8 – Ascenders: Beyond the Peak
Since one of our previous entries had to be taken down, I scrambled to find a worthy replacement that brings something completely fresh to the table, and did I find a gem. Developed by Ludogram and published by Twin Sails Interactive, Ascenders: Beyond the Peak is a brilliant turn-based exploration roguelite where your survival is entirely vertical and a testament to the potential of the turn-based strategy genre. Instead of fighting in flat fields, you are managing a desperate team of alpinists sent to recover ancient artifacts from cursed, ice-covered peaks. Because, of course, every game needs to have some Lovecraftian lore these days. Nature is your enemy, but not exclusively. Prepare to face some Lovecraftian nightmares while you’re at it. The game’s central mechanic (aside from the verticality) is the tethering system, as all of your units are connected by a single rope, allowing for some great moves, but also plenty of perils lie in wait.
7 – County of Fortune
I hadn’t heard of County of Fortune until I started to do my research for this article (I guess that the Steam Next Fest is serving its purpose, then), and I was rather intrigued by its strange sight and setting. Players will build a whole medieval county (composed of several towns), and the scale zooms out a bit from what we’re used to seeing with things like Manor Lords. The management aspect of County of Fortune is all about where you place your towns, and each one will specialize in what it will do, and how they’ll interact with each other, to make sure everybody prospers. Soil quality, mountainous terrain, and rivers will be deciding factors in economic and logistics matters. Very cool take on the medieval city-builder, or should I say, medieval county-builder, instead?
6 – Roguecraft DX
The last couple of years for strategy games have been filled to the brim with fantastic turn-based combat games with roguelike mechanics. While it’s currently on-vogue to call out every roguelike experience as uninspired, I would be lying if I said I didn’t dislike it. In fact, some of my favorite games are roguelikes, and I’m extremely excited to see strategy games embrace some of their design decisions. Roguecraft DX is described as a semi-casual turn-based roguelike with a penchant for Lovecraftian horror and some banger retro-inspired aesthetics. Having played it, I think it goes full casual, and that’s perfect, because I came out of playing it with the impression that this is, undoubtedly, a very simplistic game, where it’s a great experience to have if you’re strapped for time, and don’t want to start a massive new title. Also, the game has really aggressive chickens, for some reason.
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