Recent reviews by an ethereal llama

Open the game to be inundated in advertisements. Once you get through all the popups for the things they want to sell you get to click through all the popups for various mail pieces that give you various currencies that none of which are ever 1 currency for 1 thing no no of course not, if you want to complete that quest you don't need ONE quest completion ticket you need 3 for this one, oh but 5 for another that gives the exact same reward. Just absolute egregious business practices and was off-putting enough to make me want to uninstall after the first couple games.

Hard No.

I legitimately tried to play this game. This game keeps freezing up my computer whenever I try to play. Like old school Windows XP freezing where it locks you out of Task Manager. I've got the specs for the game and I'm savvy enough to tinker around until things usually work but this game is just frustrating and feels like not worth the effort just to start playing.

[21 hours]
I've been having a good time with this game. So much so that I hit 20 hours of playing the game without spending a cent on it. One of the perks they give you for buying the battle pass thing is a couple freebies of shards and gold each day but those are able to be gotten through the phone by watching an ad which is annoying but doesn't seem unfair considering this is a fully mobile game as well.

Downloaded this on a whim because I enjoy the autobattlers with shops and saw the mixed reviews before playing and I think it's gotten a bad rap. Game seems pretty decent all things considered.

[120 hours]
I've spent $30 on this game. Two $15 purchases over the course of a couple months for the battle passes and feel pretty damn good about that money spent. 120 hours this game has kept my attention and I haven't really felt any pressures to spend money on the game other than a desire for more raw coins to upgrade the various dealers. I've mostly just been sitting on the free gems they give you for participating in the leagues and doing quests and that pace has felt slightly below par in terms of keeping dealer levels current but I also was not spending my gems on chests which provide said coins. My gut feeling is that I would still feel under-par by about 15% from average in terms of dealer levels if I had not purchased the battle pass though, so I think that's important to keep in mind.

Game is solid though, still lots of fun.

[160 hours]
Still having a blast with this game but I also drop the $15 for a battlepass every so often which seems to let you keep pace for most intents and purposes. I'll update again in another 40 or so hours if I'm still playing but I still hold firm that this game is fun, is accessible, and though does have some ridiculous pricing models on things there seems to be balancing happening around the battle pass and it's been adequate to avoid the frustrations of missing out on anything. I find myself needing gold more than anything, not the premium currency, but usually by small amounts I don't mind waiting a day to farm casually.

Looking forward to seeing how this shapes up because it's a fun game play loop.

I'm a big fan of these inventory management auto battler games. This one is very similar to Backpack Battles to mechanics but has a plate full of different content to mess around with. Nothing crazy innovative to find here but does scratch the itch it sets out to scratch and is worth checking out on that merit alone.

Thoroughly enjoyable spin on the Tetris format. Honestly, it felt like I was playing some house ruled Carcassonne, similar vibe to me.

This quirky little guy pulled me right in and knocked my socks off. It's a nice blend of format and themes that I'm really digging right now. The mechanics are fun but that pause button is basically the king pin in that regard because it would get overwhelming for me otherwise. Being able to stop everything and get a read on the situation as it's developing has a good feel to it.

TL;DR The mechs have heft as all mechs should.

Fun spin on a familiar format. It's worth playing the demo to see if it jams with you. My main critique is that the dungeon felt too long. With the way the demo is presented it's a bit disjointed between the kind of frenetic pace of overworld compared to deliberate and plodding in the dungeon. 3 levels is probably around where it passed the tipping point for me I think. I still enjoyed it though, fun puzzles.

This game comes packed with a 40+ hour long non-monetized F2P mode and it's honest to god a breath of fresh air. The game has no right being as good as it is for how little they try and open your wallet. Typical gacha elements are there, don't get me wrong. It's just that the game really does come with a legit non-monetized game mode and that alone is worth playing.

Battles start with the same music track as Final Fantasy Tactics and the sprite animations are very akin to the 1997 classic. All around, this game ticks all my boxes. Well made SRPG, storyline attempts a mature narrative and doesn't baby it down, entirely non-monetized F2P mode. Cons for me is that stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cat voice, give me a way to just turn ITS voice off. Such a silly gripe but it's really that annoying.

Don't sleep on this game, the devs deserve your attention at the very least. Celebrate well-made and ethically monetized games. This checks both boxes.

I've been playing these silly TD games since UMS maps in Brood War and WC3. This game is consistently one I come back to to scratch that itch. The different decks each feel distinct and progression within the decks is slow with marginal impact so the fact that the game is balanced quite well makes for fun meta-progression that places more emphasis on the run to run rogue side of things while still feeling like you come away with something in the end.