Recent reviews by Tezz

I want to like this game, but I'm struggling to find any long-term interest.

The formula that worked for Fights In Tight Spaces hasn't translated very well to controlling multiple characters in this game. In FITS your single character gains power by adding/tweaking cards to the deck, which allows you to focus on a particular build depending on what cards drop during the run. Every card you keep is on purpose, and every card has a use - even if it's not optimal. You're not guaranteed an out for every predicament, but it feels fair.

In KITS the card system distributes your entire hand across your entire party, rather than reserving a card pool for each character. This ends up diluting the options available for each party member, as some cards cannot be used by all characters. Unfortunately this combines with the existing downside of the FITS/KITS design in that some cards simply won't be playable on any given turn.
This results in a very frequent tendency to end up in situations where, through no design or fault of your own, one or more party members will end up getting cornered and killed, or the heavily-equipped enemies will negate your card plays. I've had situations where a party of three characters has been quite ineffective due to card limitations and positioning - for example, only being able to move one, maybe two characters in a turn. This is compared to the enemies in a level (which can outnumber the party) which all move, all attack, and all have special abilities. You end up having to decide which characters to take a beating, and most likely die, simply because the mechanics and the hand limitations don't really allow the flexibility you need. In effect, you're better off having fewer characters in your party so that the cards you have can actually be played, increasing the odds of you being able to survive. This isn't fun, it's frustrating, and defeats the main appeal of KITS: multiple party members.

The rest of the game is mostly fine, but not great. The items are a tad uninspired and feel underpowered compared to the enemies you encounter after early game. The map and side quests quickly become repetitive, and the points in the map where you get a break force you to choose between modifying your party, buying gear, or managing your deck. You very often want to do all three, but again, there's not enough flexibility or interesting options available.
The UI is fine, however the combat view is bizarrely inflexible and can be frustrating to use at times, as the grid gets crammed and you have to rely on a giant wall of text when you hover over a unit to determine what it does. It's just... unwieldy.

Overall I'd probably give this a B, maybe a C, or if you prefer numbers, maybe a 6. It's not going to be played much at all compared to a lot of other turn-based games in my library, and it's certainly a lot worse than Fights In Tight Spaces. Pity really, I was looking forward to it.

Fun game, genuinely free to play, monetisation is for cosmetics only, and the progression through the card pools is fast enough that you reach the really interesting cards before any boredom sets in.

The game itself is similar to Artifact, but executed in a simpler and cleaner way. There's some opaqueness surrounding the order in which locations and abilities activate, but half the fun is learning how all the interactions work. Each match is around five minutes long, and with a deck size of only twelve (to spread across three locations), you can craft some really specific, fun decks.

I figure once new modes arrive and a proper PC client is released, this thing will take off as a great casual/semi-tryhard card game. Looking forward to that.

A good game, but the campaign material is mostly just the same thing over and over. Most, if not all, of the missions in each campaign are randomly generated so the meaning of each campaign is arguably zilch, but if you like that you'll be fine.

Not the best turn-based game, but certainly one of the best Warhammer 40K games in a long time.

Where the hell did my time go

I've only got 5 hours of play time with this game at the time of writing, but wow is it good. Everything you want from single-hero turn-based tactics, with some satisfying animations and sound for the fighting itself. The cards aren't overpowered but they are varied, giving lots of options for building a deck during each run.

If you got a feeling of "oh this game is right up my alley" with Slay the Spire or Monster Train, then this game is for you. No doubt at all.

Teamwork, exploration, terror, chaos, panic, endless electrocutions. I'm only 3 hours into playing this and it's already great. I'd recommend 4 or more players, but if you can get at least that you're in for some fun.

A distilled version of XCOM 2, that focuses on two layers of turn-based activity: the strategic, where you choose what background missions are performed for resources, and the tactical, where you have firefights. It's very quick in terms of getting from one mission to the next, mostly due to the options available at any given time when you're not in a tactical battle. This does mean the strategic stuff gets a little samey, but on the plus side the city theme reminds me of X-COM Apocalypse, which is no bad thing.

Really good, especially if you liked the shooty bits of XCOM 2!

Not great, if I'm honest. There are a bunch of flawed mechanics that initially sound fine, but ultimately don't work out.

The line of sight mechanic, which prevents you from targeting anything out of line of sight with a direct spell, results in favouring numbers of creatures over anything else. You'll want to surround your wizard with anything, it doesn't really matter. This doesn't really lead to chess-style battles with varied monsters, just annoying "how can I prevent my wizard from being cheap-shotted".

Playing the game as intended - with percentage chances - has a huge penalty for spell failure, given that you can only cast one spell a turn. Coupled with low percentage chances to cast anything interesting, it becomes a contest of luck. That or you simply get lucky with an indirect spell and the game's yours immediately.

The disbelief mechanic, whereby you can cast creatures with 100% guarantee, but they can be disbelieved with 100% guarantee, doesn't add any sort of interesting gameplay. It's not worth casting a monster as anything but real, as they're expensive and you have limited quantities. It's almost as if the game doesn't have enough to keep the minion combat interesting, so they added this as an "extra layer".

I can't really recommend this game, sadly, as it just doesn't have anything to grab you. It all seems... run of the mill. Cards for the sake of having cards; luck-based mechanics or an uninspired numbers system; uninteresting monsters; frustratingly low % values that make or break a game; a weird chaos/order balance system that doesn't really go anywhere.

After just four hours (sadly beyond the refund threshold) I can confidently say I'm done with this game. I adore turn-based combat, but the system used in this game is just fundamentally broken. Why? The simple reason is that turns always alternative between your side and the opponent, regardless of how many units are present on each. Fielding a smaller party to a fight is often more advantageous, as your characters get to act more often than any of the opponent characters. In effect, killing your enemies actually makes the remaining ones significantly more threatening.

It's a shame really, as the game is well voice acted and looks lovely. But that's not enough to persuade me to continue.

This game is fairly shallow, focusing on positioning over abilities, skills, or a rich equipment selection. The graphics and audio are excellent, but as a lover of turn-based games I just can't stay with it. There's just not enough here to grab me.