Recent reviews by JazzElves

Would like it more if this were a new adventure zone, but it's a fun side story.

I am a very simple person, I see a lightning lady, I appreciate
(Also: plays well and fills an interesting niche, I like her)

Turtle man poisons far too many enemies, news at 11

Pirate story fun

Have you ever thought "slay the spire would be great if I could play it with three of my friends and it also had levelup mechanics, an RPG story, and more metaprogression"?

Well this isn't quite as tight as the genre-definer but it's really fun. And bonus: multiple sword ladies.

A pretty solid adventure deckbuilder. The act structure sets it apart from a basic Slay the Spire: you can choose the order you go through the initial zones (which each have themed enemies and specific boss pools) and that's a standout to me.

Both characters present have distinct playstyles; I hope there's more to come, but I'm pretty satisfied with the ones we've got so far.

Things I didn't know I needed in my life: Roguelike peggle
Things I absolutely needed in my life: Roguelike peggle

When I first heard about it I was like "cool concept but not how I like my roguelites, gimme like, a story, or a little guy I can dress up and move around, glad it exists though"

Then I tried the demo when a friend told me it was super cool

I have now played increasingly illegal poker in bed for almost 10 hours straight and I am only pausing to write this review before I try to make something even more illegal. CARD CRIMES GO

The robots are cute and make good noises
VERY satisfying happy robot noises!
City management is... really fun, actually
Overall, several simple loops, so far it's a comfortable game more than a challenging one, but that's excellent to relax to.

My friends have also decided that Robo-Burgers are vegan, because we can't figure out where the robo-steaks come from: you never see a robo-cow either built or butchered, so we think maybe robo-steaks are robo-waste? Like you go up and unscrew a flank and eventually there's just another robo steak flank there.

Game is good.

Strong characterization. Charming. Solid voice acting. A fun story, with pulpy stakes. Leans heavily on classic story tropes; executes them well and demonstrates why they became classics. So far, haven't met a single character I don't either love, or love to hate.

Doesn't play as tightly with tactics and advancement as some of my other favorite turn-based tactical games; I feel it more than makes up for it with the infiltration-mode interaction and (generally) grab-and-scoot mission objectives. It's not a game where "if the guns come out, you've already lost", but it IS a game where "go in guns blazing" might be a second or even third priority depending on the job. And when you do go in, it feels good. I will never get tired of starting a fight by having Ingrid just hurtle across the map, clothesline three unsuspecting goons and take them out of the action before the fight begins, and then be in position to punch 4 more before they can act. It feels great.

This is a good game. There's room for improvement; I've hit some instabilities and crashes, I wish there were larger skill trees and a few more customization/tactical options, it does feel like it's designed for repeated shorter plays than for one sprawling playthrough. There's also room for expansion: it's a self-contained story, but there's room for more characters, room for more stories, room for followup games in this setting with or without the same crew.

I know the reasons we're unlikely to get those. I'm happy we got this game as it is. I hope there's a future where we get more.