Recent reviews by ｋｋｄｍ

it's alright

Fun and pretty unique offering in the action roguelite subgenre!
This game's biggest problem is an initial very steep hurdle in the form of the visual style and the (initially) overwhelming learning curve. You can animation cancel almost everything. When do I keep doing my combo, when do I parry, what's the most optimal string to do, where should I aim, etc? All while trying to not die.

It really looks like a cluster♥♥♥♥, but I promise once you get used to it, you can pretty much tell what is happening via some HUD/UI elements and audio cues. The dev is still improving these, also.

Once you get over those things though, it's a very fun and satisfying human blender simulator. Mastering the mechanics and keeping uptime on invulnerability while mowing down hordes of enemies is very gratifying. There are also elites and bosses which of course have nastier attacks and (at times, much) larger health pools.

Especially since the class combo rework, every class has its own sort of gimmick/thing now and it's really fun checking them all out.

Purchased very early in EA, and then they decided to use AI-generated art down the line.

A novel offering in the co-op roguelite space. Just don't get too hung up on the idea of balance; Shiny Shoe prioritizes "fun" as much as possible and tends to avoid heavy nerfs to all but the most egregious of outliers.

Solo play feels very streamlined. Party play is best done with like-minded folk, but it's puggable if people are knowledgeable. Overall just a very fun game; if you enjoy strategic turn-based combat and making broken builds, get this game. Here's to hoping for Shiny Shoe's success.

edit: realized I didn't actually write anything about how the game works, if you want those details, I added them to the bottom

Some of the most fun I've had in a roguelite in a long while, and I've played a good number of them.
This is a true gem and deserves all the support it can get. I hope the devs continue to make games.

Note: if you haven't played platform fighters (Super Smash Bros and similar games) before, there might be a bit of a learning curve. For platform fighter vets, this game is basically drugs. Many drugs.



How does the game actually work?
This is platform fighter with typical roguelite gameloop (have a number of acts, progress through each act choosing between rooms with different rewards, boss at end of each act, repeat til all acts are done + final boss).

At the beginning of your run, you choose your weapon and mask. Your weapon determines your basic moveset (normals, heavy attacks, aerials) and there are 10 different completely unique weapons as of writing. Your mask gives you extra passives and can really change your playstyle. For example, one makes you floatier and gives you an extra air jump; another incentivizes using a lot of charged heavy attacks.

During the run, you draft blessings from different spirits that alter the way your moves (attacks, heavies, dash, etc) work. This is also when you pick your 2 "specials" (a more projectile-like move and then a more varied special type move). There are even synergy blessings that give some pretty unique effects.

There's more roguelite build-altering stuff like relics and whatnot that really let you branch out (or hyperfocus) your build. What's great is it's just not numbers; there are a lot of effects that change the way you play, which attacks you would use, positioning and movement, etc. It's very awesome. Just get the game already.

This is not my first T/SRPG, nor is it my first deckbuilding RPG/crawler. I was pretty thrilled to learn a combo of the two existed, so I bought this game without hesitation.

tl;dr
Strengths:
-Very satisfying but challenging western-style SRPG combat
-Challenging deckbuilding; you must find synergy and/or support between your three character decks
-A good amount of options for builds keeps the game interesting
-Different game modes with varying lengths/difficulties to cater to your playsession needs

Considerations:
-"RPG Campaign" style offers free-form progression within a run at the expense of introducing stressful resource management; if you just want to turn your brain off and choose from a few nodes along a path, this may be unpleasant
-While there are varied options for character builds, you are definitely shoehorned into playing to the game's specific mechanics; this is not really a "sandbox" deckbuilder like Monster Train where you can make most anything strong
-It's 3D but don't expect action-packed AAA graphics. Are you really here for that anyway?

Overview:
ToF games are split into two major parts: the campaign and the fights themselves. The campaign is a tabletop RPG-reminiscent affair where you traverse a world map, balancing your resources versus distance explored, encountering fights, resources, and small RP events that have varied outcomes. Level ups and some RP events allow you to expand each character's core deck, while equipment (which is upgradeable and moddable) offers handfuls of hot swap cards.

Combat:
The combat is very good, though the tuning may feel inconsistent at times. The game can be very challenging at higher difficulties and will require strong deckbuilding and knowledge of enemy kits, as there are disruptive actions that may get in the way of your combos/setup. The system is definitely a western-style SRPG, with things like line of sight/obstruction and flanking/attacks of opportunity playing important roles. The constant risk of getting an out-of-position or undefended character gibbed (requiring precious resources to heal after the fight) makes pulling off combos and strong plays extremely satisfying.

Deckbuilding:
Deckbuilding veterans and fans will be treated to sufficient challenge here, as characters can literally only act depending on what they have in hand. You are challenged with not only building for strong combos and synergies, but also with making sure that your characters can each do something impactful per round (and avoid getting themselves killed). Powerful combos and infinites exist but are definitely difficult to pull off. There are multiple ways to build each character, but for the most part one or two major builds will shine through because of their sheer strength.

Everything else:
The UI is good enough, though I think it could be improved upon still. There aren't many ingame graphics, as the fights take place on a board populated with tokens, but that's alright, really-- let your imagination do some of the work. One thing I really enjoy is that you can easily replace character portrait and full body artwork with your own. The sounds, visual effects, and music are all sufficiently satisfying.

9/10

A solid roguelike experience for both fresh dungeon-divers and scarred savescummers! It's got a lot of depth but won't scare away newcomers with in-your-face complexity... And what's a roguelike without tons of replayability? The humour tops it off nicely, as well.