izigame.me

300h so I guess it's about time to leave a review.
Before I start, don't get discouraged by low ratings and negative reviews. People just love complaining about the paradox launcher (which adds one more click before the game opens and that's it) and the fact that devs are releasing DLCs (which add plenty of content like new characters, zones, skins or lore, but are completely optional if you don't want to spend money). Launcher seems to be something that all paradox games have (I don't have any other so that's just second-hand knowledge) and yet I don't really see people complaining about it on Cities Skylines for example. So just ignore the reviews that complain about those 2 points and look for ones that talk about the game itself.
Now on to the actual review:
In short, I love this game. I really enjoy roguelike/roguelite deckbuilders but this game stuck with me the most. I tried Slay The Spire but it just didn't feel all that interesting. On the other hand, I got 120h in the first 2 weeks after I bought this game.
Now for more details:
The game is a roguelite and that's something you need to remember in the beginning. You will lose first few runs, that's normal and expected. You will get various bonuses from that which will make next runs more successful until you finally manage to win. The first few runs when you don't really understand the game and are lacking the roguelite bonuses (such as perks and town upgrades) are arguably the least enjoyable but once you start getting further, get more perks and understand the game more (about 10-20h), that's when it gets amazing.
Next, don't expect quick runs like in many other deckbuilders. ATO runs take around 3-4h, less once you're more experienced, more at the very start, on higher difficulty levels and maybe when playing multiplayer. A lot of the time will be spent in the town optimizing your decks (yes, plural), especially when you're not familiar with all the cards or when using a new character.
Speaking of characters, there are 16 of them in base game (4, soon-to-be 5 in DLCs) and you're using 4 characters at once in each run. Managing 4 decks is what makes this game very complex but also gives it plenty of replayability since there are so many combinations you can make. Unlike in other deckbuilders where you build your deck to be kind of an all-rounder, in ATO decks tend to be very specialized with each deck having few specific goal it wants to accomplish (for example, my healer only needs to heal, buff and dispel, nothing else; main carry only needs to buff themselves and do dmg, no need to help other party members). Once you understand that, building each deck becomes much easier and simpler.
Another difference from standard deckbuilders is the mindset. Usually, you adapt your deck and build based on what you get, in ATO you start a run with a rough idea of what each character is going to do and grab only cards that will fit that build. RNG is still a thing and there are some items that can totally change your build but ultimately the character's job will remain the same. While it might seem like it will get boring after a while, trust me, that's not the case. Sure, you might get bored of the game but that's not because each run feels the same, there's plenty of character combinations you can do to make each run different, so much that by the time you get through all comps, you've already forgotten how the first one went.
There's also a separate mode that works more like a generic deckbuilder game (shorter runs (1-2h), no roguelite elements, less control over your build) if that's more your cup of tea.
Now for less important stuff like graphics, soundtrack and story (after all this is a game you play mainly for the gameplay):
Graphics are good. The game has its own style and I like it. I'm not a fan of over-the-top graphics that make your PC scream for help and there's absolutely no need for such stuff in a card game. So in that sense, graphics fit perfectly. The characters have several purely cosmetic skins, some locked behind DLCs, so you can somewhat customize them once you get bored of running the same-looking character for n-tieth time. There's not much else to say about this part.
Soundtrack, sound effects, etc. is something I don't have much of an opinion on. Don't expect a banger music like in helltaker or terraria but it's not something that you need to mute either, it's just good. Sound effects are getting an overhaul soon so I'm not gonna comment much on those, they were perfectly fine for me but I guess I don't pay too much attention to this kind of stuff.
Lastly, story. It's great. There's plenty of lore, plenty of information you can find from various nodes, picking various options and bringing various characters to see what options they have. There aren't any super long cutscenes or dialogues that make you want to skip just to get to the gameplay parts, the lore is something you constantly get in small portions without being overbearing. Overall, it builds a very solid and interesting world.
The game allows you to play with up to 4 players, each controlling one character. This is an awesome feature to have in a genre that has mainly singleplayer games. Though it requires friends to utilise and that's something I don't have...
Finally, let's talk about DLCs. As of writing of this post, there are 4 DLCs available with another 2 getting added in about a week. Their most important contents are as follows:
- Spooky Night in Senenthia (Halloween DLC) - only adds purely cosmetic skins
- Wolf Wars (Yogger DLC) - adds a "story zone" (something you play few time for lore and to unlock some other things and then never touch it again), a bunch of new skins, new character (Yogger) and new pet
- Sands of Ulminin (Desert DLC) - adds a functional zone (you can play it on any run), plenty of items that affect gameplay, 2 new characters (Laia and Nevalea) and a bunch of new pets (iirc 4)
- Amelia, the Queen (Amelia DLC) - adds a new character (Amelia) and a new pet
- Nenukli, the Engineer (Nenukli DLC) - adds a new character (Nenukli) and a new pet
- The Obsidian Uprising (Forge DLC) - add a new "story zone", new pet, few new items and a bunch of skins
So overall, DLCs can be divided into cosmetic DLCs (Halloween), story DLC (Yogger, Forge), character DLCs (Yogger, Amelia, Nenukli) and gameplay DLCs (Desert). Pricing is consistent (20$ for gameplay DLC, 5$ for the rest with Yogger DLC costing 10$ because of being a combination of 2 types) so pick what you want. Desert DLC adds the most and it's the one I would recommend the most, rest depends on whether you want skins, story or characters. I've bought the first 3 DLCs and will pick up the other 3 eventually, the game deserves that much.
So yeah, that's about it. The game's awesome, the developers are active in working on the game and improving it, both through DLCs and updates to the base game. It's something I can confidently say was worth the price I've paid and even if I'm currently taking a break from playing, I will inevitably return to playing.
Edit: We've got more information about the 2 new DLCs and it seems like the "story" zone from the Forge DLC will be different from the Yogger DLC's one and it will actually have gameplay value (looks like it will be like a new sub-zone).