GearHead Caramel

[h1]Great game to have in your roguelike collection, especially if you are a fan of Mechs![/h1] I've only spent a short time with this game but can tell this is a project of passion. It's lovingly crafted by a single developer, Joseph Hewitt who has been in the roguelike scene since the late 90's. There's a lot to love here and has a bunch of depth in terms building your character and your mechs. There's hundreds of parts you can swap around to make the mech of your dreams and can be quite rewarding when you find new upgrades to slap on. In terms of the game itself, there's a great deal of random generation happening here which you'd expect in a roguelike but what's pretty damn unique is the fact that on top of just about everything being randomly generated, [i]the narration is as well.[/i] That means no story will ever play out quite the same and each run will be different, different characters, different quest, different dialogs of all sorts. It really does make each run feel more varied than the usual randomly generated dungeon or randomly generated loot that you find in most other roguelikes. Now this game is very much indie and with that it lacks some polish in some areas. Things aren't fully explained sometimes, even in the manual so you'll have to be patient and maybe experiment until you figure out a certain function or understand a certain aspect. This is far from uncommon with older roguelikes but for 2022 standards, there could be a bit more hand holding and more information given to the player. Especially on all the attributes like Relex, Ego, ect and what they translate towards (skills mostly). It's little things that in general could use a little more polish but the good news is Gearhead being on Steam for the first time really opens up more doors for the gentle developer to devote more time into doing just that. [b]Please don't let that scare you away though![/b] What you have here is a really damn good game. The artwork, the customization, gameplay and story are all nothing short of incredible. I was blown away at how elaborate and in-depth you can get into the little details of the game when it comes to building your own mechs, coloring them, designing your own character with your own unique backstory and all these other amazing little touches that are so nice and refreshing to experience. It really allows you to role-play your mech dreams to the absolute fullest. I am hoping down the road we get some form of stat tracking, a graveyard to view past characters and maybe some achievements, otherwise am a very happy camper! All in all I must say this is a very good game from a super stand-up developer. These are the games I love supporting and think you should too! It's unique, it's fun and it has soul. You can really tell this game is a labor of love and it shows in just about every aspect. [b]You can also play the first 2 Gearhead games for FREE! Just visit gearheadrpg.com and download them.[/b] They are a lot of fun to play as well and the really cool thing is that characters from those games can be brought forward to be used in this one! I wish more games with sequels did this and it's a really awesome touch to have here. Oh and I almost forgot to say but if you aren't a fan of losing your character on death or your lancemates or even your mech, you can toggle that off so you can essentially have infinite lives and no real consequence to dying if you just want to enjoy a fun mech-themed RPG experience. I think it's a great little touch and allows people who aren't ready for a roguelike or are here for the non-roguelike aspect to have a great time. [h2]Pretty easy recommendation for fans of roguelikes, mechs, great writing or awesome turn-based RPGs! These are the developers we should be supporting and games we should be playing.[/h2] [i]You can watch my streams of Gearhead Caramel live on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/zeroaff3x or view past streams of this game and many other roguelikes on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Zer0Affex[/i]

[h3]RANKING:[/h3] [table] [tr] [td] [h3][strike]AVOID | FLAWED[/strike] | [b]MAYBE[/b] | [strike]WORTHWHILE | COMPELLING | UNMISSABLE [/strike] [/h3] [/td] [/tr] [/table] [h3]SYNOPSIS:[/h3] [table] [tr] [th][b]ASSESSMENT:[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] GearHead Caramel (GC) delivers a mixed experience with highly repetitive TBT combat encounters and by-the-numbers generated, NPC-driven quests. Roleplaying and roguelike elements are limited, and procedural generation feels superficial, apart from the detective styled quests. The GUI is also archaic in places and could have done with showcasing mecha info, situational overview and combat options in a better way. Undoubtedly its best feature is the great level of mecha customisation, while its game world, setting and writing has character that will engage with a younger audience. The trade-off in depth means combat is streamlined making this a better fit for casual gamers, while the procedural generation makes it replayable to a degree. Ultimately in its current state I found GC to be just short of a recommendation. There is also a strong hint that it is unfinished so currently it only warrants a [b]MAYBE[/b] rating. Still it has a good foundation that can be built upon. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]STATUS:[/b][/td] [td]Released, but with slow support. Arguably should be in Early Access with a more content variety needed [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]APPEAL:[/b][/td] [td]For fans of simple mecha themed TBT strategy games with a slather of Roguelike [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]VALUE:[/b][/td] [td]The price is reasonable for what's offered [/td] [/tr] [/table] [i]More info below....[/i] https://postimg.cc/dLpFJ22k [h3]KEY ATTRIBUTES:[/h3] [table] [tr] [td][b]THE GOOD:[/b] [/td] [td] [b]▲ [/b]Huge level of mecha customisation including: chassis, engines, weapons, armour and other components [b]▲ [/b]Can recruit up to 4x lance members from many generated candidates [b]▲ [/b]Streamlined features make for uncomplicated gameplay [b]▲ [/b]Clue based detective styled quests stand-out [b]▲ [/b]Mind blogging amount of predetermined mecha, across 3x categories and an editor to modify them [b]▲ [/b]Pilots can level-up stats using XP, obtain cyber implants and have access to a fair sized inventory [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]THE BAD:[/b][/td] [td] [b]▼ [/b]Procedurally generation is too much on-rails, giving "the same" experience with each iteration [b]▼ [/b]Not enough pilot/party based encounters though few mix up combat [b]▼ [/b]RPG, TBT lacks depth [b]▼ [/b]Limited GUI without much detail and without total accessibility [b]▼ [/b]Simplistic dialogue system that encompasses very repetitive writing [b]▼ [/b]Unhelpful quest log split into tabs with no overview [b]▼ [/b]Weapon selection options are hidden within the GUI [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]AND THE REST:[/b][/td] [td] [b]↔ [/b]2x campaigns, 1x short scenario and 1x tutorial scenario [b]↔ [/b]Tactical elements limited to positioning and weapon selection [b]↔ [/b]Game world is quite empty with relevant buildings, enemies, NPCs and items [b]↔ [/b]Graphically minimal, with a bright anime/manga influenced colourful cartoon style [/td] [/tr] [/table] https://postimg.cc/R6d9m2d4 [h3]KEY OBSERVATIONS:[/h3] [b]< SETTING & STORY >[/b] ► Despite the procedurally generation, it's game world is essentially the same, making it feel generic and somewhat unconvincing to the expectations of this serious gamer. ► City hubs feel bland and lack detail consisting of the same vital buildings, a mix of functionally identical NPCs, backstory points of interest and the occasional service interface to interact with. ► At the same time the setting appears a tad familiar but slightly off, especially to anyone who played the original DOS-based Battletech games. ► Eminently GC feels aimed at a younger audience with 'inclusion and diversity' a major factor in the way NPCs are generated. Minorities and the odd disabled NPCs can be found throughout it's city hubs. [b]< CAMPAIGN & SIDEQUESTS >[/b] ► The campaign (I played) feels rather generic and repetitive given it is made up of a series of mostly non-descript quests with only cursory variety gained through procedural generation. ► Most of these are a variant of these basic types; fixing items, TBT combat encounters (w/ variants), hub-generated dialogue-based quests and the odd detective styled quests. ► The latter along with combat encounters being the most interesting, requiring the finding of clues through NPC dialogue. ► Due to the need to farm credits to spend on new mecha, their upgrades, pilot equipment and cybernetic implants, taking on missions can feel like a grind. https://postimg.cc/McbJ0ghV [b]< TBT COMBAT >[/b] ► Of the two types of combat; mecha scale is the more prevalent. Pilot (party) scale combat is experienced much less. However, both tend to play out fairly similar to the other. ► Tactical mecha combat encounters are the mainstay of gameplay and consist of one to three encounters against similarly numbered opponents. Though some encounters will see the player's lance outnumbered. ► With ballistic, missile, laser and melee weapon types, mecha combat is more a question of positioning and choosing the most "efficient" weapon against a particular target. ► At first it was fun, but the longer the game went on the more predictable and repetitive it began to feel. Made worse by the lack of depth to its tactical gameplay. Pilot skills and mecha war programs are there but I rarely got to use them in any purposeful way. ► If only pilot level combat would appear more than it currently does, even if at the moment it plays fairly similar to the mecha scale engagements. [b]< MECHA CUSTOMISATION: >[/b] ► The mecha build system is the most impressive aspect of the game with a range of customisation options that is excellent. Trying to take them all in is an exercise in head-spinning. ► Custom mecha for the player's main character can be built outside the game through an "easy" to use editor. Though more complicated designs are likely to produce parsing errors the dev is actively helping overcome. [b]< CHARACTERS & INVENTORY >[/b] ► Main character creation is respectable with eight sats to invest in, along with around 12x skills, badges and tags generated through a randomly generated 'lifepath.' ► Characters can be given an immense number of generated portraits and colourisation. ► Some of these skills have are usefully enveloped into the mechanics of the game. Others were less so. ► Characters gain XP through achieving quests and winning combat. Additional points can be put in stats at an ever-growing cost of XP. https://postimg.cc/gnkjxHLg [b]< PERFORMANCE >[/b] ► QoL: The GUI needs to show info better. Weapons options, pilot skills and war programs should also be shown directly. Inventory lists can become unwieldy with items that do not stack. A stronger tactical layer and more party-based encounters are needed. More challenges that require skills too. ► BUGS: 1x critical dialogue generation bug caused 2x crashes at different instances. Can't proceed to the next items of dialogue these NPC would offer. ► CRITICAL ISSUES: No others, except the bug that causes CTDs. Issue reported and apparently fixed, but not yet pushed out. ► STEAM SUPPORTS: Nothing. ► OPTIMIZATION: Unsurprisingly the game had no loss of FPS issues with my current rig. [table][tr] [td]Click for:[/td] [td][h1][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheIrregularGamer/discussions/0/3823038052299193569/]Full Review[/url][/h1][/td] [/tr][/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]REVIEWED WITH:[/b][/td] [td]Game Build v0.946, restarted campaign 1, 3x times. Not completed INTEL i5 6600 3.3GHz, 8GB RAM, GTX970 @ 1GB 1920x1080 windowed, EVO850 SSD [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Thank you for reading | Click to follow my curator[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40556040-The-Irregular-Gamer/] THE IRREGULAR GAMER[/url][/quote]

Great mecha build freedom with many parts, limited only by slot numbers and a balance between weight and speed. Solid character evolution for each party member. Gear up, train to increase your skills or even get new shiny implants, shadowrun style :) Both combat types use the same system that allows to combine movement and skills to consume your actions. It can be punishing if you rush into trouble unknowing and/or unprepared. Procedural narrative done well, be it characters or quests. There is always someone to provide meaningful informations, such as where to find a job or potential recruit. Thanks to the broad set of options you can either play the game as a roguelite or a CRPG, which is quite unusual. Special award to the loading screens (won't spoil). It's also modder friendly on top of all that. GearHead Caramel is inclusive, colourful and rough on some aspects, just like any indie would, but it's fun and quite open.

Gearhead Caramel is part of a long incoming series of mech combat games. I played it since Gearhead 1, and it has been the closest I have ever got from the good old Battletech Crescent Hawk's games. The game is just unparalled when it comes to customization and the combat feel is great. I had a much better experience than with the recent Battletech game. Gearhead Caramel adds party control, and a more open ended scenario system to its ancestors. My play count on Steam is low because I played the existing scenarios on Itch before getting the game there. The presentation is a bit simplistic, but you can easily import whatever mech graphics you want.

[h1] 1と2がローグライクなら、こっちはコマンド式RPG [/h1] 仕様が同じとなる[url=https://gearhead.itch.io/gearhead-caramel] itch.io [/url]で公開されたバージョンを既にプレイしているため、そちらを基準としたレビューになります。 戦闘はGearhead2のタクティクスモードに近く、すべてマウスだけで操作できるようになっています。 チームメイトもプレイヤーが動かせるようになったほか、速度や向きの概念も簡略化されており、かなりとっつきやすくなっているように感じました。 一方で初代のような大量のSF1武器を積んだ爆速Waspでワンサイドゲームに持ち込めるような、自由度の高いゲームデザインでは無くなったので、良くも悪くも別のジャンルとして捉えた方が良いかもしれません。 個人的にはクエストにマンネリ感が無いことが嬉しかったです。 簡単な推理ゲームもあり、イベントにかなり力を入れているのを感じます。キャラやストーリーでのファンサービスも多く、今後の更新が楽しみです。ビジュアルやゲーム性に興味を持ったなら良いゲーム体験になると思います。

So, Gearhead is one of those classic hyper specific old school passion projects that scratches an itch that no other game does. But the problem was that, well, it was old school. The balance was questionable, the mechanics unfinished, the UI horrible, the graphics terrible, etc etc- but that was never really what it was about, so it was fine. Caramel is an attempt to bring a more unified feel to the game. To update it for the modern day. However, in doing so, the developer has transitioned from making it a freely available passion project into a product. A very cheap product, but a product nonetheless. And it's a ♥♥♥♥ product. Because the thing is, in an attempt to fix everything wrong with Gearhead 1 and 2, the dev kind of destroyed everything that made the series unique without fixing any of the issues. The graphics still look ugly as sin- in fact they're kind of worse actually. The only benefit to them is at least they're consistently ugly instead of the literally random stylings of the previous games. There's more story, but in doing so the sandboxy feel of the old game is gone. Yet somehow I'm even *more* lost than when I started the first two games, because now everything is sorted into weird adventure modules, the order of which makes no sense. Worse, the combat was always so-so, but it was unique and fun. Yes, there was definitely one specific build to rule them all to the point of making other builds pointless in comparison, but that was never an inherent fault of the mechanics. It was fixable. Caramel, instead of fixing the problem, opted to remove or redesign those mechanics into a generic "two actions per turn" system. And that's kind of consistently the issue. Everything GH1 and GH2 did well, Carmel does worse. Everything GH1 and GH2 did poorly, it doesn't really improve on. Like the controls. Even though the UI and mouse controls sucked in GH1&2, hotkeys made it more of a 'get used to it and then it's fine' situation. Well not anymore. The mouse controls still suck but as far as I can tell, hotkeys have been neutered. Or at least they don't work the same at all. It's more of a problem than it sounds- this is very much a keyboard only game. And of course, way way less content than previous games, though no doubt that's a matter of time spent developing more than anything. It's just... GH1&2 had a unique feel you couldn't get from any other game, so even if a lot of things about them were objectively bad, it didn't really matter. You weren't playing them for those reasons, you were playing them for they're unique qualities. Caramel in comparison, is pretty cookie-cutter compared to other mech-tactics games, so now it's just like all the rest except bad and unfinished. And to top it off, it's not marked Early Access. This is very clearly an Early Access game. Or at least, I *hope* the dev would acknowledge this as Early Access. Kind of criminal not to flag it, since that implies this is, you know, a complete experience.

I got this mainly to support the creator of the original GearHead, which was one of my bedrock classic roguelike experiences, right up there with NetHack, ADOM and ToME2. The simplified combat rounds and the shorter-form scenarios make Caramel a game I'm less interested in, but more people should be aware of this series and this creator.

This game is very much worth the price, despite being a game with what a i believe to be a single dev the content you can have in a single game can be very extensive due to some of its procedural nature. It does everything it advertises well, but at the moment it is still a bit rough on a few edges. Keep in mind however that from my experience the dev has been very responsive, and he has fixed all the bugs i've reported within a few hours.

The developer has been making this Gearhead series for years and it's awesome. I'm a big fan of Gearhead 1 and 2 and I'm jumping in Caramel. There's a variety on how you can do things, wander on foot, take the bus...or take your giant robot.

I'm a great fan since Gearhead one. The game does a great job from the beginning with "story generation." As soon as you create a character, you'll know what I mean. Giant Mecha CRPGS seem to be somewhat rare. This one gives me a great sense of freedom and adventure. Oh and tinkering with your mech is fun and satisfying. Give it a try. The developer is very friendly and attentive.