish these characters were in any other crpg. i wish this game was made by any other crpg developer.
2016
more filler can't change the fact that there's nothing meaningful to actually do in this game
2021
that little egg thing is the bane of my life
2018
a fantastic little turn-based strategy game with tonnes of different, cool-looking mech squads for you to try. it feels like some are definitively better than others, but they're all viable, and they're all extremely fun to use.