Dark Deity

Engaging characters, mechanics that are deep enough to make you think, a serviceable story... As a Fire Emblem clone, Dark Deity pretty much has it all ! None of it is extraordinary, but everything is quite solid ! The greatest strength of the game is probably its many and colorful characters. You recruit a couple of new ones every other chapter, and since they're usually higher level than your team, it's easy to try them out for a couple of missions. Maybe you like how they look, what they can do, or what they bring to your team so you replace one of your former members and start levelling them instead. You have no idea what your final group will look like ! The way they evolve is another strong point of Dark Deity. The rate at which you gain experience lets you level up often enough, and your characters can be promoted to stronger classes once they reach level 10 and 30. There are a lot of original options to choose from, each with their own stats and abilities, strengths and weaknesses, with some of the final specializations looking quite fancy ! There's a lot of depth in the way weapon advantage works. Too much, maybe, as some of it is a little convoluted. Each character carries four weapons, each focusing on raw damage, accuracy, critical chance, or a more balanced option. Going for critical chance is usually the way, but some characters fare better than others with different weapons, and it's up to you to choose what to upgrade depending on how they perform during the fights. Add to that the "aspects", relics that you can equip that affect your stats in a significant way, and you find yourself with quite a lot of things to manage. I liked the combat animations. The graphics are nothing special, but there are cool special moves when a critical hit happens or a unique ability triggers, and it's pleasant to watch. It's all in the service of a 25-hour campaign that is very customizable. The medium difficulty is perfectly balanced (the death of a character resulting in a permanent loss of stat points is a nice way of being punishing, but not restart-worthy), but you can adjust many settings yourself. Why not choose to recruit new characters in a random order, increase the enemies' stats or boost your own experience gains ? This offers replayability for a potential second playthrough. Nothing is really wrong with Dark Deity, but I found the story too classic and the characters too chatty, especially for what that have to say. The weapon system is complicated, but you can switch between all of them while on missions, so you don't really need to learn what is strong against what. So I guess the main issue I have with the game would be the maps. They don't contain special mechanics, most of the mission objectives consist of going from point A to point B or kill the boss, and very few are actually interesting. They're just... functional. Dark Deity is a good Fire Emblem clone that stands out from the rest because of the number of characters you can recruit, and the cool evolution paths the game provides. It's far from perfect, but I'd say it deserves a [b] 7[/b]. I've definitely enjoyed it.

Never played Fire Emblem, but was a major fan of the SEGA Shining Force games back in the day. Neither of which are available on Steam. You could get the Shining Force games previously on Steam in the SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics collection, but was removed from Steam awhile ago. In any case, the Dark Deity series is a fun strategic RPG series, if a bit wordy for no other reason than to pad out game time. Inventory is also very clunky,, with only four inventory slots per unit, and no way to sell straight from the community inventory storage. Has a very large pool of units, but no need to use anyone you don't want. Any required characters are not counted in the 14 unit per battle limit...although you can use less if so desired. Units are varied in appearance and combat ability names, but play exactly the same as any other variation of the same class. Difficulty curve is all over the place. One mission may be a cake walk and the next you have units killed off the very first move, because of its paper, rock, scissors game mechanic. Each class is strong against a couple of other unit types, and nearly one-shotable by others, meaning you really need to look at the board and see the enemy unit arrangements and set up your units to counteract accordingly in the initial break-out moves. There's no perma-death, but there are permanent disabilities for incapacitated units that are so drastically costly to repair as to pretty much require a complete redo anyway, and the only save is before the battle, not during, so forget save-scumming. Still, it is a fun, if sometimes aggravating and rage-inducing, involving, strategic game with decent story, well-designed characters that easily become favorites, and no need to sideline any favorites you grow attached to throughout the campaign, and goes on sale quite often, so you never feel cheated trying the series out. It's a nostalgia factor game series that is actually quite timeless in both gameplay and design. A very easy recommend with no hesitation to those who enjoy SRPG/CRPG's.

Let's be real, you are buying this simply for the reason it looks exactly like Fire Emblem when it was on the GBA (peak) & that's a very valid reason because I've played so many tactical RPG's since then & none of them have duplicated Fire Emblem's combat animations which was always like dopamine to me. Now, if you've never played any games from the Fire Emblem series I probably wouldn't recommend Dark Deity. There are much better games in the genre such as Tactics Ogre Reborn. Dark Deity is purely for nostalgic Fire Emblem fans. The menus and UI are very raw and unpolished but I don't tend to be bothered about things like that in this genre. And I think I mentally switched off from the story after 30 seconds, though I also switched off from Fire Emblems stories after about 40 seconds so no matter really. Things I liked: - Combat animations are exactly like how fire emblem was on the GBA. - All characters change class at level 10 (no special items needed) & you're able to pick between 4 different jobs for each class. - No permadeath for units who 'die' in battle, instead they lose points in stats but return next battle (controversial but I personally like it). - 28 scenarios so excellent bang for your buck if bought on sale. - On normal difficulty I thought AI was good, punished me for being clumsy with my positioning. Thing I didn't like: - Although you get to change your class for each twice, the second class change is at level 30 which I felt was a little bit too grindy to get to for multiple characters, - At the end of scenarios you have the option to spend tokens to upgrade your weapons, which for me just didn't work. Would have been much better idea to level up weapons based on how much they are used in battle. Unlike Fire Emblem you don't buy any weapons at the shop or steal them off enemies. - All units are given to you automatically, no secret characters to recruit. - Conversations between characters but only for story purposes no stat increases. - Boss units were underwhelming. Overall I think it's about a 6.5 out of 10

one of those games i wish i could give a mixed review lots of aspects were extremely lacking but i also played it for 2 days straight was it fire emblem: shadow of valentia pure peak no. but it wasn't too bad either

I played Dark Deity2 before this game actually. I'ts been an interesting perspective. Definitely happy to have picked up this series, I find this game fun. Missing some qol compared to sequel, but that's ok. If you're itching for a Fire Emblem-like? Maybe give this game a chance.

[h1][b] Reseña de Dark Deity[/b][/h1] [h2]Resumen del Juego[/h2] Dark Deity es ese RPG táctico por turnos con vibra de fantasía y estética 2D pixelada vista desde arriba, donde tu escuadrón de “jóvenes promesas” se enfrenta a guerras, mitos y decisiones de posicionamiento que te hacen sudar más que tutorial de impuestos. Su propuesta es clara: estrategia en cuadrícula, combate por turnos, roles bien marcados y personalización para convertir a tu grupo en una máquina… o en una colección de errores orgullosamente humanos. Como indie, se nota que quiere ser el primo intenso de los clásicos tácticos estilo anime: dramita, unidades con “clase”, progresión de rol y ese placer culposo de optimizar builds hasta que te das cuenta de que la IA también leyó tu plan… o finge que lo leyó y te gana por pura matemática. La primera impresión: “Esto me va a encantar”. La segunda: “Esto me va a castigar”. La tercera: “¿Por qué lo estoy disfrutando tanto?” [h2][Estrategia por Turnos: Lo que brilla y lo que te hace reiniciar][/h2] Lo Bueno: Combate táctico por turnos sólido: posicionamiento, roles en grupo y decisiones constantes. Compatibilidad total con mando: perfecto para fallar movimientos desde el sofá con dignidad. Steam Cloud: tus tragedias estratégicas viajan contigo. 40 logros: una lista suficiente para que el completista se autoengañe con “solo uno más”. Personalización de personajes: te deja experimentar y armar sinergias… y también arruinarte con orgullo. Lo No Tan Bueno: Estética anime/fantasía 2D pixelada: si no conectas con ese estilo, se te va a hacer cuesta arriba (y no, no es culpa del monitor). Muy de nicho táctico: si vienes por “aventura relajada”, aquí te reciben con cálculo, turnos y consecuencias. Comunidad activa baja (37 jugadores): no afecta el modo un jugador, pero sí se siente como club secreto… sin la emoción del secreto. Ritmo estratégico exigente: entre combates por turnos y gestión de grupo, a ratos puede sentirse más “planificación” que “épica”. [h2]Tabla de Evaluación[/h2] [table] [tr][th]Aspecto[/th][th]Puntuación (0-10)[/th][th]Comentario[/th][/tr] [tr][td]Jugabilidad[/td][td]8[/td][td]Táctico por turnos adictivo y con buen “flow” de decisiones.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Dificultad / IA[/td][td]7[/td][td]Exigente y suficiente para castigarte… a veces más por tus errores que por genio enemigo.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Contenido[/td][td]7[/td][td]Campaña y progresión de rol que rinden bien para un juego de un jugador.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Gráficos / Video[/td][td]6[/td][td]Pixel art 2D funcional: encantador si te gusta, “ok” si no.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Historia[/td][td]6[/td][td]Fantasía con tono anime: cumple, pero no reinventa la rueda del destino.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Ambientación[/td][td]7[/td][td]Mitos/leyendas y vibra de guerra fantástica bien sostenida.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Efectos (VFX)[/td][td]6[/td][td]Efectos correctos: hacen el trabajo sin presumir.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Música[/td][td]7[/td][td]Acompaña bien el combate táctico y la épica sin estorbar.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Voces[/td][td]5[/td][td]No es el foco; se siente más “texto y combate” que actuación memorable.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Diversidad[/td][td]6[/td][td]Variedad de roles y builds; en lo demás, cumple sin destacar.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Rendimiento[/td][td]8[/td][td]2D táctico: debería ir fluido en la mayoría de PCs sin drama.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Rejugabilidad[/td][td]7[/td][td]Builds, escuadrón y enfoque táctico invitan a otro run para hacerlo “mejor”.[/td][/tr] [tr][td][b]Total Puntuaciones (Muy Bueno)[/b][/td][td][b]6.8[/b][/td][td]Un táctico indie recomendable: fuerte en estrategia, moderado en presentación.[/td][/tr] [/table] [h2]Conclusión (Muy Bueno)[/h2] Dark Deity es el tipo de RPG táctico que no te pide permiso: te sienta frente a la cuadrícula, te da un grupo, y te dice “piensa”. Si eso te emociona, hay mucho que amar: turnos bien planteados, progresión de rol y esa satisfacción de ganar por decisiones, no por reflejos. Ahora, seamos controversiales: no es el mesías del género. Su encanto depende bastante de que toleres (o ames) la estética anime pixelada y el ritmo metódico. Y aunque tenga 2516 recomendaciones, el hecho de ver 37 jugadores actuales le da ese aire de “joya de nicho” que vive más por boca a boca que por moda. Si te gustan los juegos tácticos de escuadrón y quieres algo cumplidor, exigente y con personalidad indie, vale la pena. Si buscas algo ligero, aquí lo “ligero” es el peso emocional de tus malas decisiones. [h3]Recomendación de Compra (Recomendado con reservas)[/h3] Puntuación Total: 6.8/10 Número de jugadores activos al momento de hacer esta review: 37 Descuento máximo registrado: -75% Veredicto: [i]Muy bueno para fans del táctico por turnos; prescindible si no conectas con su estilo y ritmo.[/i] Si tu idea de diversión incluye calcular rangos, administrar roles y celebrar una victoria porque jugaste mejor (no porque el juego te perdonó), Dark Deity te va a dar horas sólidas. Solo entra sabiendo que es un indie táctico de nicho: te recompensa por pensar… y te humilla cuando te crees listo.

The game itself is fun. It has some functional issues which annoy me to no end. The game has issues with detecting input. Either when mouse is moved, Steam Deck touch screen swiped or keyboard is pressed, controller input is no longer accepted. While the game is running and device goes to sleep, after waking the device the controller fails again. Changing controllers does not work. For example changing from Steam Deck's internal controls to an external controller on the fly. The user interface is unintuitive to use with a controller, especially when managing items. In menus it is hard to see what is focused. Rebooting the game is the only way to resolve the controller issues. Without these issues I would recommend the game.

Good and challenging strategy game if you don't let Benji solo the entire enemy army.