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Recent reviews by Tuile

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Showing 1-10 of 31 entries
20 people found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
48.0 hrs on record
To be totally transparent, I only paid a couple dollars for the complete game and I still felt ripped off due to the time that I spent forcing myself to finish it. Had I been someone who purchased at the full sticker price, I would be questioning my own mental capacity.

Unfortunately, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (SoW) is lacking in many aspects for a game that not only wears its inspirations on its sleeve but, quite frankly, already has numerous successful blueprints to build upon.

If it wasn't immediately obvious, SoW pays homage to the influential Ogre Battle series (Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen in particular). March of the Black Queen was a game that had unique worldbuilding, a diversity of mechanics, and a surprising amount of content replayability. Although, it wasn't without its stumbling blocks; the diverse mechanics also came packaged with inconvenient micromanaging and the content was often hampered by the glacial pacing of its battle maps. But overall, it was truly a unique gaming experience for the time.

The "time" referred to being 1993.

29 years later, SoW arrives and for some reason decides to carry over Ogre Battle's limitations, while also leaving behind the aspects it did well.

Were you one of the masochists that enjoyed flipping back and forth through multiple menus to micromanage your exponentially expanding roster of units? Well, nearly three decades later with numerous advancements in game UI/UX design, you get to experience the nostalgia of suffering through it again. Of course, there are a few modernized improvements like being able to see the stat impact of an artifact as you hover over it. But that convenience pales in comparison to the other questionable decisions; like the tedious amount of button presses needed to adjust a single squad.

Also, why is scrolling at the "Organize Army" menu restricted to when you have certain options selected? Once you have an entire roster of squads, you probably want an easy way to view multiple at once and perhaps even have some filtering/tagging/grouping functions to help mitigate the player's rapidly depleting patience.

The story is another beast entirely. I understand that writing in JRPGs are often serviceable, tropey, and cliche. The bar is low enough to be a tripping hazard. But have some respect for your readers, if you're going to make the twists and turns so glaringly obvious then at least execute them well. Casmir didn't and look how things ended up for him.

SoW takes the tedium of its poor menu navigation and somehow transforms that suffering into prose. You can tell when a writer spends too much time on Wattpad as the idiosyncrasies of the content they consume start to seep into their work. Turns out the devs have spent over a decade developing games with RPGmaker. I can only say that the stereotypes about RPGmaker games continues to hold true.

I found myself making liberal use of the skip button in a desperate attempt to blind myself to the exposition dumps and awkward exchanges, which was further emphasized by the hamfisted relationship dialogue. For example:

Zelos to Abigayle
You know what's interesting? Back when I was a "nice" guy, women did not care for me much. Yeah, they thought I was handsome, but whatever. Now, here we are, with you swooning over tales of conquest. It's all about the bad boys, isn't it?

Bearing in mind, that the speaker is a seasoned soldier that has committed their fair share of violence. I guess the torture he underwent caused enough brain damage to revert him back to an edgy teenager The devs would've been better off using AI to write their dialogue /s.

The only instance where I had a slight twinge of what could be considered a smile was the chapter where you crushed the Sayunaari army and executed the acting ruler, Prime Minister Cyrus. During the cutscene, Narima hilariously out-of-pocket boots Cyrus' lifeless body aside; remarking that he is a filthy pretender to the throne. It's revealed that Narima is part of an underground monarchist group that wishes to reinstall the royal Sayunaari bloodline (aka Jules) to the throne once more. The abrupt violence & venomous disgust was so bad that it was almost good. Unfortunately, every other storytelling beat was just... bad.

So navigating menus is a pain, the story isn't worth reading, but at least the fundamental gameplay is decent, right?

Well, it's serviceable. SoW doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before. There's a certain amount of tactical nuance in how your army composition affects its mobility. But for the majority of the time, units are pretty interchangeable (perhaps that's intentional; a metaphor for the callousness of war /s). Regardless, you'll likely end up abusing canto or other high mobility options to nuke your enemies. Even then, I got tired of micromanaging units and would sometimes choose to reduce the number of units I deployed.

One lazy method is to give an already powerful squad (such as one led by the Amazonian dommy mommy, Diana) the Temporal Modulator artifact, which allows them to attack first when defending. Then throw that unit into a pack of enemies and watch the AI blitz itself to death against your thunder thighs. You'll appreciate this convenience when the number of enemies start to skyrocket in later chapters. Imagine having to deploy and manage 10-20 squads, when one 10-foot giantess will do the job.

But the worst offender is the map design. With 43 total chapters, you'd think that there would be a decent amount of environmental variety. Visually, there's certainly forests, deserts, dungeons, ships, and galactic voids. But what's the point when they all fundamentally play the same? The weather mechanic has little to no effect on gameplay, there are barely any environmental interactions that can be utilized (I believe the burning ground mechanic only ever appears twice), and the final fight (where one might expect to use the experience they've learned from previous victories) is a boring slog. With the amount of health that Zanatus has, you'd think he'd have enough time to reconsider his strategy, when I've repeated the process of brutalizing his faceless mooks then pounding him with 20 squads of hardened war criminals armed with Sayunaari steel. Considering the JRPG inspirations, where's my second/third/fourth phase? Where's my quippy dialogue that precedes the Power of Friendship rectal examination performed by our heroes? If you're going to play these tropes straight then commit to them.

Ranting aside, I do have to commend the pixel sprite art and the satisfying SFX (those level up sounds do engage my primal lizard brain like a slot machine would). Regrettably, this is probably my one and only positive about this game.

All things considered, I can forgive questionable UI design, poorly written storytelling, and run-of-the-mill gameplay as long as the game is attempting something unique. However, SoW is simply a pastiche that falls significantly short of its inspirations. The main selling point of this game is that it occupies a genre niche that sees few new releases.

But is that really a selling point though?

Bonus criticism, the writers seem to enjoy the word "poindexter" as an insult. It's a bit anachronistic, since it requires the prior existence of the 1959 Felix the Cat cartoon for it to be used as an insult. If we're going to be breaking our suspension of disbelief with dated references, please choose something less dated. Actually, the existence of Felix is probably canon considering the implication that past civilizations were more technologically advanced. Perhaps, our present Earth existed at some point. Oops I think I've spoiled a future plot point /s.
Posted 23 February.
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1 person found this review helpful
39.4 hrs on record
All the way back in 2019, Dota Auto Chess started a massive trend in the auto-battler genre. Valve, Riot Games, Blizzard, etc. all capitalised on the craze with their own entries. This outburst of popularity also trickled down into the indie scene, games like Astronarch were one of the many that made an attempt to ride the wave.

In my opinion, auto-battlers have become another genre-go-to for indie games. I can't even count how many rogue-like or deck-building or turn-based or pixel art indie games I've played over the years. Often, I can barely differentiate between one game or another. One might think that Astronarch would be another of those brief experiences that become muddled in memory.

Yet, I've developed a certain fondness for it.

The art is nothing spectacular. Simple, almost bare, pixel art that looks like it was sketched together in Windows Paint. However, there's a surprising amount of diversity in both playable classes and combat-able enemies. A real effort has been made to flesh out the visual experience and ensure overall thematic consistency.

The item pool is also meaningfully diverse too. Sure, there's plenty of items that just give the typical boring stat boost. However, there's just as many that offer build-defining effects as well, which plays nicely with the large amount of unique class abilities that you can utilise.

I don't necessarily believe that Astronarch will give you a 100+ hours of gameplay. In fact, I was able to fully complete the game in 40 hours or so. But I think that for a one-man indie game, it does the fundamentals well. There's just enough build variety that the 20+ runs to endgame difficulty isn't that much of a slog and the auto-battles are quick to resolve so you never feel like you're spending too much time waiting (as opposed to playing).

All in all, it's time well spent.
Posted 30 January.
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3 people found this review helpful
43.4 hrs on record
Roguebook is Abrakam Entertainment's pseudo-sequel to their PVP card game, Faeria. Although, this time around they went for a roguelike card game instead.

You'll notice immediately that Roguebook is beautiful game. The hero artwork, backdrops, and animations are quite pretty too look at. I'm sure it was helpful that they were able to borrow heavily from Faeria's own lore and art. In fact, there are quite a few nods towards the expanded universe and also numerous reused assets (not that I fault the devs for this, since Faeria has delightful card art).

At the end of the day, this is very much a Faeria game.

Which means, we also get to experience a few unique mechanics as well. Where Faeria (early in its development) had a night-day cycle that impacted cardplay, Roguebook has you reveal the map & POIs by painting it in or gaining bonus passives based on how large your deck size is. It certainly made my initial runs feel refreshing compared to the other turn-based card games that I've played in recent years.

In short, the game was a breath of fresh air.

However, it didn't scratch the replayability itch that other card games have done in the past. After I completed the game on its highest difficulty (Epilogue 27), I lost motivation to play more runs. It left me wondering why that is?

I enjoyed the variety of enemy encounters and the more puzzle-heavy experiences like the Gem Mine traps. Yet, after maxing out the hero levels and my in-game compendium, it felt like the game was done; all the loose ends tidied up.

After spending a bit of thought, I realised the reason for me was that Roguebook plays slowly. There's no way to speed up the game, no way to accelerate combat animations, and what was once a novel experience of revealing the overworld map became an exercise in plodding tedium.

There's a lot of artificial bloat in the interactions. For instance, in order to purchase cards/gems/treasures from the shopkeeper. You have to walk over to the shopkeeper's tile in the overworld, enter an encounter screen, and then finally click on the shopkeeper to open up the buy menu. Pair this with the fact that you'll do a lot of backtracking and walking around in the overworld, it hammers in the frightening reality that your heroes walk at a snail's pace. There's nothing more fearsome than having your time wasted.

The final nail in that coffin is the existence of an obtainable item that doubles your overworld movespeed. It creates a sense that the slow pacing was intentional, which is fine for a walking simulator game but a roguelike!? If we compare Roguebook to games like Slay the Spire or Monster Train, where you're moving from encounter to encounter in seconds. The difference is even more stark.

In my opinion, people play roguelike card games for the actual gameplay not for the engaging mechanic of walking around the map to pick up gold.

That said, it's not as if I didn't enjoy Roguebook. It's a great game with strong fundamentals. In fact, I enjoyed it enough to create a guide detailing all of the narrative lore events. But I just didn't have the patience to put in more hours than I already had.

https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3409562620
Posted 24 January.
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2 people found this review helpful
34.4 hrs on record
I've echoed this sentiment time and time again in previous reviews of Goblinz Studio published games. But I'll say it again for consistency.

Goblinz Studio has a great eye for identifying interesting games, they're not necessarily well-polished games, nor are they big budget games, but they have a certain charm that always draws me in.

Defend the Rook is in line with those expectations as well. I found myself intrigued by the theme of a powerful magician commanding his forces from a floating castle in the sky. It's a turn-based setting that's evocative of a great many classic fantasy tropes. And I will always welcome more additions to the turn-based strategy genre; there's never enough contenders!

The overall game length is short, which does help it to not overstay its welcome. I 100%ed the game in about 25 hours and spent a few more hours testing things for my guide. That said, the gameplay experience is a bit shallow and heavily dependent on RNG at times. Although, for better or worse, the lack of replayability does let us end our experience on a high note.

If you're able to get Defend the Rook on sale, I would highly recommend that you pick it up. It's an enjoyable little puzzler for a few afternoons.

Additionally, if you do buy the game, please feel free to check out my guide to further enrich your playthrough:
https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3389181146
Posted 23 December, 2024.
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2 people found this review helpful
0.4 hrs on record
I've had "Antenna" on my Steam wishlist for years as a reminder to eventually play it. And eventually I did.

As an experience, it's not long, nor complex, or even uniquely philosophical.

You can finish everything in less than half an hour, the puzzles are straightforward once you figure out that they're sound-based, and the world-building is superficial (or if you're being charitable; succinct).

Yet, despite all of these reductive qualities, Antenna is wonderfully nostalgic. It hearkens back to a more immature time, when the accessibility of Flash led to an explosion of game development. Browser-based games were aplenty and many amateur game developers cut their teeth upon that era.

Antenna feels very much like an early work of a fresh developer. Where there's an intent to keep it technically simple (due to skill or resources) and instead shift the complexity to other aspects like puzzle design or ambience.

I respect the effort greatly as it's a testament that our personal creativity can be made tangible for others to experience as well.
Posted 20 December, 2024.
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1 person found this review helpful
107.9 hrs on record (104.5 hrs at review time)
Way back in December of 2021, Vampire Survivors (VS) was released signalling a resurgence of the bullet heaven genre as VS-likes topped Steam charts and populated wishlists.

It's no surprise, as the genre has an easily accessible price point at sub $10, straightforward gameplay (auto-shooting, auto-aim, etc.), and its roguelike progression provides a quick burst of dopamine for the busy individual.

Scarlet Tower (ST) is another entry into this crowded genre. However, whether it's an entry that stands on its own merit or another cash-grab riding the fad is a bit more difficult to ascertain.

On one hand, ST is visually polished with a consistent thematic aesthetic that is rooted in the devs' worldbuilding of their previous games. On the other hand, the level of polish can't be said for their coding as various bugs & glitches are notoriously common and continue to plague the game. Items disappearing into nonexistence, achievements not properly unlocking, and questionable balance issues have been ever present in the last few weeks.

That said, as many bugs as there are, the devs have also been actively attempting to hotfix them as well. Going from v2.0.0 to v2.0.9 in the weeks since the update. So I am a bit conflicted, there seems to be an earnest effort to resolve player pain points. But I also think that perhaps the "earnest effort" should've occurred during the development stage first.

Nonetheless, I do think that the fundamental gameplay loop of ST is enjoyable (in spite of the bugs). Otherwise, I wouldn't have put in 100 or so hours in the last few weeks to 100% the game, created two guides, or even written a review for it. I simply wouldn't have made the effort, if I didn't think there was anything worthwhile here.

So I think that my actions speak for themselves. I would recommend Scarlet Tower and, honestly at this price point, I don't think you'll be that regretful even if you don't enjoy it.

On a final note, one consistent pain point that has existed since the game's release is the lack of in-game information for many mechanics. The devs have alleviated this somewhat with an in-game bestiary and weapon encyclopaedia. But it still does not cover a majority of the game's concepts. Which is why I ended up creating a reference guide for my own use.

If you're interested, you can check it out here:
https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3373618699
Posted 10 December, 2024.
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199 people found this review helpful
5 people found this review funny
4
2
526.8 hrs on record
In September of 2024, the Unlocked & Loaded patch dropped for Darktide. This patch brought with it the long long awaited itemization and crafting rework. It included features such as a mastery system to unlock weapon blessings and the removal of locks when crafting weapons. All of which, were fantastic additions to the game.

Having pre-ordered Darktide over 2 years ago in November of 2022, I have had the opportunity to experience how far the game has come. Unfortunately, this comes with the nagging realization of "Why did it take 2 years of development to get the game to a place that's worthwhile?"

Many of the features that have since been added over the years, have been incessantly clamoured for by the community. Sometimes, modders would take matters into their own hands and create those very same quality of life features that are now a part of the core game. For instance, the now obsolete Contracts Overlay mod, released on 2023-04-27, would allow you to pull up your contract progress mid-mission. It only took Fatshark an entire year to include a similar functionality with the Path of Redemption update (2024-04-16).

Something as simple as wanting to track the live progress of a grind during a mission, seems like a functionality that should have been included on release. In what scenario, would someone not want to know that they've performed enough Scab melee kills and can now focus on Dreg ranged kills? Perhaps there's someone out there who enjoys inefficiently exceeding targets for no additional rewards /s.

Ultimately, there's a theme of basic quality of life features, that should've existed on release, being incorporated years later. Although some features, like NumericUI, are still awaiting an official Fatshark implementation (maybe in another 2 years?). It's all very disappointing and if it wasn't for modders, I would say that the gameplay experience would have been far worse off.

If someone were to ask me, whether I would recommend vanilla Darktide. I would say "No." for most of the game's lifespan. Only now with the Unlocked & Loaded update and the recent closing of the Book of Grudges, do I feel like the game is worth recommending. But I can't lie, it's both a reluctant recommendation and a cautionary tale of the classic Fatshark development curse (it looks like the Vermintide veterans were right all along).
Posted 7 November, 2024. Last edited 27 November, 2024.
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2 people found this review helpful
82.9 hrs on record (82.0 hrs at review time)
For a Warhammer 40K (WH40K) fan, this is definitely a must buy.

For anyone else, I'd suggest waiting for a sizeable price discount first.

Overall, the game is a visual spectacle and a great sequel to the well-received Space Marine 1. There are quite a few nods to the previous game as well as plenty of references to the greater WH40K canon. The campaign itself is short but with enough set piece variety that it makes for an engaging 10 or so hours of gameplay. While, the writing won't be winning any awards, there are certainly individual scenes that stand out as memorable (i.e. the brother-to-brother last stand while holding the chapter banner).

Space Marine 2 (SM2) also includes PVE and PVP content beyond the box campaign with plenty of class upgrades, weapon levelling, and cosmetic unlocks to grind for both. However, after completing all the currently available content and the grind itself, I definitely felt it was more so a grind for grind's sake.

I simply don't think the gameplay alone is particularly engaging once you get past the shiny graphics and referential callbacks. I recall early on during release, some people compared it to Gears of War. But other than the third-person perspective and gory executions, there's little in common between the two. For example, SM2 lacks any sort of cover-based movement tech, which I think contributes to a lack of depth in how combat survivability plays out.

Instead, SM2 introduces the parry system, which encourages you to wade into the fray and fish for executions to help maintain your survivability with armour regen. Alternatively, you can also constantly dodge roll around to avoid attacks and take potshots every so often. Since melee is significantly weaker (most of the effectiveness comes from the parry itself putting the enemy into a vulnerable execution state rather than the melee weapon's damage) compared to gunplay, it becomes preferable to use the latter method. However, only a few ranged weapons even output a reasonable amount of damage anyways, which further restricts your options if you dislike wasting your time. Ultimately, a longer time-to-kill = longer mission completion times = longer grind for unlocks. On higher difficulties, where enemies become even more bullet spongy. We end up in a situation where it becomes ideal to dodge roll straight to the next checkpoint so as to skip the slog of drawn out fights.

To be fair, a lengthy grind can still be enjoyable; if the gameplay is engaging enough. But I cannot in good conscience say that I enjoyed levelling up multiple weapons that were essentially the same as each other. The entire bolt weapon family lacked any meaningful mechanical difference between them. Sure, one might have a grenade launcher attachment or one might have a different scope. But was it truly necessary to split these minute differences into multiple individual weapons rather than a single one with customization options? Maxing all of them out hammered in that feeling of a "grind for grind's sake".

That said, the saving grace of SM2 is definitely the modding community. Allowing for customization of both visual and mechanical aspects means that we can curate an enjoyable experience for anyone. Since, the default experience and its balance choices are questionable at best and a slog at worst. In short, my recommendation is predicated on the fact that you have an interest in WH40K and are willing to utilize mods for an improved experience.
Posted 7 November, 2024.
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6 people found this review helpful
33.1 hrs on record (32.4 hrs at review time)
Airborne Kingdom is an interesting take on the fantasy of a travelling city. It definitely has a unique aesthetic with its Arabic inspired building designs and I personally enjoyed the mechanical, almost steam-punk nature of how your kingdom operates.

However, while the overall aesthetic is interesting, its city-building gameplay is a bit too simple. There's not much depth and interaction between your buildings. The most you can do in regards to city-planning is to group appropriate buildings together to ensure that your workers have efficient pathing and production buffs are maximised. You can't customise worker behaviour nor create further ways to min-max efficiency beyond the few tools provided.

Of course, a City Builder   Automation game. But I would've liked to see a bit more intentional player interaction. As it stands the gameplay loop is quite repetitive, you fly around the map, collect resources, upgrade your kingdom, unlock technologies, and complete quests (which all amount to basically fetch quests). You spend most of your time as a player watching your kingdom traverse the map (which does have the occasional unique landmark) as opposed to having to actively contend with city management.

Another item that lacks polish, which becomes glaringly obvious when you have to backtrack so often, is the missing QOL features with the world map. For instance, in order to move around the map you have to right-click the land below. But if you want to travel long distances, you end up having to vaguely place your cursor across the horizon. It would've been much more convenient, if you could open up the map and place an active travel marker directly on it. As it becomes quite tedious to constantly click in a general direction, open up the map and realise you're off, and repeat again until you're headed to where you want.

An additional point of contention, although some might argue that it's a design choice, is that the world map does not show the borders of the world and the map scaling is more expansive compared to the physical landscape. Both of these factors make the world map seem larger than it physically is. However, I personally found it bothersome to navigate with as it often led to me overshooting my desired travel point.

All in all, I would still recommend Airborne Kingdom. It's not a lengthy game with a lot replayability, which means I'm much more forgiving with its issues. I ultimately enjoyed the time spent fully completing it and I think others would as well.
Posted 3 August, 2024.
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5 people found this review helpful
31.5 hrs on record
Rogue-like turn-based deckbuilding games are a dime a dozen. While, I enjoy the genre, it is a crowded space and one only has so much time. Where I choose to invest my engagement depends on two aspects, aesthetics (i.e. overarching theme, visual design, etc.) and mechanics. In my opinion, Banners of Ruin (BoR) succeeds in the former but is only adequate with the latter.

Aesthetics

I value the thematic context of a game heavily as it provides much needed flavour for what is ostensibly just a random number generator. Are we nigh-immortal warriors forced to contend with the shifting eldritch horrors of a non-euclidean spire? Or anthropomorphic forest animals mired in the consequences of a feudal blood vendetta? For BoR, animal-on-animal Darwinism is the unequivocal narrative choice. One which, for me, conjures an immediate fond association with the Redwall series.

My bias towards BoR’s theme was further cemented by the character designs. Specifically, the Mouse racial class. I have no shame in admitting that the juxtaposition of a cute large-eared rodent with an absolutely sour expression (miserable, sullen, and probably judgemental of your life choices) cemented my desire to purchase BoR.

Overall, I think that MonteBearo successfully captured the spirit of a low-fantasy quest for vengeance. For instance, various card encounters emphasise the fact that you’re skulking about hostile territory (i.e. “Scruples”, do you ignore injustice or address it and risk combat that you can ill afford?) and the gameplay ties into the theme as well (i.e. “Ruin” mechanic, where immoral choices can permanently create Ruin cards with powerful damage and comparable drawbacks.) Aesthetically, BoR has done a fantastic job of setting a context that differentiates itself from other games in this popular genre.

Mechanics

Unfortunately, in comparison to the visual design, the gameplay design far more middling. One of the major complaints, as echoed by many other reviewers, is the distinct lack of quality of life features. There is no dynamic damage calculation based on buffs/debuffs so there’s no convenient preview of what might happen if you play card. Instead, you have to perform any such calculations yourself, while keeping in mind all the various passives or effects that could influence your actions. There’s nothing worse than turning a projected one-shot on a dangerous enemy into a miscalculated misplay.

Card choices are also rather repetitive. If you want a successful run (especially one that includes a Prince kill), your build choices are constrained since the card utility varies widely. BoR tends to crowd your already packed deck with a lot of unwanted cards. Each character on your team (up to 6 members), will bring 1-2 cards associated with their equipped weapon(s) and up to 4 talent cards as well. Bearing in mind that you start every run with a standard deck of 16 cards; there ends up being a lot of chaff that you want to remove. I find myself forfeiting talent choices upon levelling because they don’t add enough value to justify the additional card bloat. Furthermore, I felt that the majority of weapon and talent cards lacked a sense of power. For instance, anything related to the “Cripple” debuff has lacklustre damage and is inconvenient to proc. For a single-player experience, does it truly matter if players have multiple overpowered options? Ultimately, any build still has to contend with the balancing RNG of card drops and encounters.

In regards to gameplay length, the runs themselves tend be on the longer end, especially with poor RNG, at around an hour or more. Personally, I don’t mind longer runs but it can get tedious when it becomes more expeditious to stall fights, which can already take 5-10 minutes, for stat-farming (i.e. Oathbreaker damage stacks) or consistent healing. Nonetheless, run time is a personal preference. The more egregious issue is probably the story length.

Your first run takes you through the story beats of infiltrating Dawn’s Point, fighting your way past the Outer Districts and Old Town, before finally carving a bloody mess in the Noble Quarters with a battle against the Warden. Upon winning, you’re treated to a cutscene of defeated Dawncloaks and a bloodied, dying Warden before the castle gates rattle open. *Title Drop* *End Scene* *Return to the Main Menu*

The chain of events feels like a tease and you’re now ready for the next chapter of this grizzled tale. Except, there’s not much more.

The following run you can now complete a side-quest, where you assist an Ender traitor, the Informant, to gain access to the castle. If you successfully complete each Informant-related encounter, your triumph over the Warden unlocks two new subsequent boss battles against the Spymaster and the Prince. Granted these fights do have unique mechanics for each boss but narratively the payoff feels anemic. Yes, you get to execute or spare the Prince and thereby fulfill your vow of vengeance but the pacing is rather abrupt.

Dawn’s Point is narratively the final chapter of House Blackfoot’s journey but for the players it’s only a brief slice of their adventure. It feels like the playable story should’ve started further back with the inciting incident of the Blackchurch burning. This would allow for a greater opportunity to craft a “band of brothers” tale and to further flex the prose that is scattered among the various encounters. All of which is teased but never built upon. Perhaps, my desire to dive deeper into the lore of BoR is a testament to MonteBearo’s success in world-building (or my own unsated hunger for an actually decent Redwall game).


Conclusion

Regardless, Banners of Ruin is an acceptable game for those who already enjoy rogue-like turn-based deckbuilding experiences. As long as you don’t expect deep mechanics or lengthy replayability, it will keep you busy for ~30 hours (100% completion).
Posted 19 November, 2023.
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Showing 1-10 of 31 entries