Overhead/isometric rogue like game from Supergiant Games (Bastion, Transistor, Pyre)
This is really good. I'm enjoying this more than I did Dead Cells when I first started to play it. The artstyle is beautiful and it actually has a good storyline. I'm about 20 runs in and I haven't seen any repeated dialogue yet.
1. "it's well-made. i'm not sure it's fun to play" In response to Reply # 0 Thu Oct-08-20 04:56 PM by bearfield
even though the weapons are different and have their own movesets i find myself almost always double-dashing and hammering the attack button with the occasional special and cast, irrespective of the enemy type, set of boons, or weapon. there isn't much to the actual gameplay beyond this imo
it also has that weird roguelite inverted difficulty curve where the game gets easier as you unlock more stuff. your ability to complete the game is based less based on your skill at the game and more about how much time you put into it and unlock more abilities that make the game easier to complete, e.g. instant respawns (what's the point of permadeath with this ability?), sustain, stronger weapons, better boons, etc. i had the same problem with rogue legacy. dead cells does this too but the boss cell difficulty levels offsets it a little. my understanding is that hades has a similar adjustable higher difficulty so maybe that's where the real game begins
i do enjoy trying to generate game-breaking boon and weapon combinations. hades does this really well with the how various abilities can be combined via boons, weapon perks, and upgrades. the layering of mechanics and introduction of new enemies as you unlock abilities and weapons is cool as it keeps each run fresh or at least less predictable. the presentation is extremely tight and cohesive across all elements and presents a unified vision of the game. the music, art style, voice acting, and writing all line up to deliver a singular and memorable experience
3. "RE: it's well-made. i'm not sure it's fun to play" In response to Reply # 1
>my understanding is that hades has a similar >adjustable higher difficulty so maybe that's where the real >game begins
Yeah, you unlock these various "heat" levels that make the game a lot more challenging depending on which ones you apply. They also add more mechanics (and dialogue) to boss fights. Very similar to boss cells, although I think Dead Cells is still a more difficult game overall.
6. "definitely a lot of dash attacks and specials" In response to Reply # 1
but there is a bit of variance between the weapons
the first time I was able to clear the game was with the gun, boosted with a triple shot special and the Dionysus cast bomb -- running around, carpet bombing everything and sniping them from a far was pretty fun
5. "had a lot of fun with this one" In response to Reply # 0
decided to get through my purchased queue on Steam and this was way better than I imagined. not a fan of the "idea" of roguelike games, although I haven't played too many -- this was executed perfectly because it overlapped with a great narrative.
took about 30 runs to beat (redacted) and then I did about 20 more until I was finished with it. turning up the challenge with extra heats was not that interesting to me, and the rest of it seemed too grindy without the story to interest me. but tons of fun while it lasted. I'm sure I'll go back to it and just go for broken setups on zero heat runs, for relaxation.
ended up with 100+ runs because this game is addictive. unlocking all the duo combinations and legendary boons is a fun experiment. even beat 32 heat (Merciful End with the fists baby).