The Monster Within

The mechanics can be challenging but it also rewards players for exploiting the mechanics to their own advantage.

По ощущениям - примерно как играть в какие-нибудь Звездные Империи (дуэльная колодостроительная игра с общим пулом карт). Только ты играешь в соло, пул модульный (ты можешь настроить пул в самом начале, меняя и улучшая его в процессе игры) и куча других надстроек. Из плюсов - здесь достаточно много прикольных фишек, вроде фазовости противников (в человеческой фазе они слабые, во второй фазе каждый делает несколько заданных действий друг за другом - это может быть как броня, лечение, атака, атака + иммун к определенному типу маны, так и попытка нагадить вам в колоду - и вы больше не можете добирать новые карты в колоду), зависимости доступных карт от вашего здоровья (пожалуй, его даже корректнее будет назвать "Человечностью" в данном контексте, так как чем меньше у вас полоска, тем более "монструозные" карты вам доступны, покупающиеся за соответствующую "монструозную" ману), мягкое ограничение первой фазы количеством "комиксов" (когда вы разыгрываете карты, вы разыгрываете их в слоты комиксного разворота - когда вы его заполняете, лист уходит в сброс и тратится из общего пула, когда у вас закачнивается пул, вы получаете урон когда тянете новый) которое красиво вписывается в стилистику. Взаимодействия между персонажами перед боем иногда достаточно забавны. Интересная графика/стилистика, превращение персонажа в хтонь отслеживается не только по полоске здоровья, но по его фразам и постепенному изменению визуала не только персонажа, но и локации. Из минусов - геймплей достаточно быстро приедается, в какой-то момент тупо превращаясь в прокликивание. Звуковой дизайн... буквально пара треков, плохенькие звуки на удары/магазин/рычание монстров. Не у всех сочетаний есть нормально прописанные диалоги, не у всех они в принципе есть. Чувствуется, что игре в некоторых местах "не хватает", но сложно описать внятно, чего именно. Игра уровня "под пиво потянет". Есть свои прикольные моменты, есть определенный стиль. Но в целом? Достаточно быстро надоедает, в ней мало по-настоящему цепляющих вещей (нейтральные обзоры делать нельзя, а графа плюсов все же больше, так что пусть будет "Рекомендую")

As some already said, I liked the art style and concept. I also tried to love the game, but it's sooooo underbaked, sadly. And with the dynamics I see from devs, there are almost no chances the game will be done. The idea, visuals and writing are great: I can really see the effort behind it. But here's the list of lacking things: [list] [*] The “filling the comics” idea released with a huge stretch: it's not about most effective placing or certain order, not about some kind of story to be created. Split pages don't matter as well. [*] As follows, there are no bonuses for cards being placed in a larger section (that could make sense). It's just visuals, and when placed, you barely can ignore the absurdness of what is “drawn” [*] Illustrations looks great only while on cards. You won't see 'em like so anywhere else. When placed in a book, they got scaled without the proportions saved, and you will see only freakish part of the whole illustration. (Basically, you can see how it works with screenshots here – and it won't be any better in the game, sadly.) [*] The whole mechanic of deck-building is really questionable. It's not a standard one, but I can't see any reason behind this difference and complexity (even so slightly made, but still). [*] There is really close to nothing is happening on the screen. Heroes just standing still for all the time; from time to time little text-bubbles will appear – but they're kinda lame and feeble (I even missed it happened for a couple of times). No fight and/or damage animations at all: a lil number will appear – and for about half of the fight I couldn't even figure out if opponent doing something or what exactly is happening. They have no cards on hands, no book to fill with “their side of the story,” no skills to apply (even with text or something). [*] Visuals in tutorial sequence or hero introduction are sloppy: animation is not polished, some texts have slightly different frame background than one they're placed on. [/list] And all this is really, really sad. You can see with the screenshots, there was a lot of work being made with pictures and art-style. There was a soul behind all these details, lil punchlines in writing and hero designs... But then they've lost it and the interest to the game, as it seems.

Questo titolo permette di giocare (a carte) nei panni di uno dei vari mostri (Vampiro, Blob, Scheletro, Pianta-mangia-uomini, Scienziato pazzo, Bambina che loda Chtulu etc), ciascuno con una piccola backstory fumettosa (che introduce bene al mood) e set di carte personalizzato (in parte sbloccato, in parte sbloccabile facilmente). Ogni mostro ha infatti il suo preciso stile di gioco e bisogna imparare ad usarli. La salute bassa equivale alla trasformazione in mostro e i set di carte, con le relative risorse per usarli, sono disponibili in base alla salute (la regola generale è: salute alta = carte "umane/base", salute bassa = "carte più mostruose"). Alcuni mostri hanno dunque uno stile di combattimento in vantaggio a salute alta, mentre altri a salute più bassa (non so se dire che il primo è "safe" e il secondo "rischioso" perché, in fondo, a seconda dei casi può andare bene o male...). In più ci sono anche dei "modificatori" applicabili che se usati bene possono giocare a favore dello stile di gioco del mostro usato. Quindi: - Le meccaniche di gioco a carte sono particolari e interessanti; non so se è un meccanismo totalmente unico o ispirato ad altro ma funziona molto bene per due motivi: 1) è stimolante e ben studiato! 2) si adatta bene alla tematica delle trasformazioni, unendo la meccanica alla "narrativa" di fondo (o, meglio, penso sia proprio sviluppato a partire da questa). - L'atmosfera è simpatica, un po' retrò, con la scelta stile fumetti su carta, e si adatta bene rendendo il tutto simpatico - Le musiche (per quanto non penso siano originali) sono state scelte bene e non risultano fuori luogo, anzi! - La grafica è ben fatta - Qualche mese fa' l'unico "bug" riscontrato era un crash/blocco del gioco durante i caricamenti (meglio non cliccare troppe volte con il mouse, probabile che i troppi input lo mandassero in palla!) ma ora sembra risolto! (non che fosse un problema, bastava starci attenti) - il prezzo è onesto! In sostanza consiglio questo titolo per un gioco di trasformazioni passa tempo casual P.S. "Chi sa... sa..." il titolo è stato sviluppato in seguito a TF Card Battle (gioco NSFW); caso strano in cui girando in quei meandri del web ho conosciuto un gioco carino come questo!

So, this is a cute deckbuilder (a la Dominion), with some twists as your character loses health. There seems to be a ton of unlockables, and it's a bit of a grind (almost 8 hours and I haven't even unlocked all the characters yet), but I mean... if you're gonna sit there and play a game like this, you have to be attracted to something in it. And for me, it's a mix of the artwork and the amount of combos that come with the deck building. The art is very 40s comic book, complete with the coloring being slightly off center, and I adore it. The deck building is... hit and miss. Mostly hit, but it's worth saying that some card packs don't play well with others. As health decreases, card types like the one that uses the ♥♥♥♥ Tracy wristwatch becomes wasted space. Would I recommend this? I mean, if you're in love with the art and understand the grind, full price ain't bad for it. I grabbed it on sale, and have no complaints.

♥♥♥♥ this piece of ♥♥♥♥ game. It keeps freezing at the main menu, and it refuses to let me select a character besides the vampire even though I have the blob unlocked. I asked for a refund, hopefully I will get it, either way this dev is on my "♥♥♥♥ off" list!

Ultimately, meh. It's a game you can play it and enjoy it somewhat, and it has some interesting, clever ideas clever ideas you can play it, but ultimately it never comes down together. I feel like I've already seen everything it had to show and it doesn't seem there's a lot more to be seen.