Negotiations Have Failed!

Negotiations Have Failed is an absolute blast from start to finish. The moment I jumped in, I knew I was in for something special. The gameplay is fast, chaotic in the best way, and incredibly satisfying. It hits that sweet spot between challenge and fun—difficult enough to keep you engaged, but fair enough that every victory feels earned.

To me this is a 3/5, there's definitely something here, but it's held back by so much randomness that makes it feel like it doesn't matter what you do. For starters, doing 1d6 damage is inherently subject to the fact that sometimes 3 turns do less damage then 1 turn. In a game where turns are the primary currency, this means sometimes you get completely shafted with no recourse. To fix this, I propose that the dice be rolled before targets are selected, so you can strategize around low rolls. Secondly, this game is subject to the "action economy" problem, where several turns in a row let you kill an enemy unit before they can do anything, which means you get more turns in a row. This leads to a crazy snowball effect that makes games feel like they come down to a coin flip. All that being said, the core of this game is cool. All the unique units feel fun in their own way, the shards system feels cool, I always enjoy "push-your-luck" mechanics. I like the turn ordering system, although it can greatly screw you over by giving the enemy several turns in a row. I do wish that thrill-kills weren't just limited to something completely out of your control as well, maybe thrill-kills are weakened but trigger off every kill.