WINNIE’S HOLE
Those sickos in Twice Different have one twisted mind, I will give them that. RING OF PAIN from them is one of my top roguelikes of all time, I sank way too many hours into that game, especially on my Switch. Only to buy it again on PC and do it all over again. Despite WINNIE’S HOLE at first giving me a bit of an eye-roll-inducing feeling that all they go for is a bit of a shock factor… I quickly changed my mind once I got my hands on the demo. In a way, it feels almost familiar. The language of icons, the methodologies of the mechanics, the visual style - it all very much reminded me of their previous game. I would consider it their strong point, to be frank. The studio does manage to create their own style, the flourishes, and ideations so very theirs that they seep into their new game, making if just a bit easier for me to jump into.
The concept is quite preposterous. A beloved soft-spoken and slightly oafish Winnie The Pooh, of course without the Disney-owned red shirt, roams the lands of the Hundred-Acre Woods in search of new victims. Yes, victims, for our poor bear is infected by a highly malevolent virus, taking over his malleable form. Sprouting maws, orifices, limbs, and tentacles aplenty, governed by hunger and drive to propagate. All that rather gross body horror is a lovely veneer for pretty clever roguelike systems. Using and growing tetris blocks to delve and grow into your host body to find valuable resources. Mutating and growing with perks and powers to unlock potential builds. Using the same blocks for combat in a deviously simple but unforgiving system rewards planning and smart use of your blocks to hit valuable combinations.
It’s very promising - after completing the demo I was hooked and happy to glimpse the potential, the variety of builds. And the story, too, had already its moments, making me curious about what was going on. And from where the virus came from. Will surely grab this one on release.
THE SPELL BRIGADE
At first, I was very much whelmed by this title. It is such a saturated genre that to entice me at this point in time, it really needs to do something special. And THE SPELL BRIGADE does feel like a very run-of-the-mill survivor clone, with all the usual bells and whistles. The upgrades to the spells were mostly numbers going up. The spells themselves are as rudimentary as it get. The enemy variety was rather lacking, but I can forgive that in a demo. In short, I was very close to just writing it off and checking one of the many dozens of peers in the genre.
Until I got to the elemental fusions and the multiplier element of the game. The elemental fusions aren’t anything revolutionary, frankly, but they do pack a wallop and are the big game changers in the flow of combat. In the demo got access only to Fire, Lightning, and the ‘meld’ of the two, but they were both very intuitive to play with and greatly increased the spells' fun factor. I sure do hope that the final game will have a fat selection of these elements - talking earth, air, water, poison, you name it.
Another aspect that surprised me was the multiplier aspect. It was a trifle to find a lobby with 2 more players or at least one, every single time, and playing with another wizard while being wary of the friendly fire was very fun. Not only due to gameplay implications of splitting the horde, and helping each other, but also thanks to quest design and revive system that strongly incentivized teamplay. I had a blast, and it was the first survivor-like multiplier I ever dabbled with, leaving a very positive impression. The game is in Early Access and I am quite tempted to buy and check it right now!
SULTAN’S GAME
Now this, this feels very fresh. I might instantly contradict this statement by comparing it to CULTIST SIMULATOR, but I do want you to have some frame of reference to begin with. This is a card game, through and through, but it is tightly controlled by a woven narrative. A capricious Sultan of immense wealth and power is bored of everything in life. Gold and treasures lost their luster. He knows every carnal pleasure. He has conquered all he could see. Life became vexing with drudgery. But his interest got piqued when a powerful magician presented him with a cruel game of mystical cards. Cursed by mighty spells, they require rituals to be completed and broken. This amused the mighty Sultan, but even such a game with the immensity of his powers was merely a diversion - every challenge so easily overcome.
But then a new fun emerged. You. You’re one of the Sultan’s courtiers, a noble of your own making. While you have some influence and wealth to your name, it is nowhere near that of your liege lord. And so, it amuses him to no end to make you play the unforgiving game, with additional spice added to it. Your looming execution. Each time a card is drawn, you are given just a week to see it broken - or it will be your head on a silver platter, for the Sultan has no patience for failure… or his growing boredom.
It’s a very clever setup, well handled by the game itself. Your goal is always going to be the accursed card from the magical box but to even find a way to crack it, you will need to use your people, your family, and your resources well… and swiftly. This is a dark fantasy presented before you - often you will need to make grim choices to meet the needs of the challenge put before you, as there will be no other way. Maybe just your beloved wife is of high enough status to be sacrificed to Bloodshed? Perhaps selling your people to gain enough going to fulfill the demands of Extravagance will be in order? The Demo was demanding indeed, failure is a constant companion. But the game's intrigues, beautiful art, and tantalizing concept kept me trying again and again. Can’t wait for the full release.
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