Developer: Konfa Games
Publisher: Konfa Games, tinyBuild
Platform: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Mac, Linux
Tested on: PC
Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder – Review
What toys did you play with as a kid? Did you have an Action Man? A Barbie? A set of Hot Wheels perhaps? If you had multiple toys then you must know those moments when they all come together. Suddenly Super Mario is on an adventure with Wolverine, and before you know it you have created your own little multiverse. Playing like this is what Despot’s Game feels like to a degree. All kinds of humans under your control will fight through a dungeon for you as you decide what their skills will be.
Story
In Despot’s Game, a deranged AI has built a maze specifically for humans to fight through. This maze is teeming with enemies and potential events in each room, as well as items that make the humans stronger, and shops. The humans might live, or they might die. Whatever the case, you can always buy new ones in Despot’s Game as the pink blobby creatures do not seem to have any worth. You only get some readable story at the beginning, the end, and during some side quests. Apart from those moments, the game is mostly focused on gameplay as you run through Despot’s maze. This maze is an insane place where even resorting to cannibalism might be necessary to survive. Trying to reach the final boss is only the beginning of your adventure…
Graphics
Despot’s Game might seem somewhat simplistic when it comes to the art if you judge the aesthetic by the pink humanoid characters that make up your army. The game does, however, have some really great pixel art with advanced animations and the “simple” pink characters have hundreds of animations depending on what item they have equipped. It’s a game full of passion and hard work, which also shows in the polished style. The only visual letdown we found in the entire game is that the few biomes you go through look reasonably the same, making the journey toward the end less interesting. That being said, the developers do update the game regularly, which adds some new graphics (or gameplay mechanics).
Sound
The music is very interesting. Most tracks provide upbeat, techno-like music, though the game switches to some more ambient or rock-like bits too. The complete package results in you feeling like you landed in some alien disco, which is very fitting for how weird the game is in its essence. On top of this weird music is a layer of sound effects with explosions, hit impacts, and high-pitched human-like exclamations, and everything combined sounds like the effects were crafted with care to fit Despot’s Game very well.
Gameplay
Despot’s Game is a roguelike dungeon crawler where you go through multiple runs of a dungeon and no run will be the same. It uses a lot of RNG, meaning the game randomly generates items for you to buy as well as lootable upgrades. For a game such as this, luck also plays a part in finding the right ones. The controls are accessible as you simply buy humanoid characters at designated rooms and equip them with acquired weapons of your choosing. During every fight, which is almost every room, you can only sit back and watch the chaos unfold until one side is declared the winner. This will be mostly you as otherwise, you lose the game. A fight gives you tokens, and with tokens, you improve and sustain your army with weapons, mutations (modifiers that give more health, attack speed, etc.), or food.
The game uses these mechanics in a normal game mode where you move from room to room. In doing so, you need to manage your small army and their food supply, which decreases upon entering a new room. You’ll need to mix, match, and upgrade items to create strong combinations for each specific group of soldiers. You got fencers, mages, tricksters, healers, and many more. Mutations mostly apply to only one group and combining different members from a group gives them extra abilities as well. Combine this with the RNG elements the game offers and you have loads of possibilities to create the strongest army possible.
After completing the game once, there’s also a PvP element added to the game where your army battles those of other players to see who is the ultimate combination crafter. This is when the game gets extra replayability with ranked seasons and all, but participation in PvP is not optional. After every run, your team gets pitted against others without question. This is undoubtedly bringing stress to those looking for a chill solo experience during their entire game. There is also a brawl mode which is like a fast army builder with even more focus on PvP, putting you versus others early on (about every three rooms) as you try to gain 10 victories before you lose 3 matches.
Conclusion
Despot’s Game offers a highly addictive semi-idle dungeon crawling experience that’s full of combinations and choices, making every run different from the last. The game has cool graphics with loads of variations for battlers, fitting sounds, and gameplay offering high replayability. The only downside we found is that one way or another, fighting other players is forced upon you. Luckily this was only a small gripe we had with an otherwise great game.
Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder - Review,
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