Flocking Hell

A fun roguelike-minesweeper game, which tbh, the genre-fixing names don't really explain it that well - hopefully this description will help: Each map is randomised, but contain the same landmarks (mountains, farms, cities, etc) - you turn over land spots down the map as if you were travelling; finding new locations and getting their boons/bad omens. The aim of the game is to "find" and upgrade cities before your turn count run out and you are invaded by demons; the stronger your cities, the better chance of survival (and winning). You are sheep vs demons, and you must Flock, or be Flocked. A nice casual game to setttle in with for a few rounds and once you get the hang of how the mechanics work, it's aesy to learn and develop strategies - I would say it's harder to perfect them and gain more control over what you want to implement. But I am still fairly new to the deeper strats and I think there are some clever ways to get better results, given the time and a more focused approach - ie: it looks all random and luck based but when you look closer at the some of the cards you can play and the lay of the land, I reckon you can form much better strats that aim towards better goals than "upgrade and road everything!" If I was to ask more from the game; it would probably be more landscapes, more variety in cards and landmarks, but it is early days and as it stands (and for its price), there is some good content here.

adorable and deceptively difficult

Totally surprised me. Innovative take on a minesweeper roguelike, deckbuilder, and city builder. Short snappy runs with a bunch of interesting content. Don't overlook this one! https://youtu.be/_VjnExgb7So

Super fun - I've been really enjoying Flocking Hell. The game is a great mix of cozy and strategic - it's a great way to unwind at the end of the day, while still using your brain. The overall package is delightful, and there are several interesting strategic lines to build around. The unlocks change up the game in subtle but interesting ways. I highly recommend it!

Fun game, a nice amount of puzzliness with a little bit of that sweet sweet roguelike randomness, but I will have to say that the negative reviews are also pretty accurate- the replay value is a bit lower than it would seem, and the unlocks don't quite change enough. For me, the core gameplay is fun enough that I'm pretty happy about the purchase. I think my biggest complaint right now is the lack of multiplicative or build defining effects. For instance, there are a number of cards that all increase a town's population based on a condition, such as having a town with over 100 population. However, the conditions are all things you probably want to be doing anyway, and they don't scale; i.e having a single town with 200 population has no greater effect. I think by having guides and cards that reward more specific strategies (going "tall" with only a few towns, versus going wide and focusing on building roads whenever possible), would make runs feel less same-y Also, the snarebunnies can rot in hell. Overall, I'd say play the demo, and if you like it and are ok with getting about 4-6 hours of fun out of the full game, definitely buy it, because there is a lot of potential for growth and improvement.

Plays like a board game, fun runs, pretty light but some strategy involved.

It's a bite-sized strategy game that is designed to be played in short increments. There's enough depth to it to keep you playing and works pretty well as a roguelite. Definitely rough around the edges but ultimately if you are a strategy / roguelite enjoyer it's a fun play.

Great concept, adorable, and replayable. The music is excellent and the sheep are cute. I started playing after Patch #4 and I am thoroughly enjoying the pace that the cards and guides are being unlocked.

Absolutely rules. Stop me if you've heard this before: easy to learn, hard to master. Scratches just the right spot of my brain for a few quick runs before bed.

There is a part of me that hates Flocking Hell; it feels imbalanced in a way that makes the game feel like garbage because it feels like luck more often than not, with perhaps the only solution being to play the “right” way, whatever that is. At the same time, I dumped over 7 hours into it with little thought. I have never quite had a game that I am so bothered by still be so fun to play. So, somewhat begrudgingly, I think this game deserves a positive review. Flocking Hell is a turn-based strategy game with roguelite meta-progression. Each run is split up into several missions where you use turns to acquire resources and connect cities to defend against demons. Certain items, effects, and abilities give you some control over the game that you can unlock. Unlocks are associated with success on runs, with each mission giving you one point towards the next unlock; however, the amount needed to unlock everything seems quite egregiously high to me. Maybe I am just trash at this game, but I have not figured out the ideal balance of vertical growth and expansion in the missions, and because of that, I have lost many games in ways that I am not sure I could have prevented. I would feel like I did everything right and still lost, and that is frustrating, yet I would find myself in another run shortly afterwards. This kind of turn-based strategy game is right up my alley, but I just hate how hard it feels. I don’t mind difficulty; I find souls-likes relaxing rather than frustrating for the most part, after all, but I am annoyed when failure feels predetermined rather than earned because of my misplays. I think that Flocking Hell suffers from something many roguelites suffer from, which is that the game feels like it is very luck-based rather than a balance between luck and altering that luck. For example, if Flocking Hell allowed you to have more items, allowed you to adjust the pool of items, and allowed you to pick a starting item this would be a way where you could try to change the game in favor of your playstyle rather than praying you get what works well for you thus allowing you to adjust your luck. Roguelites live and die by luck, but 100% luck feels like ♥♥♥♥ because the game was decided from the start. At the same time, I am not sure how much altering the luck could change the problem where it feels like there is a “right” way to play even after they buffed the expansionist gameplay style. To be fair, maybe this assessment is off and the game just hasn’t clicked for me yet. However, seeing as how at the time of writing only 44.5% have beat the game on the casual difficulty (which is technically not the lowest difficulty because there is a whole tutorial but is the first real difficulty) and only 7.8% of players have beat the game on competitive difficulty (which is not even the highest difficulty mind you) I think that there is a strong imbalance in the game’s difficulty. Despite this huge complaint, the game feels great to play somehow. Honestly, I think I would struggle to explain why this abusive game feels great, so all I have to say is that it is worth trying if it seems interesting to you; you’ll just have to take my word on that. As for the sound design, I found the music to be fine, but the tracks were both limited and not really that appealing to me. As for the sound effects, I felt like they were pretty inoffensive and had no issues with them, but they were not great by any means. So, kind of a mixed bag, but it works well. Graphically, I love the pixel art style they have here. The sheep are very cute, the demons have that balance between evil and cute looking that the game needs, the colors are vibrant, the pixel art across the board is well detailed and clear, and the UI fits in well. The tiles on the map could use a little bit of variety, but overall, I don’t think there is much to complain about. I like Flocking Hell, I probably shouldn’t, given that it pisses me the ♥♥♥♥ off, but I do. I think that the base price is a bit high, but it is worth getting on sale if it seems like something you like.