Alright. [i]Stories from the Outbreak[/i] is done and dusted. At least inasmuch as I've finished the game with, I think eight(?) of the characters so far. Outright, I'll just say that this is a pretty fun little game that you can complete quickly, but in order to finish everything, you'll probably need to complete five to ten runs while also having the game play out completely in your favor for at least a couple of those.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623179866
This is a node-based exploration game, you'll select node strands to follow as you work your way through each level. The third level is the final boss and ending level. The first level, you'll do a lot of levelling up, collecting party members and such, and as you progress, the game progressively also gets far more difficult. As you play through the second level, you will really need to have your party strategies dialed in. But even then, some bad enemy or random encounter nodes can end your run super quick. Everything is randomized to an extent, so luck is a true factor in having a successful run and getting at least a couple of your party members out of the city.
So your goal, outside of collecting survivors to add to your party, is to gather enough food to rest and heal up between levels, gather enough gasoline to pay your way onto the ship that will take you away from the zombie outbreak, find trinkets that act as permanent buffs, and simply level up your characters in general. You earn inspiration points, which is this game's xp, and you will spend those either upgrading your stats or upgrading your abilities. Personally, I'd advise doing both, but starting with at least one ability upgrade.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623179982
In order to accomplish all this, you will need to choose node paths that give you the best ability to land on food/gas/survivor/healing nodes, but you will also need to try to fight as often as possible to get the potential rewards from said fights. And random event nodes also can provide nice boosts to everything you need. But enemy nodes can sometimes generate enemies that exceed your party's skill and random events can turn south quickly depending on what you draw. When those things happen, it's generally at or close to the point where your party gets wiped.
At the end of each level is a house you can rest at (assuming you have enough food) and then, rested or not, you get a boss battle before starting the next level. Funny thing is, I think the boss battle you get before actually getting to the boat is the easiest one. The ones you get in the first two levels ca be and are pretty brutal.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3623179808
Combat is turn based JRPG style with numbered sliders to indicate who goes next. Some abilities can be used to impact this slider, speeding up your turn and slowing down your enemy's, for example. Also, you build power in combat as you act, which will in turn give you special boosts or buffs, such as boosting shield and health, doing more damage, etc... It's worth noting that all the enemies have the same things available to them. So, they also earn boosts, buffs, and so on in combat. Combat stats are health and shield, but there are also timed effects such as bleeding and poison. It's a pretty effective system even though you will at times wish the enemies didn't receive the same considerations, lol.
Graphics are pretty chill and yet appropriately evocative as well. Checking out the slides on the product page will give you a good sense for what's happening graphically. I think they look cool. The OST and other in-game sounds are nicely done as well and certainly continue with the theme offered with the graphics and setting.
Where this game sees its main issue is in the randomly generated encounters. There are a fairly limited number of enemy types, and boss battles tend to repeat from run to run despite there being a greater variety. I don't know if something triggers widening the selection, but if it does, it takes its time doing so, lol. And I think it happens too often where bad luck node draws can ruin a run.
What I would say in summation is that if you enjoy luck-affected turn-based zombie node exploration games, this is definitely that, and it does what it does pretty well, with a couple issues mentioned above. It's currently on sale for $7.99 at the time of this writing. That is a great price for this game, and you should have no problem getting your money's worth there. IDK that I'd want to spend the base $19.99 on it though. So, grab it on sale would be my advice.
[code]If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32549618/]Robilar's Reviews[/url], it would be appreciated. Cheers.[/code]
[code]Also follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] for more reviews like this one.[/code]
