Good for those folks! It’s a real damn good game.
I’m curious - if you’re playing Ascension do you aim to beat Act 4 or just go for the standard ending?
I’ve been trying for an Act 4 win on Ascension 2 for 30 runs and have yet to beat it, although I did get close a few times.
Act 4 is evil. I almost never try for it anymore. Then again, I’m lucky to beat act 3.
My filter tends to be the stupid giant head.
Oh wow – they implemented leaderboards on GOG. I wonder if it’s their own tech or if they’re using Galaxy’s API.
I never try to get to act 4. I beat it with all three characters on Ascension 0. The ascension levels are hard enough without trying to get those keys!
I did beat Ascension 10 with the Ironclad. Just thought I’d mention that :)
Another awesome video in the “War Stories” series from Ars Technica
Finally managed to beat the heart on Ascension 0. I was trying for ages with the Ironclad, then after I pulled that off, my first tries with the SIlent and the Defect brought wins as well.
I feel I’ve pretty well played out the game (didn’t beat all the Ascensions even through Act III, but don’t feel a whole lot of motivation there). It’s tough to replace with another completely-turn-based, low-system-specs, easily-interruptible-for-family game. I keep trying to make Into The Breach that game but it hasn’t clicked yet. Tales of Maj’Eyal is the other contender…
If you’re looking for similar games that you master and feel good about it - try Dead Cells. It’s action game but it has a similar philosophy: you mostly improve by yourself but there’s always something to unlock.
Another great one is Hand of Fate 2. It has both strong action elements and strategic planning. It also looks and sounds great.
And the one I have hate-love relations with is Reknown Explorers. It’s rather similar to FTL but has a more traditional hex-based tactical combat. No action here, just a lot of math and it’s rather good. My problem with it is art-style which repulses me for some reason.
I’m in the same camp. It has an uncanny cartoon valley feel.
It also has a completely different style for portrays and everything else. And portraits look as if drawn by a talented 9-years old. I don’t get it. They probably didn’t want to look like a default indie game with a pixel art, but there’s a good reason for people using pixel art: it does the job well and it’s not repulsive.
Yeah I think you’re right. Not that doing beautiful pixel art is easy, but you can get away with simple pixel art because it looks retro. Once you go high-res, you need real artistry or it looks like crap. Arcen games constantly encountered this problem as well.
I still think Slay the Spire’s art is repulsive but I’ll put up with it. I keep forgetting this is coming to Switch. I’ll probably wait until then.
It is, but surreal and distorted is sort of the theme.
Slay the Spire has a similar problem, but the art is a little better, in that it pulls off that ‘child artist’ vibe, to the point that it becomes a coherent style. Definitely didn’t like it the first couple of times, but it grows on you. Some of it even looks good. And the character animations are good enough, which they aren’t in RE.
I played it for ages without noticing that the mushroom creatures were growing out of dead giant rats. My 12-year-old daughter pointed that out to me :)
Conversely, I adore the art in RE and detest pixel art, which is needlessly blurry and unclear in most applications. It’s reached a point where, with rare exception, the presence of pixel art in a game disqualifies it from purchase for me.
It’s a godsend for indie devs who can’t draw and can’t afford an artist!
Tooth and Tail is an ideal example of “this game might be interesting if I could see what the hell was going on.” I have a copy, and I’m sad to say the pixel art totally killed it for me.