I started Loop Hero and forgot to talk about it

[Yaara]

Started this a few days ago when I felt I needed a game with short sessions and very light narrative weight, and it does not disappoint.

Spoiler: gameplay description

It's basically an auto-battler; Your hero goes around a Loop, you get cards to modify the squares of the loop. For instance, a Grove card will give you some wood as a meta progression resource when you enter it, but also spawn ratwolves which are strong but fragile to fight. Or a Vampire's Mansion will add a vampire to battles on adjacent squares; Vampires can drop life-drain gear which is a very easy and reliable strategy.

Also, cards can interact with each other. As a very simple example, a Meadow square is placed off the loop and heals you for 2 hp every in-game day; But if placed next to any non-Meadow square it will transform into a Blooming Meadow and heal for 3 every day instead.

All this merges into a game where you build the board as you go with drops and build your character from those drops, and finally there's a nice game of chicken - if you die you lose 70% of your accumulated meta progression resources for that specific run, if you escape not during a battle you lose 40%, and if you retreat on your single camp square you keep them all. Finally, the boss spawns on the camp square once you've placed enough squares on the board, so that's an extra incentive for that game of chicken.

Spoiler: my own experience so far

I beat the first and second bosses pretty quick but feel like I ran into a meta-progress wall on the third stage so I went back to get some resources and build up my base. On doing that I unlocked tons of new cards and a couple classes and started playing around with them! Unsurprisingly on my first runs with Rogue and Necromancer I didn't really feel like I know what I'm doing.

Anyway I went on to try stuff out, found that Desert+Forest is an excellent combination for a high defense character thanks to the transformed desert-forest panel, got some lich clears on warrior from that.

Then I unlocked the Outpost card which immediately made me think of the Rogue who doesn't get normal loot from battles and hoo boy was I right. Using said Desert + Forest combo and making sure to have a sizable attack speed bonus for the boss, plus two outposts flanking my campfire, made for the absolute easiest boss fight I've ever had. I kind of love how good outposts are for rogues, it feels so rewarding. desert+forest isn't quite optimal here, but I was considering a vampirism + counter build which is helped a lot by it even though rogue has low defense. I did try Arsenal which gave me necklaces for a chonky shield so that helped out tons.

I still don't feel like I have a good grasp on how to play Necromancer though lol.

My next goal is to get another clear on map 2 for the third dialogue unlock on the boss, while getting some extra resources because I'm edging closer to building All The Buildings.

 

[Mogri]

Spoiler: How to Necromancer

Important necromancer stats are Attack Speed and anything with "skeleton" in the name. Nothing else matters in the least. Forest is the best terrain card, especially since you have nothing to fear from training dummies.

Skeletons are your attack and your defense. Skeleton level will make your buddies stronger. Skeleton quality is your chance to produce a special skeleton. Skeleton quantity is maybe the most important stat.

For your golden card, the crypt is tempting, and it's not bad, but arsenal is probably still better, giving you another equipment slot. Equipment quality is less important for necromancer, since "skeleton quantity" will never be more than +1 regardless of the level of the item it's on.

 

[Issun]

I played it for a bit a couple of months ago. It's a pretty great game from what I played, but it's also one that I'll have to wait on a deep dive for. But for me, who's not super big on roguelikes, to get into it at all means it's doing something special.

 

[Pajaro Pete]

i still haven't beaten the second stage orz

 

[Yaara]

Spoiler: How to Necromancer

Important necromancer stats are Attack Speed and anything with "skeleton" in the name. Nothing else matters in the least. Forest is the best terrain card, especially since you have nothing to fear from training dummies.

Skeletons are your attack and your defense. Skeleton level will make your buddies stronger. Skeleton quality is your chance to produce a special skeleton. Skeleton quantity is maybe the most important stat.

For your golden card, the crypt is tempting, and it's not bad, but arsenal is probably still better, giving you another equipment slot. Equipment quality is less important for necromancer, since "skeleton quantity" will never be more than +1 regardless of the level of the item it's on.

Honestly, that is how I've been playing, but I didn't have forest or arsenal at the time. I'll give it another try.

 

[Violentvixen]

I just started this on Gamepass and am liking it a lot. In fact I'm quite glad it's on the Xbox so it's not as accessible, I'd be playing way too much if I had it on Switch.

It took me a while to figure out how to more efficiently get resources and pay attention to what tiles generate what resource. I barely made a dent in the game for a the first couple hours but once I started building things I got MUCH better.

I don't really get the desert and swamp tiles though. Swamp doesn't seem to do anything useful, and the spirit generated by the desert wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped. Am I missing something about these two?