Recent reviews by Casey

Very well designed card game. Minion & spell combat w/ roguelite elements. The levels are tiered across 3 'lanes' which enemies traverse 1 by 1 or possibly all at once, permutations being what they are. Most particular is that you have 5 'tribes' of monsters to run with, each having their own 'hero' unit who can be built a number of ways. The game's diversity in options and overall demand on the player to adapt is incredible. One of the better card games I've played.

Played it and beaten it.

- Ranged-focused traditional roguelikes are rare, so that's a benefit already IMO.
- Good diversity in guns and power leveling.
- Good sense of gaining cool and powerful gear.
- A lot of utility equipment you need to use to survive (scanners, night vision, flashlights, etc.)
- Difficult but not impossible.
- Somewhat spooky atmosphere.
- Graphics are good enough.


The interface could be a little better in some ways, and I'd say that's the biggest flaw. Otherwise a solid sci-fi roguelike.

With its somewhat cumbersome engine you have to meet it halfway, but if you're willing to do that you'll find this game is one of the best ever.

Edit 3: Full release. *chef's kiss* See below for more detail; the full release just has more and more of it.

Edit 2: Game is just constantly improving. I guess they're waiting until release to update, but the videos/pictures on the store page don't do the game justice. It is visually beautiful and leaps and bounds ahead of where it was at the start of EA. The gameplay is still top notch, of course, and as said is just always improving. IMO it's the best of the roguelikes on Steam if you're focused on combat.

Edit: about a year and a half later, the game has only gotten better and better. It's actually sorta ridiculous how much better it's gotten to me since I thought it was quite solid at EA release. Tons of builds, tons of challenges, and the main game has seen a huge series of QoL updates and content injections. The new Nightmare difficulty is also a very suitable kick in the nuts for players who want a harsh challenge.

Dev has a clear goal in mind, updates frequently, and communicates the path forward which is a bonus IMO.


Original review: Even with just early access-level content the game is quite good. Been playing it a lot and been thinking about it when I'm not. It has all the elements of finding gear in runs and also having those runs where you find nothing and die hilariously fast or the runs where you run out of resources and gotta really get clever to survive. The emphasis on range is pretty different. I'd most compare that to Cogmind. Like Cogmind, Jupiter Hell has a great sense of firepower and the player's own power leveling. Really looking forward to seeing what new content is put in.

You have zero control over the combat, yet that part gets almost all the time. The strategic part of the game gives you almost no time at all to look at stuff, which is particularly bad as you have to fight through a horrendous user interface. It's more a battle of memorization because the interface will do you no favors. There's also some RNG involved. You can fight the same battle twice with completely different results if one of your guys fires off an ultimate in the wrong spot, for example. I think this game is alright; and it is free for what that's worth. It could be pretty good with more development.

Gameplay-wise, it's a card game. There are many just like it.

This one does:

Not have a ladder.
Not have a play2win model.

It can be improved but there's legitimately no reason to play this over any other choice unless you're just burned out on them or really like DOTA's lore.

I don't ordinarily write reviews, but felt this game merited one. This is easily the best FPS I've played in about 15-years. If you're into the Deus Ex/System Shock kind of games, this is an instant-buy.