Axe Ghost

The only game mode is a Daily Challenge with a timer that's too stressful. I guess I expected a puzzle campaign after playing the demo.

The developer wanted to rework the tutorial, and so they sent out an open offer asking for playtesters in return for a game key. I've spent 2+ years thinking about puzzle design and puzzle tutorialization while working on my own Gentoo Rescue, so I thought I could give some helpful feedback. Well, I got hooked. I was just planning to do a quick 30-minute stream to get through the tutorial, but it ended up being a 3+ hour stream as I had moved past the tutorial to play the rest of the demo. Since being gifted the full game, I have continued to play short sessions and have even topped the daily leaderboard a few times. It has everything I like in a tactical puzzler: Resource management, synergies, tradeoffs of being greedy The main resource you have are the cards. Each card contains two weapons, and you can only play one of them. So the value of a weapon changes from situation to situation, not just based on the board state, but also based on the opportunity cost of not using the other weapon on its card. There is another resource in the form of coins, which are earned when you do a very big clear. Using these are sometimes essential to stay alive, and other times useful to guarantee that you earn another coin. The weapons all have synergies, so they can be very powerful if combined well. And these synergies are emergent, so they aren't just a mechanic that you learn and then use the same way every time. Instead they vary from situation to situation, where sometimes you need to use A then B but other times you need to use B then C then A. This dynamic nature of how to play each situation really makes the game very rich. Every tactical game is at some level a game about risk vs reward. In Axe Ghost, this is handled well from both sides: - The player can plan ahead when taking risks. You see the cards you'll get on your next turn, and you know that you get an axe every other turn. So you can plan accordingly, based on the board state and whether something helpful is available for the next turn. - The reward is always the same: A big clear resulting in a won round or another coin. The coin is a resource that can be used for more risks and bigger rewards in the future. What really makes Axe Ghost special is that all of this depth occurs from a very simple ruleset and a very small number of mechanics. It is really quite elegant!

There's not much new in match-three world these days, but this is. Really, really good.

A fun challenge to get your brain pumping at the start of your day! Everyday there's a new challenge to try with different cards. Matches will take you 20-30 mins depending on how recently you woke up lmao and the leaderboards add a nice touch of competition!

Edit: I'm now over 50 hours in. I play it a bit every day. I more strongly recommend it than before. It is a fun game and worth the price. It deserves a wider audience. I haven't really played anything like it. **** This is a fun game. It is worth the price. I have over 15 hours in the demo. I haven't beaten it once. I will say that I don't think there is a significant difference in content between the demo and the full game. So I would encourage the developer to either (i) scale back the content in the demo or (ii) add content to the full game. I am glad I bought the game since I put so many hours into the demo already. But I would recommend the developer do more to give the player an incentive to buy the full game.

A brilliant game. A great idea of the daily challenge, demanding, mind-scratching and uniquely fresh.

Really clever game, but sadly I'm not a clever person :D I struggled with some of these puzzles from the very start, but if you're more tactical than me, you're going to have a great time with this one

Block pushing puzzles with a cool art style and theme. I dig it!

🔹 EXPECTATIONS: a casual puzzle game with roguelike mechanics and a single player campaign. 🔹 REALITY: a casual turn-based strategy game with focus on its time trial mode.* 🔶 Axe ghost is a casual game where a shuffled horde of enemies march towards the bottom of the screen in a turn-based manner, and if they reach it, it's game over. The tools of the player are 3 cards per turn with two actions each, of which only 1 can be used from each pair. These actions serve to shove and group those enemies by type, as once the axe is thrown at one, all same-type enemies next to it will die along. The bigger the group the better, and the higher the score, too. 🔸 The game has one game mode, but it can be played in two ways. Axe ghost's main focus is in its competitive, time trial mode, where a countdown starts at the beginning of the run and, once finished, uploads your score to the online daily leaderboard. The second way of playing is by ignoring the timer completely, and focusing on making the right choices every turn, without rushing, carefully considering all options and aiming for the absolute best outcome. Special mention to the 'undo' button, which helps heaps with this, each turn. 🔸 The strongest point of Axe ghost lies in its wide variety of actions. Each day, all players get a new range of moves (same for everyone for fair competition), so coming back to the game doesn't just mean beating others' score or one's own, but also discovering new strategies and new ways to play. 🔸 It also has zero addictive loops or hooking mechanics to keep players engaged. May it be honesty, faith or courage from the dev, but the game is designed for a short play, not necessarily every day. 🔸 As a non-competitive player, I found the complete run too short with just one boss, hoping it had at least 3 with different mechanics associated. On the other side, I recommend Axe ghost to those that enjoy online competition, specially the thoughtful kind, without having to invest tons of hours. *15/09/25 - The game has been updated with a puzzle mode called 'Fragments' that fits perfectly. Takes the aforementioned item variety and gives the player an objective to achieve in just one turn. 21 bite-sized levels that range from easy to hard, and it's just what I felt the game was missing from the initial release. Loved it! POSITIVES: 🙂+ no addictive loops 😄+ item variety 😍+ NEGATIVES: 🙁- short campaign 😠- 😡- 🔷 Find more puzzle games here 👇 https://www.youtube.com/@Mael_Duin

[Disclaimer: The developer is a friend of mine] I've been playing Axe Ghost throughout its development and still play on a regular basis. I love having its daily challenge as a recurring activity. Yes, I know the developer personally, so I might be biased, but the 128 hours I have put in so far are real hours and were put in because I got hooked : ) This game is all about its daily challenge. It will typically take me between 10 to 20 minutes to play it, which for me is perfect. Each daily run is different, but similar enough so that you can develop an intuition for how to play. When you are new to the game it might feel that you need to think every move through, but after a while you will develop your own playing style with recurring strategies and a preference for certain actions/weapons. It is a mix of creative spatial puzzle solving, risk management and a bit of planning ahead, all under time pressure, which can feel overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, is a very satisfying challenge with quite a lot of depth. There is a demo you can try to see if this is something for you. I'd recommend trying it out, but also to stick with it for a while, as the real fun starts when you pass the thinky hurdle and start playing more on intuition.