I have reset the achievements for this game and 100% it again about 5 times.
84 hours and counting.
And I'm gonna keep playing after writing this.
The "one more run" effect is strong in this one.
The straightforward gameplay loop, the urge of trying new card-equipment combos and the fact that you can play while listening/watching something else, make this game perfect for a casual and/or ADHD player.
Also, it can be played on a potato laptop/pc with 0 problems.
But. Beware.
If you want another Slay the Spire clone, go away. This game is a completely different experience. This game is slow and grindy. This game wants you to manage carefully your gold. This game is the epitome of "risk vs reward".
On death, you will lose all chests, experience and invested gold. But you are always offered the choice to go back at the inn with everything you have gathered at the end of each battle, and you should always consider doing that.
In the same way Darkest Dungeon's difficulty is 90% based on knowledge and the 10% on luck, the percentages for this game would be something around 80%K - 20%L. The more you know, the easier the deck building, equipment choice, and battle actions become. This includes things like, for example, the minimum damage and armor you need to kill and resist the earlier half of a dungeon without using consumables, so you can take all chests "for free" and go back to the inn to compare, sell and buy. This is what I did with the final dungeon in my "no consumables challenge" in order to farm golden and legendary items over and over.
As much as I love the game, gotta admit it has some rough edges.
For example, you can mute the game, and that's all sound options you are gonna find. You can't disable music and leave only sound effects, nor viceversa.
Now that I think of it, that's the only configuration option available.
Well, you can choose between full-screen and windowed at the setup options when starting the game. Well, as with many other games, you can also do this in-game with Alt + Enter. The windowed mode let's you drag the borders to adapt to whatever size and position you need, which is fabulous for doing other things while playing.
The setup window before the game also lets you choose resolution and, for unknown reasons, the input keys, which doesn't make sense as the whole game is played with the left click only. I consider that last sentence as a pro, btw. Simple game, simple controls, 10/10.
I'm not going to describe the game any further because that's the shop page's + screenshots + trailers work, and other have done that already in their reviews. I'm gonna give you a bunch of advices, tho:
1. Once you get the hang of the game, use Cheat Engine to speed it up. The animations are beautiful but slow as a slug in coma, and there is no fast speed option. Also, if you check the settings menu in battle you will see an hourglass. If you activate this option, each enemy will wait until you clic to perform their actions, so you can read what they do with ease. Their cards are designed like yours: enemy effects top, player effects bottom.
2. Don't use the third saveslot. It's broken and it can corrupt/overwrite the other 2.
3.1 Each dungeon has a legendary drop for each equipment slot. The first one is guaranteed after beating the boss for the first time, then you can farm the others if you want. The chest system works like this: You get a random chest after beating each round. The better the chest, the less chance it will drop. Gaining a 3rd chest of one tier will combine them in 1 chest of the next tier. You can see this information after each round. And yes, you can farm legendary chest before battling the boss and then run away. I suggest to do this in all dungeons because the legendary gear is broken if used against the dungeon you got it from.
3.2. The first dungeon legendary drops are related to poison and the second's to burn. Two of each gives you more power for the status effects and the other two gives you resistances. I suggest farming at least one of the resistance ones. You will most probably need them.
3.3. Once you gain access to a new dungeon, its items will start appearing in the shop. This is the only way to get freeze resistance before entering the 4th dungeon. The other way is hoping for it to drop inside (golden chest), as the first rounds enemies will not use freezing attacks.
4. Even though you can unlock all the skills you want with all characters, I strongly recommend not starting with the warrior. It has some of the oddest skills, both at the start and in general. The mage and then the rogue have a better starting set.
5. You may run out of gold, which you will need for potions. Don't panic, the first dungeon is always free and the first encounters easy, so you can go full glass cannon for a few rounds and exit, sell the loot, get gold for potions, go back to the dungeon, go deeper, gain more loot, etc. Just have always in mind the next advice.
6. DON'T BE GREEDY. Each round will be harder than the last, with new and more powerful enemies you may not be prepared to fight yet. If you are not 100% sure that you will survive, go home. It's not worth the risk, and you won't get back the cost of the journey nor the potions spent inside. Btw, surrendering with the white flag of the options menu is the same as dying, and you won't gain anything.
7. You will need poison resistance for the first dungeon, burn resistance for the second, poison again for the third, and all three resistance for the last. Then, you can follow one of three options (and I can confirm their all viable):
A. Go with 3 items with one resistance each and 1 free item to balance equipment customization.
B. Let go 1 resistance, or even 2, and then use better equipment to kill the monsters that apply those to you in 1 turn.
C. No resistances, full destruction. With 30 aoe damage you can FTK all rounds except for those with the high health monsters and the boss itself. The big guys attack goes as high as 22 damage iirc. With that much armor, and discarding cards for 2 armor each, they are easily manageable. They don't use any status effects, btw.
The final boss will be a pain in the ass, tho. I suggest going with one of the previously explained routes, and then stop before the boss, so you can farm better equipment. Unfortunately, you will have to face it at least once to learn its moveset. I could put that here, but I don't want to spoiler the fun.
8. There are two cards that can damage health ignoring armor: The mages third row third skill and the second legendary. They both do 5 health damage, and there are a bunch of 5 health or lower monsters that are a pain in the ass. If you have problems with them, consider putting 2~4 of those cards in your deck. Both do other things besides the health damage, and actually work very well together.
9. Some achievements pop more than once. You can ignore those. Others, however, don't pop automatically. If you use the change character option and load you save again (or close and open the game), all of those will pop.
10. If you are against a physical moves only enemy and have enough armor, you can discard your hand over and over again to recover stamina and mana, and also set a good hand for the next battle.
One last thing: the comics are really nice, but don't expect a suitable ending, as the story was left kinda open to fit more chapters that never came. I personally like the final comic, but I imagine most people won't.
Well, that was a lot of words. If you need any more info, just ask me, I feel confident enough to say that I will be able to answer all of them.
Have fun!
