So I finally played the demo of Loop Hero and I’m sold. I’ve not played anything like that before but it quickly got its hooks into me with the deck, tiles, unexpected synergies, enemies and gear. Very cool and I feel like there are going to be many more layers and surprises beyond the demo. I love the presentation too. What a unique experience.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, it really does seem like a neat and unusual blend. I hope it’s just a taste and the real thing has a lot more in store.
So is the auto-battler the new thing? We’ve got Astronarch, Loop Hero and Despot’s Game (I’m sure there are many others) all occupying a similar space at the same point in time. Auto Chess, Underlords and… (checks Wikipedia) Battlegrounds released in 2019 so we’re probably feeling the ripples from those.
I should have said new ‘trend’ rather than thing! I’m aware of GSB but never played it.
Dominions!
Seriously, Ilwinter need to release Dominion’s battle engine as a standalone auto-battler in this current climate.
exactly! :)
Ah, I’d not thought about Dominions! The cool thing about auto-battling is they lend themselves to async multiplayer while giving you all the delicious crunch and spectacle. I wish I’d clicked more with Dominions. Everything about it felt so fiddly and opaque though. Maybe one day I’ll give it another go.
Ok, the game looks pretty good:
It’s an ARPG with all sorts of relics/upgrades and weapons to find. I watched a video on the gameplay and it looked like lots of fun, only downsides is that mission are timed (YMMV) and it’s a twin stick shooter (again, YMMV) which I don’t like, I prefer a Diablo/Grim Dawn style movement/shoot scheme. But otherwise it looks pretty cool.
It apparently got a lot of love during the recent Steam festival such that the developer has extended the free demo through Sun, Feb 14. So give it a try.
Damn, Anvil looks neat!
I tried this, and it seems cool, but I’m not sure it’s for me.
On the plus side, the two characters I played were VERY different. Skills seem cool. Some ofThe attacks were really impactful too. Enemy variety appeared solid.
There are many things that might get improves before launch, like our feedback when taking damage, lack of camera options, etc
But the thing I really didn’t care for is that the game seems to consist of a series of small, connected areas. Now it could be that was just for the demo, but I have the feeling it isn’t. I’d much prefer more traditional aRPG-style maps.
Sudoku RPG
OMG, there goes my weeke—
real-time puzzle battle
Nevermind
I can’t believe they made it real time, that’s going to massively narrow their audience. I mean, who does speed sudoku?
Seriously. Now speed Kakuro is fun, I’d play that game.
Gem Wizards Tactics looks interesting, but I have some concerns. First, the developer’s track record for continued support isn’t the best, imo. Perhaps more importantly, this should be releasing into EA in my opinion. This is going to be a buggy, unbalanced mess when it launches today, based on watching the devs own stream.
He’s clearly planning to add more factions (currently 3 of a potential 7/8) and modes. Why not call this early access? Not my problem I guess, it just feels wrong to me in the current climate. I mean, he published a video of an “early, unfinished version” of the campaign mode… three weeks ago.
Mini Countries came out last week. It looks sort of like the love child of Mini Metro and Logistical. I saw a couple of Youtubers playing it and it seems pretty slick.
Command and fight a single capital ship against a rogue AI fleet:
Oh wow… Brian may have a coronary when he sees that…