Heroes of Steel RPG

After nearly 60 hours, I've had enough of my time wasted. I originally picked this up in 2017 and put a few hours into it. It didn't grab me at the time so I shelved it. Fast forward five years, and I decided to try it again. I must say I really enjoyed the first chapter of this game. Being a gang of prisoners on the run, turning into heroes, and uncovering a greater mystery. The story is really well told, problem is you have to go through countless laborious battles to find out what happens next. The start of the second chapter, the game really starts to slow down. The encounters are more and more frequent. Even though your heroes get stronger, the game has LEVEL SCALING which I'm generally not a fan of. So really, any talents you acquire are moot because the enemies are always a level higher than you. The enemies don't respawn, so don't think about grinding. I made it through the battle with the Orcin and was really hoping that was the end of the slogfest. The next quest I took on was investigating the underground cult. No joke, I have spent probably 20 game hours (maybe more) just in these caverns, fighting countless hordes of the same several enemies. You need to constantly pre-buff and use most of your spell points per battle, so you have to rest after at least every other battle. My fatigue at this point was really starting to grow and the game was on thin ice as far as testing my patience. And then, finally, the breaking point: realizing at close to 60 hours there is no way to flee a battle. No matter how far you move your characters away from the battle, even if the enemies choose NOT to pursue you, you will stay in combat mode until you either kill the enemies, or they kill you, and you have to respawn. There is just no reason for this except for lazy design. Speaking of lazy design, the loot: I have found the same pair of bracers at least 8 times, and almost the same ring/necklace another dozen or so times. The sheer randomness of the loot found equals the randomness of your hit chance and damage done. No matter how high I pumped up my cleric's hammer skill, her hit chance was still far lower then any other character. Almost as if these buffs/stat increases really DON'T matter. I really hate leaving bad reviews on indie games, and I am watching their next title in development, Cyber Knights. it looks really promising, and I'll probably buy it when it's out. I just can't recommend this to the target audience (fans of the Gold Box series or Shining Force) due to the randomness, the pace, and the seemingly intentional time-wasting mechanics implemented in to the game.

Unfortunately, I've run out of patience with this game in its current state. Every single, even minor, battle, takes an absolute eternity, in part because of the enormous amount of off-screen enemies that pour in every time, but largely because every single character fights with a level of accuracy that would embarrass a hungover XCOM rookie- my rogue taking 7 attacks in a single turn and missing every single one, even with every accuracy buff available, was not an uncommon occurrence. Movement on the map is, in most cases well done, with some minor pathfinding issues over long distances, but nothing terribly bothersome. Movement in combat is likewise well done in a way that avoids accidental clicks ruining a run, however when combat first begins, it will occasionally interpret regular movement as combat movement, sending your character rushing into a large group of enemies- this will most likely be your greatest source of deaths. One extremely irritating part of moving outside of combat is the game treats enemies and items as identical. There is an alert when enemies are nearby, which stops character movement, with an accompanying text and sound alert. Unfortunately, this same alert occurs when a chest or hidden item is nearby. This extends to the Farsight/Sneaky Look spell, one of the key mechanics the game stresses. Normally used to check for enemies, traps, or secrets behind doors or around corners, since enemies and items are treated the same (and enemies don't render until combat begins), an empty room with one lone chest gives the same feedback as a swarm of enemies. Using abilities in combat is inconsistent as well- aside from the unusual choice of having the basic attack in the fourth position, some abilities remain selected after use for the next action, while others (typically healing/buff spells) don't. It's not a complete disaster, however. The writing between the characters and story itself are compelling enough, if lacking in proofreading- there are multiple occasions where characters repeat a previous line by mistake, but this is forgivable if slightly annoying. The bigger issue is inconsistencies in world- a "twist" which occurs early on is the discovery of a species of rat people using mining picks, since apparently this species "don't use human tools". This species has been fighting you with swords, bows and arrows, and magic staffs, for several hours, at this point in the story. The combat is balanced enough that using combat items besides basic health potions is actually necessary to keep your team in shape, which so many RPGs don't get right, and there's enough variation in character growth options to refine to your own personal strategy. One of the frustrating aspects of combat is that every enemy starts with the same AI- attack nearest hero, always. This means the early game consists almost entirely of sticking your tank in front while your ranged damage classes whale from behind and melee damage class runs hit-and-run attacks every turn. Enemies do become more complicated after the second major boss enemy, requiring you to make good use of the terrain and line-of-sight to protect your softer classes which adds a lot of interest to combat, but due to the aforementioned eternity that each fight takes, this occurs roughly 30 hours into game, which judging by the achievement numbers, very few people have had the patience to reach. There's definitely a potentially great game here beneath the grime, but as it stands this game feels like it needs more time in the oven, in a way that won't be fixed by putting out new characters to play as.

After making a comment that my bad eyesight is making traps nearly impossible to see, the developer emails me some files to turn the trap tiles a bright yellow so as not to ♥♥♥♥ over my game. 11/10 devs. Absolute stars.

Absolutely fantastic CRPG! The RPG Pillars of Character Progression - Loot - Combat - Story are all super strong here. Admittedly it is a bit combat-heavy, but there's a cool overarching story and lore as well to have fun with. But the Loot, Progression & Combat aspects are done *extremely* well and are a serious joy to play. Plus, it's old-school in the sense that it's a HUGE RPG, especially after the devs had added a bunch of free content to the game over the years! I am 65 hours in at this time and only starting Episode 2 out of 4, so I am nowhere near done with this stellar gem. If you like old-school CRPGs or tactical combat and character building, you have to play this one - the Trese Brothers devs are super talented and have made a game worthy of being an all-time classic released in 2013. It's *that* good!

This game is good enough for me to recommend. I reached level 17 and I'm near the end of Act II so far. The criticism, which you can read in other reviews, is fair. * you will spend most of your time in fights, I personally don't mind this * the AI is dumb and it will usually attack nearest target, it gets boring * the maps are huge and you will fight the same enemies over and over, it is repetitive * the enemies level together with you, this makes the fights challenging and they last longer * items you find are really bad but it starts to get better On the other hand, the fight system is party-turn-based, you can do whatever you want with your characters as long as they have Action Points. You can move one, cast spell with other one, go back to the first... I like the freedom. Also leveling is interesting and building a cohesive fighting unit is a challenge. You get one free respec for each character. I can live with the flaws and enjoy the game because I play it in small chunks. LIke a mobile game. When I have a bit of time, I fight two or three battles and then quit. This mitigates the flaws for me. I think that trying to play this game from the beginning to the end can leave you disappointed.

The game is great. The developers are the best aspect, they are responsive and committed to the quality of their work which is high. Lengthy review incoming... Pros: Content - There is lots and it is a great story. The world is engaging, the characters are interesting and distinct. Gameplay - Turn-based squad tactics. The balance is fine tuned, especially on Nightmare and sometimes you just need to pray to Lady Chance when you end a turn that your no death run doesn't turn belly up. Replayablility - Its a LONG game but there are meaningful choice differences that people invested in the story will want to see Builds - 9 Characters and you can't take all of their abilities. That means that there are hundreds of ways to build and fine tune parties to take out the denizens of the Underdark. Updates - While this particular title is quite old (I think it came out in 2013 on android) it has received a multitude of updates all with customer feedback taken into account. Even now, 10 years later, the developers added another character with all new combat and world interactions to explore. Their other products receive the same love. Cons: Graphics - Its an older game and the characters and sprites, as I understand, were hand drawn by one of the developers. He clearly improved over time when you see some of the earlier drawings compared to the later. That being said, the graphics are simple and appeal to a certain aesthetic (I personally love the later stuff, not a fan of the early stuff) Length - Over 100 hours for a full run through even on normal. Its a slough, I personally found it satisfying with the story but some parts of the game definitely drag. Just remember that you can step away and come back later. Dialogue - The story is great but the dialogue reads similar to comics. That appeals to many, not as much to me. Mechanics - This game is very fine tuned on higher difficulties and poorly planned parties will leave you frustrated. You can avoid this problem by going to their website (startradersrpg.proboards.com) or joining their discord (Trese Brothers Games). Both are usually quite active (the discord more so) and the developers almost always chime in and try to help.

It doesn't look like the magic system as applied to weapons works at all. I had a magic weapon made which had +10 lightning and +10 fire. I didn't ever see them work. Attacking and Buffing spells seem to work okay. But Spells applied to weapons seem to do nothing.

I haven't played much yet but I know a good old RPG with DnD vibes when I see one. And the Trese brothers update their games relentlessly, even this one after 10yrs. That alone deserves a blue thumb.

Dev was responsive when I had a game crashing bug by the hour. Also, +1 for the interface, and the ability to glob and de-glob by a toggle key your party into one icon for travel.

Fun. This is a great way to spend your time if you need to kill a few hours. I played for a while on a rainy day. Played 2 different groups, all different. Very much fun. Love the simple of it all. This is D&D, circa 1994. But much better. I think the Witch is better at healing than the cleric, Paladin rocks in Combat... Cleric can heal and fight some, can not take a punch well. Rogue and Thief rock Wizard is better, but both spell caster are good Both fighters are good. The Cavalier get's dodging and other guy get's heavy armor. Use the Thief/Rogue to look ahead with their abilities. Wizard and Thief rock with missile weapons. Have fun. This game... 8/10 -1 for lack of choices in classes -1 for lack of Races in player creation.