It's very nice! Even if a little rough around the edges.

The core mechanic here is that you connect dungeon pieces together and the character will move in to the closest tile on the piece. The character picks up items they walk over and fights (or takes damage from) on encounter tiles, so fitting pieces to pick what you might walk over first / later / preferably never adds some depth.

Also the music is very good!

I loved the demo of this game and looked forward to its full release, but it feels unfinished, buggy, and lacking in features.

First, the performance:

In a couple hours of *attempting* to play this game, it's crashed three times, hangs up frequently when placing tiles, and freezes and stops responding while on very long loading screens. I timed the last one, it took 3 minutes 27 seconds to load and looked for a while like it was just going to crash.

For the design and gameplay:

I love the gameplay loop, however this is a roguelite that drags you through the tutorial every single time you restart. It gets tedious quick, and I could find no option to skip it. I'd guess once you pass the first area, there won't be a tutorial, but I haven't gotten there yet and I don't know if I will at this point. Additionally, this tutorial negates any stat boosts you've gained from leveling in normal play, which makes it still more tedious.

The pathing is odd as well. If you place a tile that connects in two different places, you still only move to the beginning of the placed tile, and don't continue further, which caused me to lose my earned bonuses on 'find the exit' levels for not 'reaching the exit' when I placed a tile that should have pathed me over to the exit. I'm not even sure if these levels can be successfully completed with all bonuses in the current state. In one instance when I did this, the game froze after placing the tile, and then my character took a completely different path than the one indicated when I'd placed the tile, one that accounted for the multiple paths created by the way they linked.

Additionally, there are zero options outside of volume and fullscreen/windowed. No accessibility options, no options to change graphics settings. When you're inside a run, there's no way I could find to double check what kind of challenge you're on or to look back at the map path, nor is there much of an interface to look at character details or perks during a run. Moreover, the movespeed is not very fast, and there is no way to change that speed, which feels incredibly stifling for someone who expects a 'rogue-lite' to be relatively fast-paced.

I'm not one to write many critical reviews, and honestly, the core of this game is absolutely lovely with a puzzle-based gameplay loop I'd happily spend hours on. However, in its current state I can't do that without the game crashing, hanging up, or spending more time on loading screens than it takes to play the level. Once it's had a couple patches this could be a classic, but it's not there yet.

I’ve been following Once Upon A Tile for a while, playing it at conventions over the years, and did some palytesting beforehand...and now I am finally getting to experience the full game. <3
It’s been amazing to see how much it has improved and where it all started. I can remember the first time I played it at the gamescom2023 when it wasnt as polished but already got a grip on me :D "Let them cook"!

• The game is much fun and an overall good experience. Some smaller flaws here and there but thats the Indie Spirit !
  
• The artstyle is simple but effective and looks really nice and gives a great vibe!
  
• Until yet no crashes or freezes! :D Hope it stays like this
  
• Different characters are interesting and the story got enough motivation to push through the game
  
• Rotating the map, choosing the tiles, planning the path in your head and all that has a relaxing fascination
  
• The collectibles and unlockables motivate to play another round and try another run