Gaming: From Throwing Bear Traps With Telekinesis To Piledriving A Zombie...

Blightstone's battles are over in minutes, but offer surprising tactical depth.

I'm a huge fan of turn-based tactics, but I can recognise why many people see it as an intimidating genre. Between complicated mechanics, detailed unit stats, and lengthy missions, they can feel like a big investment of time and energy.

Heading into new roguelike Blightstone, just launched this week in Steam early access, I was girding myself for another steep learning curve and hours lost to figuring out which exact weapon works best against which goblin. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Blightstone is snappy. I'm thrown right into a battle between my three-man crew (well, technically three men and a dog) and a small group of villagers. Within just a few minutes I've not only gotten to grips with how combat works, I've finished the fight, and I'm onto the next challenge.

My brawler, hunter, and arcanist each have two action points per turn to play with. Though they boast substantial hotbars of abilities, it's immediately clear what each one does—here a damaging arrow shot, there a dog attack that inflicts a bleed status effect, etc.

It's straightforward but not simple. As in any great turn-based game, every turn comes with difficult choices. You can't use every ability and you can't be everywhere at once—that's where the tactical meat is.

And, importantly, each of those abilities feels impactful. When my arcanist casts a lightning spell, it strips away the health of a whole line of foes. When an enemy steps in one of my hunter's bear traps, they stop in their tracks on death's door. When my brawler shoulder-charges someone, they're hurled backwards to crash into one of their friends.

That doesn't mean your team feels overpowered—there are some tough foes arrayed against you—but their actions are decisive. They ensure that these small bouts are over in just two or three turns over five minutes, success or failure determined by a few significant choices rather than the culmination of a hundred little ones.

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I'm soon exploring different ways of deploying this arsenal of abilities, and discover a rich vein of one of the best mechanics any turn-based tactics game can have: chucking things at other things. (I have previously written entire odes to this concept.)

Source: PC Gamer