Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure

Nice game but the UI/input polishing is pretty awfull and you have to figure out quite a bit your own.

Not really that fun. I feel like I've seen all it has to offer in the first three levels.

Update: amazingly, the game was ported to Unity five years after release and many of the issues were fixed. I still encounter the occasional bug, but I have no reservations about recommending it now. [original review below] One of my favorite roguelikes ever. At first the strange mechanics of the game make you feel impotent. Why can't I just attack monsters!? But pushing monsters into water is the name of the game here and it feels way more satisfying than simply hacking at them. Beyond that is the spell system. In each round you get 4 randomly selected spells + a slot for a one-use pickup. If you're clever enough, you can wipe out a whole screen of monsters at once. The way your spells recharge by picking up energy from floor tiles is tactically interesting and not something I've seen elsewhere. Auro is a real brain burner. If you were to try to play optimally at the higher difficulties, you might think about each turn for a minute or more. Auro is very hard, but it eases you in with a "single player elo" system. You basically move up difficulty levels until you're matched with the right difficulty for you. The pixel art is beautifully animated and quite large. The music is quirky, but stays with you. I see a lot of complaints about this being a lazy mobile port, but I don't think that's accurate. The entire game was revamped for the Steam release. Go look up a gameplay video of "Auro iOS." It looks really different from the game today and in fact the iOS version isn't even available for purchase anymore. [h1]Bugs[/h1] The one problem with this game is a handful of bugs. I could see several of them being fixed very easily, but it sounds like the developer no longer has the source code whether due to loss, legal issues, or a falling out among partners. [list] [*]Hitting escape twice creates a menu that is impossible to exit [*]Getting stuck on a lone tile in the water gives you no further options and you're stuck [*]Rarely, monsters will wind up on the same tile with bizarre consequences [/list] These can be avoided 99.9% of the time if you know about them, which you now do. Even with the problems, Auro is a steal at its current price.

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Just when you think you've got it, you get hit by a snowball, tossed by a brigan, charged by a salamander, frozen by a white, and then knowed off the edge by a slime. Yet, for some reason you can't explain, you still love the game. It really does make you think out your moves. As horable as it can be towards you, it can also be a LOT of fun once you get the hang of it.

TLDR: Auro is a really simple, little turn-based tactical game that forces you to think about every move you do. Gets really boring and repetetive. Buy it only if you love pure tactical games and better on mobile, not PC. + Forces you to use your brain - that is what tactical games should do and this one does it perfectly. + Many different monsters with unique abilities. -+ Difficulty level: for me it was way too high, yet for tactical lovers it might be good. - Gameplay is repetetive and boring - you have few skills to choose from and a common push skill and you need to get rid of monsters, nothing else. - No settings, options, anything (no resolution, no windowed/full screen option etc.). - No tutorial and no proper hints of how to play the game - at the beginning I was not even aware that clicking on a monster push it while that is your primary skill (figured that out pretty fast but tutorial should include such basics). - Definitely not worth getting this on PC, if you consider getting this game and you play games on your mobile device - buy a mobile version of the game; - Price is way too high, I would pay a maximum of $1 for it. Summing up, I can not recommend buying this game, especially on PC and for that price. It is also too simple and boring. If you love tactical games you might like it but pure tactical thinking is the only thing you will find inside. PS. Disregard my play time, forgot to close the game, I would have just about 60 minutes.

It's possible that somewhere in there there's a half-decent puzzle game, but it really doesn't feel like it's worth the effort to work out. Graphics are painful and the play is uninspiring.