If you ignore the unusual look, it's a relatively standard rogue-lite in terms of how it handles the power-ups and synergy tactics, you get an upgrade between every wave, and if you keep picking certain upgrades, you get a new card based on what you picked, reminds me a lot of AngelStruck in that regard, but not so much mechanically. There is also a small skill tree in the main menu, as well as unlocking weapons between the runs, so overall it kinda has a very vanilla style progression, even though it has this strange aesthetic to it.
There is obviously one big additional gimmick, and it's a city building aspect, basically you just make offensive and utility structures, and trying to balance economy and fire power. There is some strategy to it, it's not too deep but it's better to place structures in a certain way, sometimes to protect other more vulnerable structures, and sometimes just to cover more area. One neat mechanic I liked is that some bosses can instantly kill or severely damage structures, but there is some counter-play available if you pay attention. For example the second boss can drop a sword that can destroy a building, but you can strategically bait into an empty spot, or something that you don't care about loosing.
Otherwise the entire game takes place on one screen, very much an endurance type of experience similar to all the arena rogue-lites out there, although the regular mode can be completed in a few hours with some practice included (4 bosses with 4 sets of waves, which is usually 10 to 15 waves each) If you figure out the strategy, you should be able to beat it under 4 hours, after unlocking at least a few powerful nods in the skill tree that is.
The actual mechanical gameplay isn't that fun, your towers will do most of the work and you can help them out a bit, but your basic attack usually gets outscaled. You can technically build around your weapons, things like getting additional projectiles and attack speed, and it probably could work, although personally I just felt it was easier to go for the building upgrades. The 'math' part of the game was interesting to figure out, at least in the first few hours, but I feel it's relatively obvious on how you should play the game in the end, or play it in the optimal way.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) There is enough strategy to it to have maybe 1 or 2 enjoyable full runs, but beyond that, you probably would want to play something else. Yes it has like building and positioning aspect to it, as well as a decent amount of unlocks, but I still feel it's just something you would mostly play for the visual novelty.
It has all the basic things, choices between the waves, stronger synergy based on the build, skill tree in the menu, weapon unlocks, things like that.
(+) Obviously kind of a cool look, even though there was not that much enemy variety. I liked how some of the bosses interact with the buildings, can instantly destroy them, but also giving you some opportunities to mitigate it.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- don't ignore adding proper achievements, make sure you have some for endless as well, might give someone a better incentive to experiment with a skill tree
- I think it would be cool if you could build taller structures, like maybe a way to connect them
- it seems your UI gets a bit confused once you don't have much space to place things
- still pretty glichy, also the descriptions can be confusing, the money per wave structure shows +10 hearts, but it's +10 currency, is heart also the currency, seems a bit visually misleading
- I feel there is space for adding more basic attack mutators, the basic attack can feel tedious to use over a long period
[b] Overall Thoughts on Early Access : 4/5/2025 [/b]
It has all the basic features when it comes to upgrades, synergy and progression, but the game is just okay otherwise. It's maybe fun for one run to figure out the math, and the bosses looked neat. After about 4 hours I am pretty bored with it, so that is my take on it. If there were actual achievements, I probably would stay a bit longer, once you add a proper endless mode, maybe you can stretch the content a bit more with it. So yea, just something a little different, not a rogue-lite you would replay a lot, more of a novelty game with a few strange ideas. At the moment a bit glitchy too.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
