- Excellent tactical gameplay, XCOM and Darkest Dungeon blend
- Repetitive gameplay and content issues
- High replayability with character variety
- Balance and difficulty issues reported
- Weak story and characters
- Strong art and sound design
Emotions
Players felt satisfied by the game's strategic depth, challenging yet rewarding combat, and overall high quality for its price. The engaging gameplay loop, distinct characters, and effective blend of tactical elements contributed to a pleasant and entertaining experience.
Disappointment stemmed primarily from the game's perceived lack of replayability and repetitive content, including mission variety, map layouts, and enemy types. Some players also found the ending anti-climactic or the overall experience shallow compared to similar titles.
Excitement was generated by the thrilling atmosphere, high-stakes decision-making, and the addictive blend of XCOM and Darkest Dungeon-like mechanics. Players were also excited by the game's overall quality, innovative design, and the potential for future content or developer works.
Frustration arose from repetitive gameplay, poor balance, and confusing or clunky mechanics such as cover systems and UI. Specific issues like spammed enemies, high difficulty without clear rewards, and technical bugs also contributed to player annoyance.
Players enjoyed the game's tactical combat, appealing pixel art, and immersive atmosphere. The fair challenge, clear mechanics, and satisfying gameplay loop provided an overall fun and positive experience.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 82% · Negative 18%. Score: 18 / 100
Positives:
- Players overwhelmingly praise the game's core gameplay, highlighting its engaging turn-based tactical combat, strategic depth, and satisfying blend of elements from XCOM and Darkest Dungeon. The game's unique mechanics, such as the escape-focused missions and pressure system, contribute to a consistently thrilling and rewarding experience.
- Many players feel the game offers excellent value for its price, providing a substantial amount of enjoyable content without overstaying its welcome. Its accessible nature makes it easy to pick up, while still offering enough depth to keep players engaged.
- The game offers significant replayability through its diverse roster of unique characters, each with distinct abilities and upgrade paths. The meta-progression system, which unlocks new characters and build options, encourages multiple playthroughs, ensuring each run feels fresh and different.
- The game's visual and audio presentation is highly appreciated, particularly its beautiful pixel art style, detailed sprite work, and immersive sound design. These elements combine to create a compelling atmosphere that enhances the overall gameplay experience.
- The game strikes a good balance with its difficulty, being challenging and demanding enough to be rewarding, yet fair and less punishing than similar titles like XCOM. This balance ensures a tense but enjoyable experience without excessive frustration.
Negatives:
- Players found the game highly repetitive across multiple aspects, including mission objectives, level design, enemy variety, and overall gameplay loop. This lack of variety significantly reduced replayability and made the experience feel tedious and shallow after an initial playthrough.
- The game suffers from significant balance issues, particularly concerning character effectiveness and overall difficulty. Some characters are overpowered while others are useless, and the difficulty curve is inconsistent, leading to either overly easy or frustratingly hard experiences.
- The narrative and character development are perceived as weak or non-existent, leading to a lack of player engagement and motivation to continue playing. Players desired more lore, background, and meaningful character interactions.
- Players reported issues with unintuitive controls, a clunky and uninformative UI, and frustrating probability mechanics (e.g., hit chance). These technical rough edges detract from the overall user experience.
- The progression system, particularly the reliance on achievements for unlocks and the design of skill trees, was criticized. Players found it unrewarding, unclear, and sometimes counter-intuitive, requiring 'playing badly' for certain unlocks.
Gameplay:
- The game is a turn-based tactical RPG that blends elements from XCOM, Darkest Dungeon, and roguelike genres. It features a core loop of combat, resource management, and survival, with a strong emphasis on tactical decision-making.
- The game is generally considered difficult, with players noting a significant challenge even on normal difficulty. The difficulty increases with higher settings and through subsequent playthroughs, requiring players to learn mechanics and adapt strategies.
- Progression involves clearing multi-part areas by selecting routes on a world map, which are randomized and offer different risks and rewards. This includes varied map sizes, enemy encounters, and resource opportunities, influencing strategic choices.
- The game features a progression system where players unlock new characters, skills, and weapon upgrades across multiple runs. Points earned from achievements and gameplay contribute to permanent unlocks, enhancing future playthroughs.
- The game is set in a steampunk world overrun by humanoid mutant rats, drawing strong inspiration from Warhammer Fantasy's Skaven. Enemies consist entirely of various rat types, each with unique combat roles and characteristics.
Performance:
- Players initially encountered various technical issues, including controller non-functionality, menu navigation problems, and game freezes. However, many reported that developers were quick to address these bugs, leading to a much smoother experience, including good performance on Steam Deck and stable frame rates.
- A specific issue was reported where the in-game volume controls were completely non-functional. This suggests a bug in the audio system that needs attention.
- The game's PC system requirements are considered reasonable by players, indicating good optimization or accessible hardware demands.
Recommendations:
- The game is generally considered good value for its price, particularly when on sale. Many reviewers suggest it's a worthwhile purchase, especially if acquired at a discount.
- Players highly recommend this game, especially for fans of turn-based tactical combat, XCOM-like games, and roguelikes. It's seen as a strong entry in the genre, offering a good experience for those who enjoy strategic challenges.
- Players advise potential buyers to try the demo or watch videos if they are unsure about the game. They suggest that if the visual style or gameplay shown appeals to them, they will likely enjoy the full game.
- Several players suggest that veterans of the genre or those seeking a challenge should start the game on Hard or Hard+ difficulty. This is recommended to ensure a longer and more engaging experience.
- Players offer specific recommendations for enhancing the gameplay experience, such as playing with the 'Blood Pack' DLC or turning off 'Ironman Mode' for a more enjoyable run.
Miscellaneous:
- Many players expressed a desire for more content, including DLC or updates, and hoped for a sequel with a stronger story, deeper tactical elements, and more detailed characters and world variety.
- Some reviews included external links for more detail, mentioned receiving a key from a curator, or provided system specifications. One reviewer also noted not receiving an expected badge.
- Players suggested specific gameplay improvements such as adding cover destruction, tessellating maps with smaller grids for more tactical depth, and a button to end a specific character's turn.
- There is a user-made Korean patch available, noted for its perfect translation, but the game currently lacks Steam Workshop support.
- A specific tip was shared about switching to another unit during movement animation to shorten it, indicating a minor quality-of-life observation.
