I MIGHT recomend this game with a caveat, please scroll to the bottom to see it, or better yet read the whole review!
(updated review posted below original)

--Original review posted Jun 19, 2015--

Just doesn't deliver.

I wanted to like this game so much, I really did. I liked the concept and I was hooked by the write up. But it just doesn't deliver a fun and engaging experience. The real and true fault to the game is that it doesn't do what the main hook of the game is delivered as. The legacy system is really no different than a game reset in the long run. In most roguelikes, you get a game over and maybe you've made some progress towards your next game. In this one you have a limited number of turns, usually around 40 or so, and then the game forces you into and end scenario. Often times you spend the last quarter of your life just trying to FIND a mate so that you can continue your legacy of mediocrity.

So, it's billed as a "roguelike/4X strategy game about life, legacy & love"

4X ? Maybe only in the very loosest of definitions.

Do you 'explore' yes, you explore a bland and ultimately uninteresting proceedurarly generated world. But once you explore the area, it doesn't change in future legacy characters. HOWEVER the fog of war DOES reset. So either hope you have a really good memory or ask yourself why the fog of war reset.

Do you 'expand' ? I would say no. You don't really have any classic base or sphere of influence that you expand. Oh you can upgrade other towns, but since they 'rot' over a generation or two, there's no sense of actual building or accomplishment.

Do you 'exploit' resources? Yes, ok, this is one of the 4 "x"es that you actually do. You kill monsters, loot mines, find artifacts, etc.

Do you exterminate? Kinda. You fight monsters and other 'heroes' like yourself, but there's no sense of accomplishment because they are constantly respawning every generation. So it's more like whack a mole, not exterminating any enemy.


Have you found the common thread in everything that I've written yet? It's that the legacy system is basically broken in my opinion. There's really no sense of accomplishment or forward progression. You spend 20-25% of your turns looking for a mate to try to continue your legacy instead of trying to do quests or explore, and then you start all over with a new hero. After playing for 90 minutes, I felt like I'd accomplished absolutely nothing upon my new hero.

I might give this game another go if they do a signifigant update to the legacy system, but otherwise it's getting banished to the 'never to be played again' list of steam games. On the off chance that Heart Shaped Games LLC reads this:

Get rid of building decay, have coins automatically carry over on each legacy, and maybe a percentage of the previous hero's strength and / or fame. Otherwise the whole legacy system in it's current incarnation is nothing more than a soft reset.




--updated review Oct 13, 2015--

Sometimes it's a shame that you can only 'reccomend' or 'not recomend' a game when you write a review. Because with the recent update, I really don't know if I feel like a "YES" or "NO" is exactly how I feel any longer.

Scott a dev from heartshapedgames was kind enough to take the time and write a feedback response to my original review. Let me say first of all any dev who takes the time to listen to feedback and reviews and then try to make their game better is already leaps and bounds ahead of others in the industry. That point alone scores major points in my book.

But lets get to the game and the changes. I will try not to rehash my original review too much and focus on the changes that I noticed in my play time.

Pro:
-Building decay, this is a NOTICIBLE difference from when I played last time and a very much needed change. The buildings still decay, but picking up a hammer or the right trait, and you can really make your buildings last forever. Ignore them and they will rot away in a little while. That's fine. It's not like you have to rebuild every year.

-Items: I don't know if this is just my memory, but it seems like there was a slew of new items dropping from the last time I played it many months before. Training swords, hammers, rafts... these items were in the game but I only ever saw them in shops before. It's entirely possible that I just missed them somehow during the first few hours of my play, I don't know. But it does have a positive effect.

Con:
-I was really hoping the legacy system would be boosted just a little. Everything I said in my original review still holds true. Gold doesn't carry over, nor does strength. Fame does to an extent, in that your legacy once built up starts to build, but it's very small. It's a bit disheartening to have someone with an epic legacy and their child is a no body. Really the son of Grokthak isn't even at ALL famous?

- Fog of war. I really don't understand why this exists at all on each new playthrough. I could almost understand if there was a 'semi' fog of war, a see through fog of war on each generation that obscured the monsters, but let you see terrain previous generations had explored. But since the world doesn't change between generations, resetting the fog of war just makes the game feel tedious when I'm thinking "now which town had the strength forts, and which had the farms?"

- Age, I've actually changed my mind on the whole 'looking for a mate' at the end of your life. Since your strength goes down in old age, that's when you should be retiring from adventuring and settling down to find a mate. So my gripe about that has been removed.... unfortunately it's been replaced by something else. The 'age' that you become an adult and gain a strength boost is fine. But middle age, and old age, shouldn't be 'set in stone' they should be a portion of your maximum life. Far too often I found myself effectively being forced into 'late game' by age for a hero because he hit a magical wall of age and lost a chunk of strength. Now I understand that any game has to have a 'game over' situation, and in this it's not finding a mate before you die. But I feel like pushing that old age penalty back a bit would be a bit better. Let me have the choice for one last epic battle with the dragon thing before seeking out a mate if I want to risk the loss. By making me lose 10 or more strength, I know I'm going to have next to no shot.

ANYWAYS, wrapping up, I DIDN't change my review from a 'no' I would not recommend this game. However, it comes with a caveat.


--THE CAVEAT--

Now, for the average player, based just on the description in the store page, NO, I would not recommend this game. However, that being said, I WOULD RECOMMEND this game, BUT with a caveat;
I would recommend this game as long as people know what they are getting into first.

Despite what it says on the store page, this game ISN'T a 4x strategy game.
This game ISN'T really a roguelike.
This game ISN'T really about life, legacy and love.
This game ISN'T really anything like Civilization or legend of zelda.

But what this game is, is a unique and interesting twist on tactical rpg-lite gaming. It's more akin to a board game than anything else in my opinion. But it can be very engaging and quite fun at times. Especially for the price, it's not a bad way to while away a few hours.

I feel like this is a pretty solid game, though it could be better, and hope that heartshapedgames continues to improve upon it.

I MIGHT recomend this game with a caveat, please scroll to the bottom to see it, or better yet read the whole review! (updated review posted below original) --Original review posted Jun 19, 2015-- Just doesn't deliver. I wanted to like this game so much, I really did. I liked the concept and I was hooked by the write up. But it just doesn't deliver a fun and engaging experience. The real and true fault to the game is that it doesn't do what the main hook of the game is delivered as. The legacy system is really no different than a game reset in the long run. In most roguelikes, you get a game over and maybe you've made some progress towards your next game. In this one you have a limited number of turns, usually around 40 or so, and then the game forces you into and end scenario. Often times you spend the last quarter of your life just trying to FIND a mate so that you can continue your legacy of mediocrity. So, it's billed as a "roguelike/4X strategy game about life, legacy & love" 4X ? Maybe only in the very loosest of definitions. Do you 'explore' yes, you explore a bland and ultimately uninteresting proceedurarly generated world. But once you explore the area, it doesn't change in future legacy characters. HOWEVER the fog of war DOES reset. So either hope you have a really good memory or ask yourself why the fog of war reset. Do you 'expand' ? I would say no. You don't really have any classic base or sphere of influence that you expand. Oh you can upgrade other towns, but since they 'rot' over a generation or two, there's no sense of actual building or accomplishment. Do you 'exploit' resources? Yes, ok, this is one of the 4 "x"es that you actually do. You kill monsters, loot mines, find artifacts, etc. Do you exterminate? Kinda. You fight monsters and other 'heroes' like yourself, but there's no sense of accomplishment because they are constantly respawning every generation. So it's more like whack a mole, not exterminating any enemy. Have you found the common thread in everything that I've written yet? It's that the legacy system is basically broken in my opinion. There's really no sense of accomplishment or forward progression. You spend 20-25% of your turns looking for a mate to try to continue your legacy instead of trying to do quests or explore, and then you start all over with a new hero. After playing for 90 minutes, I felt like I'd accomplished absolutely nothing upon my new hero. I might give this game another go if they do a signifigant update to the legacy system, but otherwise it's getting banished to the 'never to be played again' list of steam games. On the off chance that Heart Shaped Games LLC reads this: Get rid of building decay, have coins automatically carry over on each legacy, and maybe a percentage of the previous hero's strength and / or fame. Otherwise the whole legacy system in it's current incarnation is nothing more than a soft reset. --updated review Oct 13, 2015-- Sometimes it's a shame that you can only 'reccomend' or 'not recomend' a game when you write a review. Because with the recent update, I really don't know if I feel like a "YES" or "NO" is exactly how I feel any longer. Scott a dev from heartshapedgames was kind enough to take the time and write a feedback response to my original review. Let me say first of all any dev who takes the time to listen to feedback and reviews and then try to make their game better is already leaps and bounds ahead of others in the industry. That point alone scores major points in my book. But lets get to the game and the changes. I will try not to rehash my original review too much and focus on the changes that I noticed in my play time. Pro: -Building decay, this is a NOTICIBLE difference from when I played last time and a very much needed change. The buildings still decay, but picking up a hammer or the right trait, and you can really make your buildings last forever. Ignore them and they will rot away in a little while. That's fine. It's not like you have to rebuild every year. -Items: I don't know if this is just my memory, but it seems like there was a slew of new items dropping from the last time I played it many months before. Training swords, hammers, rafts... these items were in the game but I only ever saw them in shops before. It's entirely possible that I just missed them somehow during the first few hours of my play, I don't know. But it does have a positive effect. Con: -I was really hoping the legacy system would be boosted just a little. Everything I said in my original review still holds true. Gold doesn't carry over, nor does strength. Fame does to an extent, in that your legacy once built up starts to build, but it's very small. It's a bit disheartening to have someone with an epic legacy and their child is a no body. Really the son of Grokthak isn't even at ALL famous? - Fog of war. I really don't understand why this exists at all on each new playthrough. I could almost understand if there was a 'semi' fog of war, a see through fog of war on each generation that obscured the monsters, but let you see terrain previous generations had explored. But since the world doesn't change between generations, resetting the fog of war just makes the game feel tedious when I'm thinking "now which town had the strength forts, and which had the farms?" - Age, I've actually changed my mind on the whole 'looking for a mate' at the end of your life. Since your strength goes down in old age, that's when you should be retiring from adventuring and settling down to find a mate. So my gripe about that has been removed.... unfortunately it's been replaced by something else. The 'age' that you become an adult and gain a strength boost is fine. But middle age, and old age, shouldn't be 'set in stone' they should be a portion of your maximum life. Far too often I found myself effectively being forced into 'late game' by age for a hero because he hit a magical wall of age and lost a chunk of strength. Now I understand that any game has to have a 'game over' situation, and in this it's not finding a mate before you die. But I feel like pushing that old age penalty back a bit would be a bit better. Let me have the choice for one last epic battle with the dragon thing before seeking out a mate if I want to risk the loss. By making me lose 10 or more strength, I know I'm going to have next to no shot. ANYWAYS, wrapping up, I DIDN't change my review from a 'no' I would not recommend this game. However, it comes with a caveat. --THE CAVEAT-- Now, for the average player, based just on the description in the store page, NO, I would not recommend this game. However, that being said, I WOULD RECOMMEND this game, BUT with a caveat; I would recommend this game as long as people know what they are getting into first. Despite what it says on the store page, this game ISN'T a 4x strategy game. This game ISN'T really a roguelike. This game ISN'T really about life, legacy and love. This game ISN'T really anything like Civilization or legend of zelda. But what this game is, is a unique and interesting twist on tactical rpg-lite gaming. It's more akin to a board game than anything else in my opinion. But it can be very engaging and quite fun at times. Especially for the price, it's not a bad way to while away a few hours. I feel like this is a pretty solid game, though it could be better, and hope that heartshapedgames continues to improve upon it.