Recent reviews by Judge Judy Does Not Approve

I play and review a lot of Roguelikes, and there's a reason at the time I'm writing this, the 200,000+ reviews are "Overwhelmingly Positive."

Things the game does right:
Progression feels good. I'm at about 100 runs now, and any time I do significantly well, I feel like I also return home with resources to make an improvement or two. There are a number of things to unlock, both cosmetically (at the home between runs), and game-play altering.

The story feels good. It took some time even after my first run-completion to actually finish the story. Some games don't really compel you to start NG+ or keep playing once you've seen the ending, but this one does. I still _wanted_ to know more, and mend a broken relationship, and fulfill a few prophecies. That's a nice feeling.

The gameplay is smooth. The mix between hack-and-slash and roguelike is a comfortable one, the abilities and moves feel reactive, and most room rewards feel right. Sometimes there are touch choices, and even at after a number of wins, I still get hit, and I still sometimes lose.

I tried to think of a flaw, and couldn't come up with one. 10/10. Looking forward to the sequel.

Do you like games with Overwhelmingly Positive reviews? This is one of them.

//but seriously, this game is fun. If you like roguelike games for the chance of breaking a run by becoming uber-powerful, this is a good game. You sometimes can become uber-powerful and wreck enemies for a long time. They will _eventually_ overwhelm you, but there are more and more ways to turn the tides in your favor. There are actually good and exciting unlockables, a nearly endless amount of slow progress upgrades, multiple game modes, regular updates with more content, pretty good DLC, lots and lots of characters and hidden characters and weapons and hidden weapons. All the while, you can play with like 4 buttons since the weapons all fire automatically. Somehow that doesn't make this an idle-game.

Plus it's available on every platform. Steam is the best, but your phone is also viable.

If your favorite part of games like Contra or Metroid were the boss-fights, and learning their patterns and tells while practicing the right time to dodge or what window to exploit to get the most damage at once, then you need to play this. If you find boss-battles frustrating or the idea of losing and trying again and improving repeatedly makes you want to throw your controller, then this might not be the game for you. It is difficult. Every level is passable, but be ready to put hours into it before you get lucky enough to S rank some of the harder stages.

Oh, and the art style is fantastic too. You can feel the effort and heart that went into the animation. The watercolor backgrounds are beautiful. The effects are exactly flashy enough to get your attention while rarely or never being too disorienting during a battle. You can see and understand what everything is, and it all feels cohesive and fitting the style.

Like most games that have an "Overwhelmingly Positive" review average, you owe it to yourself to play this game if you haven't.

If you like Tower Defense, you'll like this. No major game-breaking bugs, no wrong upgrade path, and amusing humor.

As far as addicting roguelikes go, this has what you expect. Some meta-progression that makes your runs easier, but nothing that makes them auto-wins. A number of unlockable characters, some with unique abilities add even more flavor to your runs. I like the cyberpunk aesthetic as well, and the music is very good.

Pros:
-lots to unlock, improving both the variety in your runs and your chances of survival. Progress feels meaningful to the story.
-reactive controls, and a decent auto-aim if you need it. Between the auto-aim and the difficulty selection, even players who don't want the frustrating experience can enjoy the game.
-Killer soundtrack
-Amusing minigames (who doesn't love a claw-machine?)

Cons:
-eventually it feels repetitive. Once a lot of rooms are clear on a floor, the level feels empty, but the aesthetic really makes me want to run into more friendly NPCs (or even background characters that move) in the empty areas.
-there isn't much explanation given about how the Wisdom/Violence meter works when it comes to getting to the final bosses.
-Once you do figure it out, it's frustratingly possible to be unable to access the final bosses from floor 8 since you can't always precisely control if your wisdom (or violence) will fill up near the end of floor 7, and a full bar won't carry over to floor 8 where you need it. Floor 8 may not generate enough rooms or gem/violent items to fill a fresh bar.
-Some characters feel very similar to others. I wish more of them had active abilities.

Overall, it's a solid roguelike with the same addicting qualities of The Binding Of Isaac. I always feel like I want to start another run and see what items I find and what synergies I come across.

8.5 / 10. Well Done

I am not good at this game. This is a traditional roguelike that will take a lot of hours and time and practice to win with any sort of regularity.

That said, the effort is worth the pain. The lore and story are entertaining and engaging, and the number of different unlockable races and classes with very different playstyles will keep you occupied for a while. Sometimes your runs will or won't have certain areas, or if you're online, you may be blessed with a special level, such as a Bearscape.

Also, there are decent mods that make the game more accessible with or without changing the difficulty. Fan made races and classes add even more life into the game. Some are just QOL changes, like easier to read item stats, the ability to add notes to items, or plan your build. Others are intentionally "cheating" to various degrees like giving you a precious few extra skill points at early levels or increasing the number of items in shops. You could go further, and use mods that make your skill levels multiply more, or allow you to take negative points to get every skill available. What's great about doing that is you're only improving your chances, not guaranteeing a win. My most "cheaty" character still managed to die to one of the bosses (admittedly, at the time I didn't know what I was doing, and faced a lightning boss with no lightning resistance whatsoever).

Also, I have borrowed enemies from this game for my tabletop RPG. My players now know the fear of opening a pit of Gunsnakes. They'll never trust the forest at night again after being awoken by a Grizzly Bear Sawbutcher (that is a giant bear wielding a spinning power saw in each paw).

10/10. Would go crazy as a halfling timelord again.

What can I say that 244 hours plus in a game can't. There's a lot to do here, and I don't know what to say the monkey's won't do.

This is one of the games that should be the gold standard for tower-defense games. There are a lot of towers, and lots of varying upgrades for all of them. Every map offers challenges, and plenty have moving parts that can influence how you play as well. There is never really just one strategy that will work on a given map, plenty of things to unlock, and when you've done all that, a huge number of player-made challenges that will even keep hardcore players coming back.

Cons (and I had to stretch to find any):
1) The currency used for the cash shop is also what you use to pay to continue if you lose midway through a game. Until you have a bunch saved up or the monkey knowledge tiers unlocked, that might be frustrating if you don't intend to spend real-money.
2) You can't change the order abilities appear on the hotbar.

I don't have more, that's it. Worth the price for sure.

Surprisingly deep gameplay for the simpilicity that it presents itself with. You roll standard 6 sided dice, and use them in the ways your equipment cards tell you. For example, you may have a card that only takes even numbers, or only takes a max value of 3. Plenty of cards change dice values too, so you might not be able to use that even-only axe now, but once you use a bump card to make it 6, you can.

The game does have a modding community. Most of the mods add card variety or small adventures, and are worth checking out.

I do not recommend the use of psychedelic drugs. But if you live where they are legal and choose to partake of them, you really should try playing this game while you use them.

Trust me, playing while sober will make you feel like you are stoned. Playing this while you are stoned will make your high even more so.

Check the video out. Do you dig the retro visual style? Then this is a treat for your eyes.

Pros:
-The style, which I'm into
-The general quality of Caiysware's games.
-Roguelike that actually feels like a real roguelike. You have the optional mode where you can unlock stuff for future runs, but your main mode starts you anew each run like it wants you to scrape your way to the bottom.
-Short game time. I can complete and win a run during my lunchbreak
-Variety of items and enemies means you have a lot of runs ahead of you to see everything.
-Decent selection of additional game modes.

Cons:
-Those colors could melt your eyes if your monitor isn't calibrated well
-I had trouble getting into the mini collectible card game. That said, you may be into that, and if you are, this has one, go nuts!

Basically, if you're reading reviews, this is a game you want, and it's a steal at even the normal price for how much high quality content you get.