We often see many copies of games when a model works, but sometimes we see mixtures of genres that work quite well. Today, I'm going to give you an overview of a rather tasty mix, a cross between Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon. Curious, isn't it? See below!
History
You are a soldier/hero sent to a small town to help the locals fight the evil that plagues the area. Bad luck, there are really a lot of monsters, and few volunteers. The only way to really stop all this is to make sure that the lord of the corner rift succumbs. To do this, you will have the help of valiant acolytes. But that's not all, because it's only the beginning, evil lurks in the world, and you are one of the few people who have the ability to stem it...
My opinion: quite classic in its genre, it's really the very archetype of the story of the hero who saves the world. It's simple but, in the context, it works to explain why we massacre the villain all the time. Despite everything, the story has some rather innovative surprises in store for us that make you want to know more.
Graphics & atmosphere
The game takes its ease graphically with a style that remains average and in "seen and reviewed". It feels a bit like seeing Darkest Dungeon or Deep Sky Derelict in the attacks, but it looks pretty good. The bestiary and the characters are rather interesting and in tune with the world. Quite classic in itself, just like the music and sound effects, but, once again, the themes are respected although they produce a somewhat clichéd effect at times.
Gameplay
The game offers us to choose his main character at the start of the game. I took Lucius the leader, a character who seems balanced to me, and a tank... it's always useful. We are thrown into a fight that will explain the basics to us: choose our line of attack by moving and attacking according to our action points and our spell points.
The game, sometimes sparing in explanations, will be divided into three main phases: those of combat (majority), those of decision, and those of explorations on cards. The first two are mandatory, but the last will give you the opportunity to obtain a number of bonuses and sometimes legendary objects. Depending on your difficulty mode, your game will go from simple to nightmarish to finishing an act. In maximum difficulty, with the final death (for the game) of a character, each action must be studied, the primordial placements must be chosen with care, and your team will have to resort to a really optimal synergy to succeed in winning. But I strongly advise against this difficulty for the first part, except for aficionados of the genre.
During the fights, the game turns will be character by character, who will act according to their order of passage (determined by the initiative + die roll) in which you will have to choose which offensive, support or defensive cards to use according to their hit in action points or spell points. The action points being black circles with a white background, the spell points being blue/purple gems, you can increase their maximum according to your talent points, certain cards (such as Lucius who can increase for one turn those of its allies) or of your equipment.
Among the classic blows, you can also inflict conditions (shock, bleeding, burning, ice, vulnerability, weakness, etc.) which cause rather powerful effects combined with the attacks, but which you can also suffer. The first act being a sort of introduction for the sequel, the difficulty of which increases drastically. But, talent points will help you for a tree that will increase your statistics, your cards, and give you new ones, while a tiered talent tree will give you extremely powerful bonuses.
Out of combat, you will be able to move on the map, movements which will have nodes between them and will interact by interactions (combat, choice, care, rest, exploration, altar). Special mention for the altar which will give you the opportunity to increase the overall difficulty of the enemies, but in return, you will have better rewards. And it does not affect the merchants in town who sell you items to support you. Note that Marco will give you the opportunity to "bet" to obtain random legendary equipment against tokens that are sometimes hard to obtain.
Summary
Gordian Quest offers us a really pleasant gaming experience and offers a difficulty adapted to everyone. Therefore, as long as you like this style of play, you will be able to spend many hours of entertainment. Despite the banality of several aspects offset by a really complete technical aspect, the game remains pleasant and quick to learn. Personally, I really encourage you to play it if it's your cup of tea.
