★★★★★ Fantastic start; Needs Polish
Sat Apr 09 2022 milKyMitsuSo far the gameplay has been very fun. The core mechanics are executed great and while similar in some aspects with games like slay the Spire, has good orginal ideas. One idea i really like is that basically all the enemies buff themselves with increased damage over time which stacks up and forces you to balance attack and defense cards. One early game boss dumpstered me when I had only one attack in my deck. There are some balanced issues in the game and some complexity with buffs that just seems more for the sake of complexity than gameplay, such as the energy system; you have a energy regen per turn, max energy, increase energy regen buff, increased max energy buff, temporary increased max energy buff, and a few more. This energy part is where there might be some better solution with cutting down the card price and also energy buff. In the end, the game is fantastic and the devs really seem to care for the game. The ads are short and far between and there are no monetisation except for ad removal(for those who know the ads can just be circumvented but I’m not gonna say how) 10/10
★★★★★ Great indie ftp game; they deserve the money
Fri Apr 01 2022 ScyllaeThere are a lot of free-to-play mobile games out there from big name developers, and two things almost all of them have in common are very little actual game in the game, and really toxic income models based around paid limited-time event items that are meant to induce FOMO (buy it now or miss out forever!). This ftp indie game, on the other hand, has a much healthier payment model that also gives you far more for your money--if you choose to spend it--making it clear that the developers actually want to make games rather than exploitative money traps (with admittedly very nice art, generally).
On its own merits, I'm really enjoying this game so far. It's a lot like Slay the Spire and other deckbuilding roguelikes, but it has enough differences that it still feels fresh to me. There are very few ads, and so far none have been longer than the couple seconds it takes to skip, but I'll still probably buy the $5 offer to remove them because there's way more than $5 worth of game here, especially judging by ftp mobile game standards.
★★★★★ Well worthwhile
Tue Jan 18 2022 Brutalitops (the magician~!)This game costs good money on Steam, and was frankly worth its price tag there.
This mobile adaptation is free, with virtually no downside other than some ads (which you can banish for a pittance if you can’t handle that). So right off the bat: rock solid value at the price tag of free or that small IAP.
On the game itself, it’s a deck crawler ala Slay the Spire et al, but has a lot of interesting little flourishes to make it unique. There are persistent progress elements on both single character and blanket levels, unlockable cards and characters, multiple difficult levels, quests, and the ability to edit starting decks, which is a fair spread of replay value features. Meanwhile, the combat involves some novelty in the form of elemental damage, which forms stacks that trigger past a certain threshold to unique effects, then reset with the enemy gaining some resistance. It makes for an interesting tactical challenge, since you can streamline a deck to stack up a single element (say, Frost) really quickly, but then a boss might become to resistant to lock down readily after you’ve triggered it four or five times. What’s your balance between focus/efficiency and diversifying your attack types?
At a price of free, any card game fan owes it to themselves to try it. You can uninstall after if you aren’t impressed, right?
★★★★★ First hour playing review
Fri Sep 02 2022 tacolazorsEvery time I play another free roguelike, I think to myself: why am I not just playing slay the spire? So keep in mind that I may be a little bias. The main thing is, I want there to be personality in the games I play, I don’t want to think of another similar game that I’d rather be playing, a big part of slay the spire’s appeal is that every run, card, enemy, relic, encounter, etc. feels unique, and that’s the area where a lot of these free mobile roguelikes fail at. Give me diffrent enemy health values and attack patterns. Because otherwise it’s repetitive. Another thing that’s a big turnoff for me is that there’s a deck builder. The appeal of a rogue like for me is making the best deck I can throughout a given run. But if most of my deck’s composition is set before the run even starts, what’s even the point? For me, there’s no choices if you give me too many choices. That’s pretty much it.
Three stars because I wasn’t bored while playing, but also wasn’t particularly stimulated either
★★★★★ Fantastic, but some rares aren’t playable
Wed Apr 12 2023 JustAnotherCommuterI’ve been playing for about a year now and love it. Exactly what I’m looking for, and the monetization is right on the money ;)
The difficulty curve is my only complaint (and it is small). It’s almost right, but there are two things I’d like improved:
- a number of cards only synergies with a small portion of other cards. This makes those specific builds strong, but I don’t feel like I can invent a new build in this game. That’s fine, it might not be that kind of game. It is a little disappointing though. Fortunately there are enough cards to make two (rarely a third) build for each character that is good enough to beat the game.
- Cards that don’t fit into these aren’t good enough to help you make it to the end. Often this includes some of the rare cards that have the most unique/powerful effects, which I want to play because they look fun, but when I try they fall flat. Not all of them, but enough to be disappointed that they don’t fit into the ‘winning’ builds.
Maybe I just need to Google more builds, there might be more out there than I’m aware of. Overall still a 5-star game. Better than 95% of the App Store, and better than 100% of the free competitors. I have slay the spire on pc, and it’s equally fun. Great job devs!
★★★★★ Great Game - Love The Game Mechanics
Sat Jul 09 2022 TovalkinI absolutely love this genre of game and have played similar games such as Dream Quest, Slay the Spire, Night of the Full Moon, Pirates Outlaws, Dawncaster, Meteorfall, and more. So far I am really enjoying Breach Wanderers and of course there are similarities with all the others (how can there not be?) but they do a great job with unique mechanics and absolutely love the way debuffs (like frost, arcane, etc) work. The difficulty seems pretty good so far and as far as I can tell the monetization seems fair. I bought the starter package for $2.99 which removes ads and increases internal currency gain. You can buy more internal currency as well, but right now it only ‘speeds’ along the game progression and is not needed (at least from what I can tell with where I am at in the game - maybe end game you have to spend money? Idk). I would recommend giving this a try.
★★★★★ More fleshed out than I originally thought
Sat Apr 09 2022 TheMemesBeDankI wasn’t necessarily expecting too much coming from other card roguelikes, but honestly some of the mechanics surprised me. Arcane, Frost, and Shock meters were definitely a welcome change from the typical “attack directly” approach as it allows for a ton more versatility in attacks and defenses. I definitely appreciate the thorough explanations of each buff and debuff too, given there’s so much to keep track of. The main thing I’d recommend is to better optimize the game for edges of mobile screens; I’m finding I’m having to rotate my screen to read certain boxes of text since my iPhone notch covers some of the text. Additionally some of the buttons are cut off by the rounded corners of the screen. Great job so far, definitely a promising contender especially in early access!
★★★★★ A Solid and Unique Deckbuilder
Fri Jun 28 2024 Bob DewalrusI love deckbuilders and have tried practically every one available for mobile that isn’t ad based or pay to win. My top tier includes best in class Dawncaster, ground breakers Slay the Spire and Monster Train, and 5 stars Ascension, Star Realms, and Mystic Vale. This game is not on that level, but it’s very good. The art is distinctive, the gameplay is fun without too much tension, the cards and synergies are well thought out. The rewards system is both familiar and spiced with new ideas. The game structure is definitely Slay the Spire, and if I could give the devs one suggestion for improvement it would be to study Dawncaster and steal some of its better concepts, like stronger narrative and character depth and more immersive progression choices. But this game is fine as it is, a solid 4 out of 5, well worth purchasing if you like these games at all.
