I saw the devs were trying to redeem this game, and I fully support them in that. I didn't know this game existed until a few days ago, after the game had since received some updates after being abandoned in 2024ish.
I wouldn't say that I'd rate this game as negative and I'll forever hate that Steam doesn't allow for neutral reviews. I don't want to post this as a negative because the devs are trying to improve it, and each negative review they get will both demoralize them and also influence other potential buyers - neither of which are my intention. But to be most honest, I'd rate it more negative than positive, so I'll leave a Negative review for now.
I need to mention that I'm very early in, only the first few fights, so my opinions could likely change if I were to progress. Unfortunately, at the moment, I don't think it's worth it for me to spend the time doing so in the hopes that I may find the game more enjoyable the deeper I get in.
[h3]Pros:[/h3]
[list]
[*]It's a turn-based tactics game, and I love those.
[*]There some class diversity, and I love that.
[*]Dialogue can be skipped, and I need that.
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[h3]Cons:[/h3]
[list]
[*]Though they said they updated the RNG factor, it's still too high of miss chances. I can't imagine what it would have been like before, but generally your hit chance is between 60-80%. Since you get 1 action per turn, that means 20-40% of your entire gameplay is just wasted time. The enemy also misses as much, but still. Even having a 85-95% hit chance would smooth it out tremendously while still allowing influence of terrain, armor types, etc.
[*]The interface could use some love. The information is either way off to the side where it's a nuisance to see, or just not presented to you in an easy to digest manner. It'd be ideal if you see damage calculation while mousing over a target, not having to click each one, check how much damage you'd do (if you hit), then back out and check another target. It's unfortunately just rather tedious and makes the basic combat flow a chore rather than enjoyable. It's also difficult to really identify who's turn it is, what units are friendly or foe when they're overlapping without going into aerial view (accidentally healed an enemy right before this review, which made me alt-f4 in annoyance, lol). Selecting units to put into the party before a fight really isn't done well and isn't clear. It's just pretty rough around the edges.
[*]I'm playing on the base difficulty, and I wouldn't say it's too hard, but the threat of your units dying is high. It only takes ~3-4 hits to die, and there's often been multiple mages and archers in the few fights that I've done that will just all single out one of your units and kill it instantly unless you keep them back. It juggles being just right on difficulty and slightly too disadvantaged, in my opinion.
[*]I don't feel that the differences between classes, weapons, and magic is noticeable at all. This would likely change as skills start to be unlocked, I have to assume, but it just really makes little sense in my opinion at the base level. Weapons seem to do mostly the same thing. Numerically, there are slight differences, and a few have different targeting which is good and necessary. But early on, all you really have is basically attack with a character with a sword, or attack with a character with a broadsword that cleaves. They both have the same skill to start, which is just a 1-tile pushback that you can't use for 2-3 turns anyway.
[*]Magic and elemental system is just rather pointless. There's some sort of elemental system that says "using the same type of magic is better". So, your mages all start with an elemental affinity, and two magic attacks (one of that affinity and one not). There seems to be no reason to ever use that other spell, so why have it? It doesn't seem like affinity does anything at all as far as defenses go, but all your units have it. I don't think my Warrior is planning on casting water spells anytime soon. And spells do literally nothing but direct damage. Couldn't work in some sort of extra effect? The only reason to bring them at all in the early game is to deal more damage to heavy armor units. So the game starts off with just a Rock/Paper/Scissors match-up and all you do 90% of the time is use a basic attack/shot/spell every turn.
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I would normally refund experiences like this. But the game was on sale, and as mentioned I do support the devs. It's difficult to admit your failings, and even more so to come back and try to fix them. So I don't plan to refund and want to see what happens with the game over time.
In it's current state, I'd personally rate the game a 4/10, I think. I wish I could say it has a good foundation, but the base mechanics, flow, and interface of the game is honestly what I feel needs to be rebuilt from the ground-up. And that's a tough pill to swallow and an even greater task to try to accomplish. I have to acknowledge that some of my irks may improve over time as the player progresses. But, it also needs to be acknowledged that the first impression is the most important, and I have too many other options of games to play that I will never force myself through misery in the hopes that things get better as I go on. If the first 5-30 mins of the game are not absolutely solid and an enjoyable experience, the chance I go further than that is usually <5%.
Best of luck to the devs. I'm difficult to please and have extremely high standards. You should be proud of what you've accomplished, and I truly hope you end up reworking the game in a way that I may some day enjoy. It would be a nearly complete overhaul, which may not align with your vision - and I can absolute respect that, it's your game, after all. But, for me, I think I'll uninstall it until I hopefully some day see a Steam News post for it that says they've completely restructured the entire combat/elemental system and interface at the minimum.
