Ah the joys of being a healer. Lord knows it's a thankless job, necessary in any successful party yet never the hero always the scapegoat should things go wrong and you're unable to keep your tank from dying as he charges face first into the nearest swarm of enemies. Why any sane and rational person would do it, much less enjoy it, is one of gaming's great mysteries and yet here we are. The few, the proud, the possibly stupid, the career white mages, medics, clerics, and priests. I've always liked being the healing classes in mmorpgs and class based shooters, so A Healer Only Lives Twice instantly caught my eye upon being released. Rather than being the knight as in virtually every other video game created, you play as his stalwart support, and it is through your careful spell management and item use that the hero survives and the game progresses.

A fairly straightforward game of fighting monsters and progressing forward through levels, AHOLT never the less manages to feel engrossing with a sense of urgency laying thick upon you as your Knight's limbs slowly get torn apart by wave after wave of your standard slimes, bats, and tree monsters, Managing your MP along with your Knight's health in tandem was exciting to me, being better equipped to keep him alive as I unlocked skill after skill remained a satisfying experience. Despite there being ideal, near required strategies to progress through the floors, the real excitement and individual play comes in the leveling and use of your healing magics. Quick thinking is required to keep your friend alive and it is through this rapid paced game play that AHOT remains fresh and fun.

I would definitely recommend trying the Trial mode a time or two to get used to the game play, item management, and controls as the game does lack a proper tutorial and therefore can become bewildering upon first starting, but once you get the hang of things AHOLT is a charming take on the classic dungeon crawler that forces you to embrace and appreciate the challenges of being a Healer and possibly treat your raid party's white mage with a bit more TLC the next time you boot up your favorite anime rpg.

All in all, the best thing about this game is it gives me a chance to play my favorite archetype in games without being yelled at for not sacrificing my life for some twerp with a God Complex over a X Box microphone and boy is that nice.

It's rough out here for a Healer, it's about time we got to shine a bit.

This game is not a grind or time sink game. It is possible to beat it with no upgrades, on your very first run (though unlikely, only because you won't know what you're doing). Playing with no upgrades is one of the modes (which I just beat before writing this). It's a great little challenging game of balancing multiple things, once you understand the mechanics.

At first, the upgrade system gives that impression that you need to do the same thing over and over and get upgrades. This is the mistake many negative reviewers are making. I thought the same thing, and was disappointed after the first few run throughs. But then I started listening to what my knight was saying. There are some unintuitive mechanics to understand, and your partner is giving you hints.

Definitely a quality over quantity product. Make no mistake, this is a five dollar game with about five dollars worth of gameplay here. While some games at that price have managed to entertain me for hundreds of hours, this one is quite easily beaten, and once that is done, there isn't much else to do other than max out all of your perks, if that's your thing. You can also run Trial mode and simply try to see how far you can get through a randomly generated stream of foes without dying.

But otherwise, it's a very fun experiment in healer-centric game play, and plays more like a puzzle/strategy, than an actual RPG. There ARE stat increases, but it's a small part of your overall success. Most of the game play lies in knowing when to use which skils, such as using the skill that sacrifices one of your tank's limb HP for Mana then turning that into XP bonus or a much needed limb recovery spell. It's fun, and very engaging. There's a lot of quick decisions to be made. I particularly enjoy the meta game play of sacrificing Mana to get your XP modifier as high as possible while still effectively supporting your tank.

My only issues (other than length, which is a small nitpick) is that, at least for me, two of your eight total skills were somewhat underpowered or simply uncessecary, which sort of takes away some of the strategy. Though that may come down to the way you play. Others might find more use for the barrier and double attack spells, I hardly ever found any need for them.

Balance issues aside, it's a wonderful little game with nice music, and I hope to see more games from this developer, because they seem to have some unique ideas amongst them.

The game itself should be renamed to "A Torch only lives twice". After 3½ hours of gametime not once have I lost due to damage or healing but always due to running out of torches.

This game is a rogue-light were you delve into a dungeon with your knight companion. The knight will automatically attack 1 creature each turn (you decide which one) and your job is to heal him. Well, in theory. In practise only a tiny fraction of the gameplay is actually healing. The game has a torch-system, a constant timer that ticks down and when you run out of torches you lose. Most of your time will actually be spent crafting potions, using items, buffing your EXP and doing everything in your power to find Torches. After every fail, aka running out of torches, you receive points based on your performance which you can then spend on upgrades, restarting with a bit more buffs than you did the last time.

Overall I was expecting a game focused on healing and what I got was a game focused on torches. Not once have I encountered challenge in healing or managing damage income during the time I have played. It's an alright game if grabbed at high discount that heavily suffers from an unfortunate timer system.

You're a healer tasked with healing a knight to get out of a dark dungeon. If it gets dark or the knight falls, it's game over.

The game has simple and cute graphics, great soundtrack and interesting gameplay. The game is relatively short once you learn the basics, but great nonetheless. I recommend it if you'd like to try something new/aren't terribly allergic to indie games!

Tips for new players:
* Keep shuffling your mana with the Faith-skill. You might lose 20 mana by getting a small bottle, but most of the time you'll get a larger bottle back.
* Boost EXP as often as possible. Don't skip tiers as soon as you get the red orb, try to get some EXP before leaving (unless it's raining).
* Get the torch from each tier if possible. If you see the torch two enemies away, use the sword-skill twice in a row to activate piercing, which does damage to two enemies in the same lane. If the torch is nowhere to be seen and you're strapped for time, use the red orb and hope that a torch is close by in the next tier.
* Don't stay in one tier for too long, try to keep a minimum of two-three torches at all times. Don't despair if this isn't possible.
* Upgrade skills affecting the torch, EXP and Discipline (EXP Boost-skill).
* Enemies attack before your knight does, keep this in mind and heal pre-emptively.
* For the last boss spam the sword skill with all your mana.

This game is purely about resource management.

I decided to write a very indepth review so you know if this game is for you.

You play as the titular healer and your task is to keep your Knight alive as you make your way out of a dungeon.

The combat/game is entirely in real time and your Knight has 5 body parts that you need to keep topped off. Enemies will telegraph with a speech bubble where they will hit.

You start with a basic heal spell and a way to craft various potions and other useful things. As you kill enemies you get levels and can learn new spells or upgrade an existing one. The game does not pause as this is happening.

Once you die you get some points that you can spend on upgrades that carry over from game to game so you can last longer.

Note that the game is actually very fast paced, despite what it may sound like.

You must:
1)Manage your mana that you use to cast spells. The game has a day/night cycle and during the Night you have mana regen. How much, depends on how full the moon is which is displayed on the screen. Can you last till its night if you cast a buff or should you save it for heals?

2)Manage your crafting materials. You can only hold 5 of a single incredient, do you make a potion now so you can pick up more or wait untill you get others so you can make something more powerful?

3)Manage your Knights HP. Probably self explanatory. If one of his body parts "dies" he gets pottentially a massive disadvantage.

4)Manage your torches. You have a limited amount of time to spend in the dungeon as indicated by your torch counter. The torch burns down slowly over time and once all your torches run out you die. Each encounter will drop at least 1 torch for you, but you must kill the enemies fast and efficient to break even.

5)Manage your items. You can craft or find various items. You can either use them as intended or burn them to extend your torch's life time. Do you REALLY need that potion? You can hold a maxium of 5 items, so it doesn't get too cluttered at any point.

6)Manage what your knight is killing. You must switch targets manually to choose what he attacks. He WILL attack an empty space if you're not paying attention. Some enemies can do stuff like make it rain so your torch will drain faster and the rain wont stop till you kill them, so you must prioritize.

7)Manage/choose when to use the red ball. All encounters will also drop 1 red ball. If you USE the red ball, you will kill all remaining enemies in the encounter but they will NOT give you EXP or items. If you're running out of torch time it may be wise to grab the next one, cut your losses and kill everything to save its burn time. The ball will vanish from your inventory after all enemies are dead, so you can't save it. You must pick up a new one in the next encounter and it may be a while before it appears.


The gameplay loop is roughly:
4 lines of enemies appear, you help your Knight kill them by healing/buffing him. Then your duo advances automatically to the next encounter. You aim to do this as efficiently as possible to keep your torch burning. Then you die and get points depending how far you made it, use them on upgrades and start over.

I would recommend this game, if any of the above sound appealing.

A splendid little strategy/puzzle hybrid in which you're a healer tasked with healing a knight as he battles through a dungeon. You buff him, heal him, and keep him alive as long as you possibly can. While this sounds like some sort of MMO Healing Simulator on paper, you'll find that this game isn't at all simply a concept plucked from World of Warcraft and ends up containing a surprising amount of depth in its systems. You control the healer's resource management while deciding which targets the knight should eliminate first in semi turn-based combat. It's a lot of fun, and very addicting.

A lot of the game isn't explained to you, and is designed to be tackled multiple times as you learn and hope to get further into the dungeon with each attempt. While it comes off as very obtuse at first, the game presents a fair learning curve that you'll figure out by the third or fourth run.

The only downsides I've found are a lack of polish in the some areas. None of the music loops properly, and the transition between waves is a bit too long, even on fast-forward. The RNG on wave formations might screw you over too, so be prepared for a few frustrating moments. But if you can look past those sorts of things, there's a good time to be found here.

Finally I can be a healer without getting stuck with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ PUG!

A somewhat light game where you play as healer trying to keep your tank alive. It's actually a resource and time management game, you have a skill that increase the exp you gain from fights, so most of the time you'll want to cast it. As with any good healer know, the trick is to keep the tank alive just barely and not overheal, so you can use your mana for other things.

Most of the time you'll be defeated not because your tank is defeated, but because you run out of time. You're timed by your torch. If you're lucky you can get extra torch from enemy, there's always one per wave. You can also burn your items to get more torch time. "Do I really need this bandage or should I just burn it for torch time?" There's also red orb that drop once per wave that will end the encounter, but if you use it you won't get anymore xp or item. "Do I use the red orb now or should I wait until I get extra torch/farm for xp"? You also need to direct the tank on where to attack, whether to attack enemy that summon rain to extinguish your torch, enemy that buff other enemies, or enemies that are just plain strong.

You get upgrade points even if you lose, to make your next runs easier and easier.

In sum, the game's pretty simple but it's pretty nice. And it's not that expensive either.

My playtime of 5.9 hours represents a 100% completion of the game. It is very short. However, for $4.99 it is well worth it (and I got it on sale at some point).

This is a roguelike game in which you play as a healer, protecting your knight and clearing wave after wave of monsters in a dungeon. You have basically 4 responsibilities

1. Heal/protect the individual limbs of your knight, as well as use your spells to enhance his offensive capabilities.
2. Select targets for your knight to attack.
3. Cast your EXP spell as often as possible to keep yourself and your knight gaining levels at a steady pace (and manage your ability points as you level up)
4. Craft items to compensate for anything you can't manage.

The basic strategy is to pick up the torch on every level as well as the Red Stone, which allows you to instantly clear a level. When you fail (and you will probably fail) you can use the points you earn to upgrade your healer's spells, the rate at which your knight earns exp, and the drop rate of materials.

It is a very simple game with serviceable graphics, but still quite fun. If you like rougelike games and just want to pick up a game to kill maybe 5-15 minutes per play (late game), then I would definitely recommend this game even at the full price of $4.99. If you like games with a story, I would pass on this one as there is no story to speak of. Still, if you can pick it up on sale for $3-4, I'd say you should give it a try anyway.

This game is like a dream come true for me; in RPGs, I find myself most useful as a healer/cleric/support/etc, and this game caters purely to that style. I had a great time learning and mastering how to play this game, and felt a great sense of accomplishment after beating the main story mode.

One thing I'd like to get out of the way first is that this game can be played entirely with the mouse; although the startup screen implies you need a controller, a controller is not required. Do note, however, that a mouse with a scroll wheel is required as scrolling up/down changes which enemy the knight targets.

This game may seem a bit complicated at first, but it's easy to get the hang of; the knight also gives a helpful tip after each wave to assist new players. The game is relatively slow-paced, but in later levels, you'll thank the pacing of the game as each decision you make is critical, and you'll have more time to analyze the situation as the battle progresses. If you want things to go faster, you can hold the right mouse button to fast forward the game at any time.

Another thing I like about this game is that the game rewards you for playing, and not just for winning. What I mean by this is after every playthrough (win or lose), you're rewarded points that you can spend to permanently upgrade your abilities for your next playthrough. The amount of points you earn is proportional to how far you got in your last run. Fortunately, the start of the game is very beginner-friendly and allows you to gain these points for upgrades. I did mention the upgrades are permanent, but there is a challenge mode that allows you to play the main story with the upgrades disabled (you will not permanently lose your upgrades when doing this).

In conclusion, I think this game shines a brilliant light on a unique part of RPGs that focuses more on the support role rather than the hero role. I would not recommend this game for the plot, but rather for the gameplay itself (as there's more of a scenario/premise than a plot). The controls are simple and easy to learn, and the difficulty increases at a steady and challenging pace to keep you on your toes as you progress through the dungeon.