Loop Hero

As someone who optimizes too much, this game forced me break free from this mindset. So this game manages to do something that few games do - change my perspective. This game is more on the sandbox side, and can be played in many different ways. There is no clear right or wrong way. There is clear structure, bosses to fight. But how to get there is still up to you. Do you want to play this as an idle game, low difficulty, casual, in the background, while you accumulate materials with little active effort? Or do you want to pause at every tile, place every card optimally, carefully evaluate every equipment item, while operating at the boundary of monster difficulty that is survivable? Do you grind as many materials as you want every run, or do you want to just experiment on card combinations, and learn about interactions? Are you eagerly reading all the lore, to get hints at card combinations? Even if you beat the boss in a run, it's still not clear that this really counts as victory. The run offers you to keep going, and what victory looks like depends on your personal goals. This is also where the lore of the game fits in nicely. You are not exactly trying to win. You are trying to remember what "the run" looked like, since you have forgotten the world. Was it a quick slaying of the boss, or was it a long and enduring grind, against armies of monsters? In conclusion, what mindset change did I need? When I first played the game, I placed too many monster cards, and kept dying. But if you don't place enough of them, you don't get any equipment for strength against the boss. I wanted to be more selective about the cards I put in my deck, to have an easier time. But then I wouldn't get the materials I needed to build more structures. The only way to progress was to let go of trying to optimize everything at once. After finishing a run, I couldn't just jump straight into the next one, because I didn't know what next to aim for. I had to just think, learn the game, figure out what I want to commit to. Thinking was playing. My commitment was towards knowledge, and understanding the game. And now it wasn't about whether I died or slayed the boss un a run, it was about whether I learned something new. Every run was a success, as I always learned new things. I suppose giving this game a rating is pointless. It's well worth the money I paid. It has many things that could be improved. I even wish it would go on longer. But I've now done everything there is to do.