Floppy Knights Review Summary

Charming art and music plus fun, solid gameplay and addictive deckbuilding are marred by difficulty balance issues, RNG overwhelming strategy, and save data loss bugs.

Charming art and music: The cute cartoon art style and lively soundtrack are consistently highlighted as strengths. Many players find the visuals inviting and the music fitting.

Fun and solid gameplay: Players frequently describe the gameplay as fun, tight, satisfying, and stable. The overall game is considered good, solid, and very enjoyable.

Addictive deck building: The deck building system is highly praised for being fun and addicting, with unlocking new cards and discovering combinations creating satisfying moments. Players enjoy the freedom to mix and match cards.

Unique deckbuilder tactics hybrid: The combination of deck building and turn-based tactical battles is seen as an interesting and effective mix. It offers a fresh take on both genres.

Dicey Dungeons inspired visuals: The art style is often recognized as being from Dicey Dungeons or by the same artist, Marlowe Dobbe. This gives the game a familiar and appealing look.

Difficulty balance issues: Balance is inconsistent: some parts are too easy (e.g., infinite combos, one-unit strategies) while later levels and challenge stages are brutally hard. Difficulty spikes unexpectedly, and some levels feel impossible without specific decks or luck.

RNG overwhelms strategy: High randomness in card draws and enemy behavior often makes levels feel like luck-based trials rather than tactical puzzles. Players frequently need to reset due to bad draws, and some challenge stages are RNG nightmares.

Deckbuilding simple, low replayability: Deckbuilding is basic, with little synergy and few meaningful choices. After collecting all cards and beating missions, there is little replay value, and many cards are useless.

Save data loss bug: Multiple clusters report that cloud saves overwrite or delete progress when switching between devices or platforms like Steam Deck and PC. This has caused players to lose dozens of hours and is a known issue not fixed for years.

Bugs and performance issues: Various bugs including cards not playable, units unable to move, and crashes. Performance issues like long loading times, frame drops, and high RAM usage are reported.

Deckbuilding Core Gameplay: Deckbuilding is the main mechanic, with cards earned or crafted using gold coins. Players build and upgrade decks throughout the game with many possible strategies.

Turn-Based Strategy Deckbuilder: The game blends deckbuilding with turn-based strategy, often described as a tactics game mashed up with a CCG. This hybrid is the primary genre classification.

Tactical Combat with Grid: Combat involves tactical movement on a grid where cards are used to move units and attack. It combines collectible card game mechanics with tactical war-game elements.

Grid-Based Tactical RPG: Described as a deck builder and turn-based battle game with grid-based strategy RPG elements. Players engage in tactical battles on a board using cards.

Turn-Based Tactical Combat: The game features turn-based tactics with movement, enemy ranges, combos, unit variety, and varied victory conditions. It is a turn-based grid tactics game.

Poor optimization and performance: The game is poorly optimized, consuming more RAM than Chrome and causing frame drops. Performance issues become more pronounced during retries.

Cloud save data loss: Players report that faulty cloud saves cause save files to be overwritten, leading to progress loss across different machines. This issue remains unfixed and severely impacts game progression.

Game crashes entire PC: The game crashes the whole PC, not just the application, indicating a severe stability issue. This can lead to data loss and hardware strain.

Excessive loading times: Loading times can take almost 3-4 minutes, which players find unreasonably long. This significantly disrupts gameplay flow and enjoyment.

Smooth gameplay but technical issues: While gameplay runs smoothly for some, loading times and crashes remain major problems. This contrast highlights inconsistent performance across systems.

Ideal for tactics/deckbuilding fans: Multiple reviewers strongly recommend the game for enthusiasts of deckbuilding, tactics, and turn-based grid strategy games. It is described as a real treat for fans of these genres.

Overall high praise: Many reviewers gave high scores and expressed strong enjoyment, with some calling it a 9/10 or 8/10 experience. It is a solid game that fans of the genre will enjoy.

Appeals to genre veterans: Fans of Advance Wars, Into the Breach, or classic turn-based strategy will find a lot to like, though some SRPG veterans might be disappointed. The game offers a different take on deck building and strategy.

Try it if curious: Several reviewers suggest giving the game a shot if you're curious, as it may appeal to a wide range of players. It's worth checking out, especially if the trailer and screenshots look appealing.

Good entry point for genre: Several reviews highlight the game as an excellent introduction to tactics and deckbuilding, suitable for beginners or those new to SRPGs. It can prepare players for games like Advance Wars, Wargroove, and Fire Emblem.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $14.99.

Game completion: 20.0h.

Story completion: 12.5h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 8.0h.

Players often enjoy the opening first hours while learning mechanics and unlocking cards/decks, but many report the game turns tedious and slog-like by mid-campaign and especially late game.

Friction: RNG-heavy draws with no redraw; No undo for misclicks; Commander death ends the level; Tedious tracking of unit stats; Inconsistent card synergy; Large enemy unit turns create long waits.

Casual Tactics Newcomer: Plays at a relaxed pace, leaning on the game's gentle learning curve, pleasing art, and music rather than deep optimization. Motivation: An approachable, low-stakes first step into turn-based strategy that is easy to pick up and relaxing to play. Stance: buy.

Tactics Genre Veteran: Compares mechanics against established tactics titles and evaluates whether the game delivers the same deep, satisfying grid-combat loop. Motivation: To find a familiar turn-based grid tactics experience that lives up to genre classics they already love. Stance: buy.

Deck-Building Min-Max Optimizer: Theory-crafts minimal, lean decks, deliberately limits card usage, and pushes objectives with tuned leader lineups. Motivation: Optimizing and shrinking the deck to build an efficient, overpowered engine and steamroll scenarios. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: User feedback shows a split experience on Steam Deck. The game client itself can run natively and smoothly, with several users praising readable text, good controls, and stable performance. However, a recurring cloud save bug overwrites or deletes progress whenever players switch between desktop and Steam Deck, forcing full restarts and directly deterring continued play. At least one user also reports near-3-4 minute load times and a crash that takes down the whole PC. The save-wipe issue makes the Steam Deck a trigger for data loss, which is a severe stability barrier despite otherwise solid native performance.

Linux and Proton: The reviews show the game runs without any Linux/Proton compatibility problems on Steam Deck. The only negative feedback concerns cloud save synchronization across devices, which is not tied to Linux or Proton. Therefore, Linux compatibility appears solid and problem-free.

Frequent Dicey Dungeons comparisons: Many reviewers compare this game to Dicey Dungeons, noting the shared art style and artist Marlowe Dobbe, but also stating it lacks the addictive qualities and polish of Dicey Dungeons. Some appreciate the visual similarities, while others find it not in the same league.

Compared to classic tactics games: Reviewers frequently compare it to Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Wargroove, and Final Fantasy Tactics, noting it holds its own but has its own identity by limiting scope and scale. Some say other games in the genre offer more varied units or type advantages.

Story length around 10-15 hours: The main campaign takes roughly 10-15 hours to complete, with additional side quests and challenge mode adding playtime. Some report finishing in about 10 hours, while completionists may take 21.5 hours for all challenges and achievements.

Adequate content with levels and challenges: The game offers 7 episodes, 27 levels, and 24 challenge levels, which many find to be a solid amount of content. Some feel the content could be larger with more levels for the full deck.

Positive indie turn-based tactics experience: The game is praised as a solid tactics game with a strong linear experience, offering a balanced learning curve and accessibility for younger gamers. It holds its own as an indie title that doesn't simply ape the big games.