geoffpaulw: How is this? Worth the price?
It looks interesting but also like a Flash game that I've seen dozens of times, so can't tell if the current price cut is a good deal
I'll repost my impressions from the release thread. Currently beaten the first difficulty and nearly the second. I also beat Darkest Dungeon and Slay the Spire, the closest comparisons, so I'll be comparing it to those.
- Like DD, units attack with positioning dependent skills. Rather than upgrading these skills linearly multiple times, however, each ability upgrades only once but allows you to choose from diverging options on how to upgrade the skill, HOMM 4-style. Each unit has 6 skills that are all unlocked straight away and can all be used, so no having to select which ones you'll use before battle like in DD.
- Progression of the game is a Slay of Sire style pick your route, going through the branch that you pick up to the boss of that level. For the in development version there are 3 layers available to go through, with the fourth and final layers slated to be added upon release. The Slay the Spire style map layout and movement also means that the game is more fast-paced than DD. This is to its advantage, as it keeps the game from getting grindy, which is a real issue with DD.
- There are currently 17 unit types, +1 if you buy the supporter pack. Most of these are gradually unlocked as you play and they stay unlocked between playthroughs. Getting them doesn't take excessively long, as I was able to get most of them over the course of my first playthrough. Units themselves can be tweaked through using different component parts and upgrade items.
- You get a simplified HOMM hero and town. Town doesn't produce units, but looks like a HOMM town and has buildings that you build and upgrade to get different benefits, such as finding more items after battle. Hero character doesn't have any stats, but can interact with combat through casting spells, can equip artefacts and level up to gain different skills. Spending talents to gain skills is where you plan out your build.
- Not as stylish as DD, but has some fun touches of its own, such as enemy models receiving battle damage upon low health.
All in all, a solid game. What needs fleshing out the most is the enemy variety and building your town. Enemy variety will increase as more layers get released, but buildings could use something like a capstone ability upon being fully unlocked to make them a bit more interesting. This followed by more hero skills to add to the character build variety and more unit types. Worth giving a go already if you're into what it's offering.
