If you like auto-battlers this -might- be your game, tough to compare with the broad amount of auto-battling games. If you're new to auto chess the sheer amount of options will likely be overwhelming and the gacha/social lobby aspects are garbage making a terrible impression, but if you're really itching for a competitive auto battling game with a rich amount of mechanics, this game is the motherlode throwback to where the autobattling genre was hanging out after-school growing up.
It's not asynchronized though, meaning you're in a lobby with others and you are all on the same clock round-for-round, but if you've only experienced asynchronized auto-battlers i implore you give it a shot, the best part about a synced lobby is that whatever their ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ build is, they made it in the same time you did and you can see em do it, in auto-chess lobbies the units availability varies since you're all pulling from a collective pool which can sound off-putting, but that's what's so cool about a game like this, building for early game and holding til the end, or pivoting away when you realize you need to counter what they've built instead, it's an extremely rewarding feeling when you play this game well that some autobattlers can't match, sometimes it feels like whatever you built will -maybe- be seen by one guy and otherwise who cares, whereas here when you drop down to your last life only to then complete the unbeatable comeback build that sweeps the lobby, everyone there notices and the feeling is unlike any other
that's the tl;dr for new-to-autochess but here's a gratuitous aside to my fellow og auto chess fans curious about what the game could look like after years of development, skip reading and play it bc you've gotta at least take a look at what they're doing here, or continue to hear me out as i scrutinize the games ability to deliver on the classic auto-chess experience while also delivering new gameplay
if you like Auto Chess, like the original one made in the custom map editor that kicked off this whole genre, if you picked up any of the countless clones of auto chess and looked for the one that figured the game out, how this company would progress the gameplay in a way that isn't just a re-skin of all the same race/class identities with different names yet the core-identity still incites drama between fans even to-this-day in this very review section: (assassins!!! knights!?!?!?),
if all of that's you and you're looking for an Auto Chess that managed to continue the original gameplay in new and interesting ways, then this is the best one left
I'm calling this game in it's current state (Season 36????), I'm calling it Auto Chess 2 in my headcanon
All the core identities are still present, and then layered on top of them is an entire sequel of spiritual successors to the old synergies and identities
Assassins are still the #1 strategy on leaderboards, everyone still hates them, they're still stupid fun when it's you highrolling them earlier into 3 stars and then picking up their legendaries
however there are neat twists here and there that make all of the old strategies less ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and immutable, like the assassin goblin unit as an example (titled Soul Breaker in this version). Early game he was one of the best picks you could get, high damage good ability that could win you early rounds just buying 1, and then easily could pivot you into assassins or goblin mechs He also could just sit behind your real comp as filler because it was so good, it was an extremely solid choice for early game even if you didn't keep em.
Now-that unit is a goblin HUNTER and Ancestor(?), which isn't as arbitrary as it sounds. This change alone is a knock to assassins in a good way, but it somehow also maintains the original role of the unit. It's a strong early pick, and it takes you into goblins, mechs, ancestors, or hunters, or just strong early to sell off later, which helps those synergies gain momentum earlier without competing with assassin units now. That's a good change that doesn't compromise the purpose and feel of the unit while toning down the assassin dominance
that was a long and specific example but i'm not even kidding when i say this game is FULL of similar gamefeel akin the original Auto Chess while also reinventing how it can be played
that's why i'm writing to you, auto chess fan, specifically, because this version of the game surprised me, it's a sincere innovation of the old game that feels like it was made by people that truly want to continue the spirit of auto chess
did you like druids? I loved em, stupid, cheap, weird advancement strategy from the other units, druids got big fast and fell off just as fast but it felt so cool when used right. There's another kind of synergy like em called 'Pandamen', and better yet, it's really effective to roll both pandamen and druids early game to see what shakes out. While the rest of those suckers are refreshing shop and buying the same tusk axe rock warrior into boat-spam build, pandamen have a chance to highroll and then recruit more pandamen units for free just by being on your board. Not only do the pandamen have their own unique synergy, the Martialist (it's really cool), they also have units for the other synergies such as assassins and mages. The reason this is very cool to me is that if you know how to use them, then you can be dealt a real ♥♥♥♥ roll early game, have absolutely nothing worthwhile, sell all the trash and pick up pandamen while gritting through your loss-streak, and by midgame come out with either their own martialist synergy or just pivot into late-game legendary assassins/ mages as they appear, meaning there's now another separate route for arriving at the classic end-game synergies
pardon the lengthy write-up, but i just find that level of gamefeel-consideration to be lacking in most games these days, some devs are just tossing a bunch of ideas into a bag and shaking it before releasing it as a new ♥♥♥♥ take on your favorite old game. Here it genuinely feels like you can play the original auto chess 1.0 by staying strictly to the old-ways and still find success with those familiar strategies, but if you feel like it, or if the competition is fierce pushing you out, there are alternative auto chess 2.0 methods to play and learn layered on top of and in addition to the old game. that's incredible to me from a game-design perspective especially for a game as complicated as auto chess
so here-and-there some units that are different, the goblin assassin example before, but i think you would be surprised at how many changes feel 'right' and in-tune with what the unit represented before, picking up the lightning spirit feels just as cool as it did before
what i'm trying to say is underneath the god-awful cosmetic gacha hellscape of 1000 events and 1000 currencies for buying cosmetic items, because that is unfortunately what has happened to keep this game running, the gameplay of auto chess itself is extremely fresh and just-as exciting to discover as when it released, it's held up extremely well underneath it's unforgiveable monetization strategy, so if you're like me just click through all the boxes until you find the queue-up button and stick to that, you'll be set -cheers
