Greetings everyone from the icy depths of winter. Been a long time since I’ve written one of these. I haven’t been lacking ideas or games or experiences, just the time to really sit down to ruminate and write. So if the title gives you any indication I’ve really dived into supporting games-in-progress, whether it’s backing them in-development or joining an early access. Today I’d like to give you a p-review (see what I did there?) of some of the early access titles that I’ve gotten into in the last few months. This will be Part I of a two-parter, covering the indiest of indies. Without further ado….
Anamnesis is a card deck-building battler in the vein of Slay the Spire that boldly wears its indieness on its sleeves. It is also the very definition of an EARLY early access title. Why do I say that? At this point there is only one class in the game, the lady knight, however three more classes are planned: the Sorceress, Archer, and Warrior. Instead of rampant RNG, the potential “plague” of card games like Hearthstone, it proclaims “interesting and balanced game design where RNG is not the defining factor.” Of course, there is always the natural RNG you get from each hand, but not RNG in its effects. You build your deck to exploit various strategies like armor and elemental magic. I’ve had mostly (predictable) fun in this game, but at this point the lack of content may make some stay away until more is added. All the elements are there to see though, with a roadmap on the website and its Steam page.
Banners of Ruin is another roguelike deck-building card battler. What BOR nails is the atmosphere and aesthetic of mammals going claw to paw in some kind of medieval underworld. If you can forgive that mice, weasels, wolves and bears are roughly the same size in this game, you come up with a challenging and strategic battler that adds multiple team members and positioning on a JRPG-like battlefield. It sort of reminds me of my favorite RPG of 2018 Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep in its combat, but definitely not its art style and graphics, which are FAR superior. It feels appropriately crunchy, with nice metal on chainmail, blood-letting, and crossbow-firing sounds. One minor criticism would be the various factions at this point in early access: wolf, bear, beaver, weasel, mouse, and hare; do not feel distinct enough to stand out from each other – which seems bizarre, right? One major criticism, at least for me, is that they recently put otters into the game but not as playable characters. I consider otters my spirit animal and to not let me play as one is just a stab in the back. Kind of like a diabolical mouse with a bloody dagger standing over my stinking corpse. Do you hear me BOR? Add otters as a playable faction!
Guile & Glory: Firstborn is the most unique of the bunch. It is a mash-up of genres and ideas that on its face should not work, but it just gels nicely. Take NES-style graphics and mechanics, turn-based strategy, and thoughtful puzzling, and you’ve got G&GF. It’s top-down view is pretty standard for indie tactical games, but with the graphical touches reminiscent of pixel RPGs of yore, it feels like it has more depth and again, I love this word, crunchiness. See, it’s hard to really describe this game without just playing it. Luckily it has a demo on both its Steam and Itch pages. I recommend giving that a go. I’m pretty sure it’ll convince you to early access it!
Shores Unknown is a tactical turn-based RPG. I had a chance to play the early beta and was quite impressed with what it accomplished. It puts its own twist on the XCOM combat formula, even though it’s perspective and theme is more Divinity Original Sin. I think what I like most about this game is the exploration. Since I’ve largely been stuck inside for the past year (and likely will be for at least another month), it’s nice to have games that really emphasize exploration in new worlds with murky threats on the horizon and very real threats to crunchily combat. I think my favorite part of the combat is how the characters seem to bob and weave while you are deciding their moves. It’s like some kind of sick dance of death. Unfortunately there is no demo to give you a taste, but if you crave a well-crafted indie turn-based RPG I don’t think you can go wrong with this one.