Heroes of the Monkey Tavern

Heroes of the Monkey Tavern is a decent dungeon crawler that scratches the Legend of Grimrock itch, but its combat and progression systems are highly lackluster. Combat relies entirely on attack cooldown timers. Battles lack strategy, forcing you to stand still and click buttons as timers expire. There is no aggro mechanic; enemies attack characters at random. If a squishy, cloth-wearing class is targeted, you must burn through mana to keep them alive. Compounding this issue, you cannot customize stats to increase your mana pool. Strategy is strictly limited to basic item and potion management. Character progression is equally rigid. Level-ups automatically assign stats and skills with zero player input. Furthermore, the game fails to explain what new skills actually do, drastically needing a hover-over tooltip or context help system. Loot drops are completely fixed, stripping away any excitement of discovery—you simply equip whatever has the highest number. Pick it up on a deep sale if you need a quick grid-based fix, but do not expect a deep or engaging experience.