But what’s the matter?
As with other roguelike games, the game does not experience any amazing storyline. A group of people wake up once in a strange maze and have to fight for survival. Therefore, we get into our hands a fledgling group of frail people, in the game referred to as “beginners”, equipped with various weapons and we are forced to move around a strange complex, moving from one room to another. We will face everything from zombies, through robots, to monsters, and our opponents will become more and more difficult over time.
Initially, our army will be small, but by facing various challenges, we will increase its ranks. As it happens in roguelike games, we have to prepare for frequent dying before we learn to effectively manage a team, which can include, for example: mages, cultists, swordsmen or … eggheads? Yes, you read that right, one of the classes of characters at our disposal is a group of scientists, referred to in the game as “eggheads”. Don’t worry, there are more such flavors, many more, but we’ll talk about it later.
Any weapon is a good weapon
The game encourages us to have many units of the same class, but with different types of weapons.
While we may initially conclude that four units equipped with chainsaws are a great idea, we’ll get more benefits by having one chainsaw, one regular sword, one sword in stone (you know the legend, don’t you?)
And one lightsaber instead. . This set of weapons allows you to take advantage of special class bonuses. For example, in cultists, this will result in the possibility of summoning a monster with tentacles, while in others, e.g. throwers, we gain a special ability that deals damage, which will activate every few seconds, in this case a bomb.
These special abilities are powerful and worth considering when building our army.
When we are already equipping people, we have a wealth of weapons at our disposal, including conventional firearms, rockets or a crossbow, as well as not very traditional weapons, such as boxing gloves, American football balls,
ping-pong rackets , and even chewed pretzels.
Each piece of equipment makes our guy visually different, and a higher level of equipment is sometimes logical and sometimes humorous improvements. Tanki start with shields, but then higher-tier equipment includes tables and refrigerators, while the aforementioned swordsmen start with straight swords, and better equipment includes a lightsaber or a huge “three-handed” sword (Dreihänder), which when given to the people that the appearance of our soldier is reminiscent of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII or Guts from the Berserk manga . Anyway, the game is steeped in references to pop culture. After being equipped with equipment, people take titles and names that are often related to something, for example, I have already encountered a few Skywalkers.
Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder gives us many options to choose different formations and use slightly different tactics, but in the fight itself, we have nothing else to do but watch our little pixelart army march on monsters. Since we are dealing with an autobattler game, players start their turn by determining the position of units before each skirmish. Once a given encounter begins, it is up to the player’s units to survive or to feed on the cannibalistic cabbage. The army can consist of up to 49 people!
Easy to play, hard to master
Clearing rooms from opponents provides the core currency, which is tokens that can be used to buy better weapons, store upgrades, and other perks that can help our peoples gain an advantage over relentless hordes of enemies. Random events in different biomes force us to deal with many situations in which we can gain or lose a lot. At the end of each biome, there is a boss fight and if we win, we repeat the process over and over again in a new style.
We can also purchase additional “cannon fodder” for the currency earned in the game to add to our small but growing army. Remember, however, that the more people we have, the more food we need to feed them. The hunger level (visible at the top of the screen) is extremely important because it translates directly into the effectiveness of our units in combat. Juggling between the desire for a better weapon and the need to feed our people requires a much more strategic approach than we might initially imagine.
This is also where the humorous side of the game from Konfa Games makes itself felt. Because from time to time we may come across random situations in which either we come across lost wanderers, or Death himself turns to us for help. It is up to the decisions we make, whether when moving around the map or when choosing dialogue options, how these meetings will end. However, I would not like to reveal too much, so I will stop there. Incidentally, I don’t know if I have discovered everything yet. Either way, any such event in the game can make us win or lose, and because the maps and rooms are randomly generated, we can be sure that our gameplay will be slightly different every time.
This is not the end of the fight
Once we manage to complete all (currently available) stages of the game, we have the opportunity to play the so-called King Of The Hill mode. Here we do not measure up already against computer opponents and other players, although not to the end … Army, which we won, we fought duels with the victorious armies of other players, but we do not fight with the player connected to the network and sent to save ‘ em his army.
In this way, we can collect points and take part in the seasonal rankings. However, it is worth remembering that the army we win in the regular game is available in the “King Of The Hill” mode only for a few attempts (we can only lose it a few times), and then well, we have to build our army from scratch, trying to advance in ranking.
Is it worth giving a chance?
Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder made a really good impression on me and I must admit that I had a lot of fun. The game is one of the more difficult titles, so it may take a while to get to know what it is all about. The game also has different levels of difficulty, but interestingly, they are only unlocked after the first few unsuccessful attempts by the player.
Thanks to the various challenges available, a few variations of the basic game mode, a lot of “mutations”, that is, perks sold during the game, and the seasonal rankings in the game, there is a lot to do. However, you have to bear in mind that we are dealing with Early Access, which means that it is not the full version yet, and a lot of content has not been added to the game yet. What’s more, according to the creators themselves, the title in early access may remain for about a year.
If you don’t mind that the game doesn’t have everything the authors planned (and the list is large), you like pixel art and a mix of roguelike and autobattler games, and you’re looking for a unique experience that offers plenty of humor and solid content. gameplay, Despot’s Game is just for you.
