Maze Keeper

Oh you beat half the game and couldn't figure out how to defend the chest in the first tile? Too bad, it had a +12 attack item in it and now all your troops are dead because you didn't have 500 coins to place walls and traps that only work once. Also, you'll have to restart the whole campaign.

Games fun if you like using traps and building a setup specifically to win without your troops fighting directly, early game is painfully strict in what you can do. Since every single troop you can get becomes useless really fast in the classic mode, which is the meat of the game. The story is fun but you really need to beat it quickly and starve the adventurer of any items he could get, it was really fun figuring it all out but again. The way you have to beat the levels is extremely strict, I wouldn't say the RNG is bad per say. It's more that the game is unforgiving when you let the adventurer get anything. The best part of the game, being classic mode. Where you survive against the adventurer for as long as you can, the shop update mixed with managing the rage meter was fun but tiring. Since clever use of traps can stall him for a very long time but if you don't take him out on different tiles each time his anger will go up. Late game basically beomes tac nuke spam since he one shots anything in his way even on no energy. I got to wave 358 and it was really fun, I could've gone further if I'd gotten the lava totem but it was not to be. Now it's not fair to dish out without offering solutions I'd say, and the first thing on my mind would be the treasure cards you can buy. It would be really nice if you instead could place the chest while getting the money, I know that sounds powerful and it is but it leads into more strategy with making dragons. It also would allow synergy with the keys as well as work with another change I wanted which was having the adventurer calm down a bit from the rage mechanic when he collects a chest, I know I like getting loot in games and it makes me feel better. giving him the advantage in exchange for making the rage meter go down would be good for the strategy side of things. That also leads into the biggest part for players who don't just want to spam traps for hundreds of levels once they've gotten a lava labyrinth set up, the monsters you have just can't do anything beyond round 150 or so I'm going to say? Even the best unit in the game gets one shot, I feel as though a creature leveling system could be something fun to add? I wouldn't know what to add but late game is very one dimensional barring shuffling for traps and early is also pretty one dimensional since you basically have to play for lava labyrinth if you want to get really far into the game. Money also kind of becomes redundant which a creature stat boost could be a good sink for it. Since you really don't want a creature to be able to stop the adventurer so it would be a good back and fourth with the rage mechanic (Which I absolutely love the idea of, it'd just be nice if it was encouraged to play around the mechanic more than simply avoid it whenever possible.) I know the max of five actions is pretty important for the game but can we please either have a way to get more or a dedicated special use? It feels pretty bad to use war horn and have an awkward amount of uses on top of resetting the resetting the cool down for using it, feels like I'm getting penalized for using a special item. I think it's ok for the other two special items though since they are basically only positive. I've really enjoyed this game, to the point where it's the first time I've left a review on the game since I want to see more from it. I just feel like the game needs a little bit more in the ways of control or power for the player to open up new strategies over the really strict win conditions it currently has. Just my thoughts on it though.

I think a lot of the negative reviews of this game just didn't accept the fact that some games take time to get good at. This is not some sprawling RNG fest, nor is it difficult for the sake of being difficult and the game even has build variety that has some pretty epic synergies with different traps/units. If you slap the enemies hard enough you can even push yourself forward with more bonus stats, offsetting the hero permanently from your units allowing for more control over the game. If you go so far as to spawn camp the enemy you'll get rewarded with tons of gold, but you have to be willing to let go of this massive bonus after the fact (The enemy will scale faster, but you'll be both punished and rewarded, nice balance of risk and reward; and it falls back down after you switch up strategies/use specific items). And hell, when's the last time you played a game and actually felt like you accomplished something by beating a hard challenge? This game brings that feeling back. If you're up for a challenge this is the game, don't let the negative reviews push you away from this opportunity.

Some notes for the game: - Have the merchant appear at end of stage 1. There's no point having it at the beginning when buying anything will cause you to lose the game and the cards you are buying will not help you pass that first move - Players need more control over drafting cards. It's completely RNG what cards you will get and there is no control - The price of buying back the items is way too high for what stage of the game you are in - The chest don't really provide any benefit if what you're buying is gonna get killed before it even makes a move Overall, the game could be really good but at this stage it's just frustrating and the game loops feels the same everytime

Game feels unbalanced and a bit strict with the upgrade paths. I tried quite a few times but even with no items I can't seem to get past stage 7. I want to enjoy this game, but it just feels too unpolished right now.

Great game. Simple, very hard and incremental. I found the story mode extremely difficult, but on the campaign (if you can get a good enough shuffle) it's a wonderful game.

I really wanted to like this game, and I did, for a couple of "games" on Classic Mode. The problem is the balancing, there's a lack of freedom in what you can do, because the HP/Attack/Defense numbers difference between heroes and monsters gets out of whack constantly. Playing sub-optimally is extremely punishing, the hero scales way too much without any items, but god forbid you let them get an early item because it's over. All my monsters that were okay against level 1-2 heroes are trash against level 3-4 then those are trash against level 5 heroes, but luckily you unlock a new Goblinoid unit at hero level 5 and it's good until hero level 6, when suddenly it gets thrashed. Every space a hero moves they gain 1xp every fight they win they get a burst of xp. it's inevitable they will level up and outclass your cards in hand, except for maybe 1 specific monster, and even then you need support from wall and trap cards, or movement cards, but none of these things are guaranteed and it's too RNG dependent. It feels like if you place your first monster wrong, you're playing from behind big time. That's not good design, there's no flexibility. The underlying mechanics of a maze and monster/trap/wall cards are great. That's about where the good parts end. There's no sense of linear advancement. Also, I guess there's a new mechanic in the latest update where you can store cards for future turns... nowhere in the game does it tell you this. The in-game information and UI is lacking. You can't permanently disable music, having to do so every time you start a new run, even in the same session.

If you like boredom and the lack of self esteem then absolutely go for this game. Place monsters on the path, wait for the same animations to play until the hero inevitably beats up all your defences then start again. No progression, no way to have a strategy, nothing. A waste of time. The heck, Spider Solitarie is more fun than this game

for 10 dollars its a good deal the game is not RNG you can only draw cards you can place so you have to think about what you do this is not a game that lets you just do any thing at any time its fun to play hard to master

The tutorial is pretty spartan, it only tell you a few small hints, then the story make you face adventurers that grow stronger with time, and all you have are weaker enemies like spiders and such, until you get rich enough to unlock other monsters. The game progress after you pass a certain enemy level and lose, then the progress you have will get reset back to weak spiders and maybe a new map alongside a few lines of story that barely make sense and gives you new currency/resources that the game wont tell you how to use. Then you start over yet again with weak spiders and try your best to not get wiped out early on. It doesnt feel like you get any progress, and the game is more interested in telling the plot rather than telling you how to properly play the game, you get the bare basics of the basic, then youre on your own. If unlucky, prepare for a lot of game overs before you finally lose on an acceptable level. I played until halfway through chapter 2, I did not have fun.