Lately, roguelites and deckbuilders are a dime a dozen, but it surely looks like builders are discovering methods to get inventive with the style mechanics to provide one thing that stands out from the glut of releases these previous a number of years. Dicefolk affords one such inventive tackle the roguelite system, mixing in a splash of Pokémon-esque monster catching as a part of its distinctive strategy. Those that love deckbuilders will discover tons to understand right here, because it builds round an addictive and strategically in-depth fight system that’ll hold you continuously coming again for yet one more run.
Dicefolk’s story is fairly fundamental. A woman named Alea, a member of the titular folks, discovers she will use her powers to tame and befriend highly effective creatures known as chimeras which roam the land. Utilizing this newfound capacity, Alea units out on a quest to battle an evil wizard who was sealed away years in the past, hoping to stymie his darkish affect and convey peace to the world. These of you wanting for lots of narrative parts in a roguelite could also be dissatisfied on the comparatively skinny worldbuilding and plot right here, however we did not really feel that the dearth of a powerful storyline took away a lot from the core monster battling.
A typical run in Dicefolk duties you with making it previous three flooring of a dungeon, every with a random assortment of fight encounters, retailers, and occasions to uncover. You technically solely should beat the boss of every flooring to maneuver on to the following one, but it surely’s not often that straightforward given that you simply’re initially not proven the place the boss is on the map and the trail to get there isn’t a direct shot. There’s thus somewhat little bit of planning and technique that has to enter the way you strategy every flooring, weighing the dangers and advantages of which occasions and fight encounters you select to have interaction in. That store on the sting of the map might have an merchandise that’ll completely synergize together with your construct, however is it well worth the combat you’ll should win to achieve it? Such selections all the time really feel significant as a result of there are penalties, good and unhealthy, that come out of your selections.
Fight in Dicefolk reminds us a little bit of rotation battles from the Pokémon collection—there will be solely as much as three chimeras on both staff directly, however solely one after the other will be within the energetic ‘lead’ place. Although the lead is the one one who can instantly assault for that flip, there are some situations through which one or each chimeras on the backline can get in an assault, akin to one we favored in early runs which might squeeze in a free assault as quickly as all cube for that flip had been used up. Moreover, the 2 chimeras on the backline aren’t utterly immune to break; though the chief typically can solely assault the opposite chief, there are a slew of strikes that can be utilized to bypass this restriction.
Rotation itself is used as a really intelligent mechanic, whereby positioning and the timing of that positioning are simply as necessary because the actions you’re taking when in place. We had a chimera on some runs which might get in a free assault on the finish of the flip, however provided that it was rotated out of the lead place beforehand. One other chimera had an merchandise that will grant it a power buff each time it was rotated into the lead place, however it might obtain a barely smaller power debuff when rotated out. We appreciated the extra layer of technique that such fight results added to battles, as you are usually given far more to contemplate than who ought to be within the lead.
You gained’t essentially have the ability to rotate your staff each flip, nevertheless, because the potential actions accessible are determined semi-randomly by cube rolls, introducing a pleasant quantity of likelihood to every spherical with out utterly leaving you uncontrolled. You begin out with three cube in your staff, every of which locks in certainly one of six actions—akin to rotating in a selected route or attacking—after they’ve been rolled initially of every flip. Every die typically has a ‘theme’, akin to offensive actions or help actions, however you’ll be able to modify the actions mapped to their faces from time to time between battles to increase their usefulness.
Some might balk on the considered a turn-based RPG with random actions every flip, however we loved how this locations somewhat extra emphasis on technique that takes place outdoors of fight. You possibly can optionally improve your cube with new, extra highly effective actions through a service provider on the world map, and there’s all the time some deliberation over which die that newly bought motion ought to go on. There’s no avoiding the fact that you’re going to typically simply get a foul roll, however that is all a part of the significance of tailoring your cube configurations to your distinctive staff and playstyle. With time, you get extra of a ‘construct’ going that allows methods to get new utility out of your cube, and you may all the time revise them alongside the best way to higher match the best way your staff is coming collectively.
One other fascinating gameplay mechanic is present in the best way that actions for a flip are ordered. At first of every flip, Alea doesn’t simply roll cube that decide her staff’s actions, she additionally rolls a pair that resolve what the enemy staff will do. As soon as rolled, it’s then as much as you to resolve when every motion takes place. You possibly can’t begin the following flip till you’ve activated all of the enemy staff’s cube, however you’ll be able to plan round when their actions will set off to offer your staff the sting.
For instance, the enemy staff might roll a “Conflict Assault”, which signifies that the staff member they assault will strike again. To make sure you profit from this when triggered (and assuming you rolled the required cube), you can first select to spend a die to rotate your hardest-hitting chimera to the lead place and activate the “Guard” capacity with one other die, utterly mitigating any harm for one assault. So, fairly than buying and selling blows, you as an alternative handle to get a free heavy assault on them.
We liked attending to resolve the actions of each groups, because it forces you to assume by means of the battle from each side and contemplate all of the potential ways in which the flip might play out. There’s no escaping the enemy’s actions, however having the information of what’s coming and the liberty to find out when it comes provides you much more company to form turns accordingly.
All of that is to say, Dicefolk has an impressively designed battle system with a number of strategic depth. There are a number of elements to contemplate, from particular person turns to a extra high-level view as you’re slowly constructing your staff all through the run. Participant selections are significant with out feeling overwhelming, whereas the infusion of random parts retains every encounter feeling dynamic with out being too chaotic.
As for the monster-catching ingredient, issues are somewhat extra easy than comparable methods present in Pokémon or Shin Megami Tensei. On every flooring, there are three shrines that randomly generate a chimera out of your accessible pool, and including one is so simple as choosing which you’d like. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to solely take one chimera per flooring, and the choices aren’t revealed till you’ve found all three shrines. You possibly can simply seize the primary, however you’ll by no means know if one thing higher would possibly’ve been an possibility had you waited. Then again, a chimera at the moment in your staff could also be knocked out or near it and also you’re all out of revives, which implies you are a lot much less more likely to survive the required battles to make it to the opposite shrines.
We loved this danger/reward system in terms of chimera acquisition, as you are inevitably going to have to offer one thing up. Not solely do it’s important to completely launch a present chimera in your staff to make room, however each determination to not take one is last. This makes each new chimera alternative really feel like an occasion.
Dicefolk is general on the ‘simple’ finish of the issue spectrum—we practically beat the ultimate boss of our very first run—however these of you who recognize metaprogression parts might be happy to know that there’s some progress carryover to make future makes an attempt simpler. After a run is completed (win or lose) your progress might be transformed into expertise factors for the category of chimeras from that run, unlocking new chimeras, loot, occasions, and extra for the pool to probably seem in future makes an attempt. You’re nonetheless on the mercy of RNG relating to which chimeras present up on the shrines or what objects seem in a flooring’s store, however we appreciated that sense of ahead development no matter a run’s consequence.
The one criticism now we have about Dicefolk, which is extra of a nitpick, is that it feels prefer it lacks some get together progress parts that will make runs that rather more partaking. Chimeras cannot stage up or develop all through a run—they merely come ‘as is’, which makes them really feel like static instruments you modify with objects as an alternative of residing monsters you’re recruiting and coaching. It could’ve been cool if there have been a approach for them to realize new expertise or energy up present ones after successful sufficient battles, and even higher, if a few of them might evolve right into a extra highly effective kind after they accrued sufficient expertise or met particular situations. Nonetheless, whereas this lack of individualized development looks like a missed alternative, it simply highlights that there’s loads of room for enlargement and new concepts on this gameplay system ought to there ever be a Dicefolk 2.
As for its presentation, Dicefolk executes an attractive artwork fashion considerably harking back to ’80s cartoons. Chimera designs is probably not anyplace close to as iconic as Pokémon, however most of them are colourful and artistic in their very own approach. Our favourite was a schnauzer decked out with seaweed as an alternative of hair. In the meantime, biome designs generally is a little plain—after all there’s a poison swamp—however we loved the eye to little particulars, akin to a breeze often blowing throughout grassy plains within the background.