[h1] Smol review [/h1]
I found this to be a very nice and comfy tactical turn-based combat experience. I like the unraveling story and adore the art, the sound and the music. It isn't without some flaws, but it did not stop me from enjoying the experience. I can see some people finding the combat encounters being repetitive, but I still liked them as they felt varied and required some thinking.
[h1] Gameplay overview [/h1]
[h3] Heroes [/h3]
You play as one of several heroes (most of which you unlock by progressing through the game), with the primary and noble goal of cleansing the world of vile eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil.
To achieve such noble goals, you will likely navigate through the clouded yet open skies, beat up most of the hostile residents of each and every occupied isle, hire then fire a bunch of mercenaries to form your perfect killsquad, realize you are running low on oil, replenish your oil via peaceful (and not so peaceful means), accidentally cause an oil crisis once, because you bought the entire supply of it apparently and rinse and repeat until you find yourself dealing with the heretics in the span of a few (or less) turns and their captain's in charge in a matter of *checks notes* more or less than an undisclosed number of turns (at least more than one).
[h3] Villains [/h3]
Thus far in my several ventures I had encountered 3 different factions of hooligans. The difficulty in fending them off differs from straightforward to "damn, I forgot to read, what this one does" or "damn I forgot to check what order of turns these guys follow".
The first lads are easy enough to deal with. They attack after the player's turn finishes.
The second lads are the same (though some can use moves, that are executed during their turns upon the player's characters). They also introduce several new types of lads to deal with and will start using skills and attacks that will require a bit more caution when facing them in combat. Once you get the idea for their movesets, you will sail as smoothly as the flying Dutchman.
And then there is the third faction. They essentially share many of the traits of the previous faction. Just as the previous (faction), they introduce some additional types of enemies to deal with, which provides some nice variety. However, unlike the other factions, they can execute offensive moves during their turns without showing any indication of it, which can provide a false sense of security. I personally liked them, as I believe, their introduction had made me more cautious of who I am dealing with exactly and the importance of proper positioning (except for that one specific type of unit, that is preferable that you kill it fast).
[h3] Equipment (and skill tree) [/h3]
You can spend as much time as you want dealing with each faction until the boss fight (as the player is the one that decides if they are willing to proceed further). I think it is nice, because as you find yourself clearing out the different isles, you will be managing resources and gaining loot that can be used by your hero and the crew. The loot you get has tier quality. This applies to weapons, armors, accesories and consumables (the last two of which share the same slots for usage). Not all characters have the same slots available and some may not even have the slots required for the usage of specific weapons (because those can often occupy 2 slots). I personally think, that there are not that many different item types or slots available to make some experimental builds with (at least I found myself giving some crew members (aside from the heroes) the same item combinations multiple times, because I found their provided skills to be quite useful in the long run). With that being said, with what I got to experiment (in my 4 playthroughs), I have certainly had quite a bit of fun (it is fun giving a gunner push range 2 while they have a hammer that allows them to YEET people off the isle or the deck).
There is also the skill tree for which you accumulate your experience through encounters (and it becomes easier with more playthroughs). They help make your runs a lot easier and allow you to unlock the full potential of your hero and the crew you play with. Not all of the things unlocked in said tree were statpoints. Some can be some new an unique traits or even abilities that can be used in combat (though frankly one of the branches remains locked until you meet a certain requirement) so you are left with 2 to play around with in the beginning.
[h1] The visuals, the sounds and the music [/h1]
I think the visuals for the game are wonderful. I really like the art for all of the characters (i. e. the portrait art and the overworld design). The different environments are quite interesting and varied. All nicely accompanied with different sound effects and music, that contribute to the overall atmosphere and add some extra charm (like some sounds enemies make when taking damage or falling down the abyss). The music is really nice as it changes according to what is going on in-game. I would not mind bit more variety during longer sessions, but I still really like the tracks, so I am not complaining.
[h1] Feedback [/h1]
If I were to leave some feedback, I'd say I'd wish there was a bit more visual clarity for combat encounters (i. e. it is harder to identify sometimes on which tiles is it safe to place a unit, when multiple enemies are attacking; some enemies can block the view of other entities which makes them hard to see unless you specifically decide to hover over them (or you unintentionally kill them) (as an example, had a several tentacles block the view or crates and some enemy units); the visual indication for certain skills or traits isn't always clear (i. e. the units from the third faction appear to emit an outline that I initially thought indicated some form of a stat boost, but it was simply an indicator of them planning to use a specific skill); it is not always clear whether or not a unit will be thrown into a pit or not on certain maps (i.e. the color indicator for a falling entity sometimes appears to blend with the color of the background, while in other cases, certain isles that have gaps in the middle of the map, don't come off as gaps on first glance); on the first encounter of the final boss I realized far too late about an alternate way of dealing damage to it, because the description for dishing out said damage only appeared on enemies, that look similar to the ones you may or may have not encountered before. I know this sounds a bit picky, but I also wish there would be an "Unequip item" option, since there is an option to equip items and loot (in order to unequip them, you need to either drag them out or drag another item or loot in).
[h3] Small note [/h3]
I apologize if this review has any grammar mistakes.
Edit 1: Fixed some grammar errors and added one more point to feedback.
Edit 2: Removed the additional point of feedback, because it was already in place and I missed it. Apologies.
