Flaregate Network

I've been waiting for this to come out ever since I saw it on the Keystone loading screen. Having played through a couple more hours of the full game after having completed the Demo several times I really want to say thank you for making this come true. As for highlights, ever since keystone I've been a big fan of Structure decks, so my views are gonna be slightly biased, but I love love LOVE Director Keys (His name is a Halo reference right?) because he basically doubles my structure's output. Him combined with some scaling up on Destroyer Factories and it's absolutely awesome how many ships I can get out. All this to say, I really like this game and look forward to playing more of it.

I think the game is priced too high at $15 [for anyone interested in the rogue-like runs, not the campaign]. The core gameplay loop exists, but the content to justify going through a new run is...lacking. Once you have beaten it once, you'll likely have seen what possible options exist for another run---and it isn't all that enticing. Build variety is too small, the tech tree not all that engaging, and anything "cool" you think you could pull off is buried by forced taking of cards and only one use per card. The game would be much better if cards could recycle in the deck, you could remove cards from your deck, and you weren't forced to take a card. You could argue that this is what makes the game "good" and "challenging" (it's not that challenging), but it doesn't make the game more fun for me---it takes away from its potential. If the game's core structure stays the same, then more factions are needed to justify the cost and increase the hours I'd be willing to put into the game tinkering. I will say the game does exist outside of your typical roguelike deckbuilder---and that was refreshing, but not refreshing enough to keep going.

A unique card game where you impact the battlefield by deploying units, structures or use Action cards for all kinds of effects. The developer previously worked on a free Starcraft 2 arcade game called KeyStone that inspired the creation of a stand-alone title. Good game.

Wildly unbalanced and lacking content. Devs seem to have little to no idea what a CCG game is.

I finished the Story Campaign, and have done a few Roguelike runs as well. I'd give the game a B rating overall, but if you're like me and you love spaceships shooting at each other, you'll be happy with Flaregate Network. I'd describe the story as a cliche setting but with believable characters, and it entertained me the whole way through, and left me wishing for more. The roguelike mode isn't as compelling, due to the lack of narrative stakes. The card game itself is relatively straightforward, with relatively few "combos" or broken deck builds, though I do really like the "Signature Strategy" mechanic (which lets you guarantee cards in your opening hand) as well as the "Reserve" mechanic (which lets you remove cards from your deck) - especially with how they are adjustable from encounter to encounter, rather than being permanent choices. This helps variety within a single deck, though does have the knock-on effect of making decks somewhat similar across runs. A lot of the game hinges on exploiting the targeting priority of ship AI as well as timing your attacks, which isn't bad per-se but does feel a bit hollow after a few hours. I think I'm likely done with the game after ~14 hours, unless they add more content, but I enjoyed my time. Overall: I like it when spaceships shoot each other, and Flaregate Network gives me just enough control over that ship-shooting to keep me coming back, at least until the end of the campaign.

It's just bad. The story mode is billed as a learner experience, it is basically unplayable and outright hostile to a good game play experience. The rogue like mode is almost tolerable, but you are at the whim of RNG on card and ability draws between missions, which might as well be predetermined. This game was made by someone with no sense of fun or joy in their life, let alone any concept of game balance.

Flaregate network is game whose gameplay originates from a Starcraft 2 arcade by the same creator. The game is advertised as rougelike, but the mechanics by which you actually play are quite different from nearly all other rougelikes on the market, and are in my opinion very fun once you get to know them better. The game, as of writing this review, consists of two main parts: - The campgain, which teaches the mechanics and goes over an alright story. From what I have seen heard should be maybe 12ish hours for new players. Currently consists only of one faction, final version should include 3. - The rougelike mode, this is the replayable experience and is quite fun in its own right, the structure of progression is similar to other rougelike games with winning the rougelike unlocking new difficulty level. From what I have played in final version, and before in demo, it is quite nice and if you enjoy other card rougelikes I think you may find this one refreshing and fun. Overall there are also some issues, mostly lacking some QoL features, but I have not experienced any bugs in the final release and can say that even if I mostly wanted to play the game for the rougelike, the campaign was also very enjoyable and I think this may be a more universal experience.

Watch out, I suspect the NPC cheats. It'd be nice if we got to see that had a limited deck too, and at least see the random cards they were playing after they played them. Probably the npc units are just too damn powerful. But you do keep coming back for more. Heck, I bought this thing despite my misgivings about it. Hints: What you think is a good signature probably isn't and not using that reserve properly can hurt you. I've found decent success by juggling those with cards that i didn't think aught to be in them.

The demo as i have played was quite fun and also extensive. Noble of the dev.. For that reason, and small indie games need all the visibility they can get, i will give a positive review. If i change my mind, i may change my review.

Launching the game on the last day of the steam sale without a launch discount is a bold strategy, but I hope it works out, as it does seem like the game is built for future expansion. It's a neat evolution from Keystone, which is a Starcraft 2 Custom map the dev previously made. I have hundreds of hours in Kestone and I have about 10 hours from the demo, but from the end of the demo I finished the story campaign in about 4 hours - the roguelike mode is definitely the main appeal here, and that's pretty good!