Is Basement a bad game? No, absolutely not. I'm sure there's a market for this type of game, and I thought I'd enjoy it a lot more than I did. But unfortunately while there's a LOT of good in this game there's just enough there that I don't like that would make me tell people to give this one a pass.

So first off the art and style is fantastic. Absolutely love the aesthetic of the game. Next the mechanics themselves are pretty solid, the game plays smoothly and logically. Finally while there's no tutorial the game play comes in episodic chapters that introduce the mechanics and game elements nicely. (I never tried sandbox mode in the 5.5 hrs played before this review)

However there's one massive flaw in the game, and it runs contrary to a lot of the other reviews I read. The game is quite difficult. In the normal campaign, I found myself having to reload each chapter / level several times trying to figure out the exact right balance of things needed for that particular level. Compounding this is what comes down to occasional RNG that can really hurt you. Sure the two gangs might attack each other and weaken each other so you can come in with thugs and clean them up. But far more often you'll find yourself moving your thugs out of an area only to have it reclaimed by gangs half a day later. Quite frankly it just isn't fun spending 2 hours on a level, reloading or restarting it over and over and over. Further compounding this is a lack of a difficulty slider or setting for the main game.

All in all, while I somewhat enjoyed this game, I find that I'm very glad I bought it on sale, and wouldn't recommend this game to my friends.

Is Basement a bad game? No, absolutely not. I'm sure there's a market for this type of game, and I thought I'd enjoy it a lot more than I did. But unfortunately while there's a LOT of good in this game there's just enough there that I don't like that would make me tell people to give this one a pass. So first off the art and style is fantastic. Absolutely love the aesthetic of the game. Next the mechanics themselves are pretty solid, the game plays smoothly and logically. Finally while there's no tutorial the game play comes in episodic chapters that introduce the mechanics and game elements nicely. (I never tried sandbox mode in the 5.5 hrs played before this review) However there's one massive flaw in the game, and it runs contrary to a lot of the other reviews I read. The game is quite difficult. In the normal campaign, I found myself having to reload each chapter / level several times trying to figure out the exact right balance of things needed for that particular level. Compounding this is what comes down to occasional RNG that can really hurt you. Sure the two gangs might attack each other and weaken each other so you can come in with thugs and clean them up. But far more often you'll find yourself moving your thugs out of an area only to have it reclaimed by gangs half a day later. Quite frankly it just isn't fun spending 2 hours on a level, reloading or restarting it over and over and over. Further compounding this is a lack of a difficulty slider or setting for the main game. All in all, while I somewhat enjoyed this game, I find that I'm very glad I bought it on sale, and wouldn't recommend this game to my friends.