SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech

As a fan of SteamWorld and of medieval RPGs I had to give Hand of Gilgamech a chance. I did and it was okay. First off, the art design was great: each character, NPC and enemy had the proper, almost classic, look of SteamWorld which we all know and love. The music was okay, the humor is also okay, although not quite as other games of the developer, and the story is as basic and straightforward as it can be. I enjoyed each of these aspects, specially the heros' personalities and stories. One of the uncomfortable things about the game is the UI. Many times, for some reason, my cards were getting switched because there is a button at the bottom of every card that lets you swap the card for another, as this is a core mechanic of combat. The developer thought that it would be cool to play the game only with mouse or only keyboard; I think that's great and gives you options and there are games that do so with no problem, but having an icon in the little card that you have to click that changes the card for some other can play against you and destroy the entire strategy you are building. Not only that, but looking at the enemy weaknesses and using consumables are accessed awkwardly through a menu that feels just out of the entire battle UI, selecting an enemy or a charter to direct buffs or attacks can get messy and details about the different buffs, debuffs, and even attacks and their effects are just lacking in-game, making them confusing and frustrating. The combat is the core of the gameplay, since exploration is limited compared to other games of the developer. The chain mechanic is fun but I think it has such a big role in battle that you may be just playing for chains all the time instead of using all the characters abilities to overcome challenges. Now, there are cards that benefit from being played after another character attacks, but these are so few and their effects not that big that I chose to ignore them, even though I tried to include them in my decks. I played the game in legendary difficulty, which proved to be indeed hard, specially in the early game. After that, it was still challenging, but manageable and fun, up until the end of the game. The final two bosses did so much damage that I was not able to outstand it, even with my healing character being in every battle since the beginning of the game in order to get experience; I took every battle with every enemy in the entire game and it was just not enough. Of course, I upgraded and equipped the items that seemed necessary for the build of each character to shine. But, at the end, I had to turn down the difficulty for the last two bosses: they were too strong. That made it much more manageable. Just for fun, I tried the easiest difficulty and it was a breeze compared to the medium and hard modes of the game. I think these are a bit imbalanced; it's a completely different experience. I would say that Legendary is the way to go for the entire game, while the medium difficulty should be played at the end. This was a bit disappointing; every enemy above level 40 is devastating. This is most obvious in the arena: even though it is suppose to level up the difficulty of the challenge each time, it was becoming just more and more about just keeping reviving my heroes instead on focusing on a strategy to follow. I did try the Midas challenge but I was not able to beat even the first battle; tried in the easiest difficulty and I was not able to do so as well. One of the reasons behind this valuation of the game in terms of its difficulty is the amount of money that it is handed to you. I found every treasure chest in the game and did every arena challenge except the last one, because of the insane conditions to meet for you to overcome it, and even that was not enough to cover revival and potions to buy. I think it was too little and if you wanted to continue in the Legendary difficulty you probably have to have these items, in particular in the endgame. I thought That I would get more money as I progressed, but It was actually the other way around, so I had practically no money at the end to buy new cards and no materials to upgrade them as well. The developer has amazing games like Dig 2, Heist, and Heist II. They know how to make games in a proper and fun manner, but maybe this types of RPGs aren't their forte. I had high expectations that were not met; maybe that's the problem. Anyway, I don't consider myself a particularly gud gamer, specially when it comes to building decks, but I am familiar to them and I enjoy challenges every time. But the sum of the parts of this game made it a not that great experience that, although entertaining, it's not on par with other games of the genre. Still, I am always open to experience the SteamWorld and I hope more games of the developer get out there and more people get to play them. 5/10

Wasn't sure I would like the aesthetics, but this really grew on me. I love a deck building game WITHOUT roguelike mechanics. Its so refreshing to just be able to build a deck and have it. No having to take random cards I don't want. No cryptic descriptions that require me to wiki them. No falling in love with a card and having it ripped from my hands. Just ethical gameplay. The story is also kinda nice. Nothing crazy interesting, but consistent and existent. I really wish more games were like this.

an approachable and interesting Deck battler game. Perhaps not as complex as I'd want but with lovely and funny story

Fun deck builder RPG. It's got a nice challenge curve and enough characters to keep variety up. Everyone has their own flair they lean into. If you like deck building you'll get 5 characters to build for. This is the most story focused of the SteamWorld games and it's pretty silly, but enjoyable. It is clear English is not the first language, but the translation is fine and most of the jokes still hit. Family friendly game, good fun for everyone.

This game is missing so many UX feature. First, you can't even see what cards you already have while you're in a shop. You have to go back and forth between menus, which is frustrating. Second, it's playable with mouse, yet, it's lazily implemented. You can't hover over stuff to see what they mean. There are things that should've been a clickable. Third, for some reason only God knows, if you use mouse they keep showing you the UI in the middle of a dialogue, which keep breaking my immersion. I just skip the story because of it. The gameplay is alright. It's like Slay The Spire, but very heavy on combo. The punishment for losing a member is too harsh imo.

I'm enjoying the game so far - about 5 chapters in - to be honest, all I really want is a place to fight against different enemies and mess around with building different decks without having to go through all the story. I think there's something like that later on though. Cool game - I got it on sale (90% off) as the RRP is a little steep for what the game actually is.

Needs some quality of life adjustments, but overall a very solid game.

Fun and interesting strategy game with a few puzzling design decisions.

A pretty neat little deck builder! Perhaps my favorite SteamWorld so far, even. You have an active party of three characters, with exactly eight cards equipped per character. I often found myself wishing I could put more cards on one character instead, but everyone feels useful, and you aren't totally doomed to fail if you happen to bring the wrong character to a boss fight. I'd suggest keeping one or two spare alternate damage types or some utility on hand. Fortunately, redraws can help you avoid using disadvantageous cards in cases of immunities or even element absorption. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that, except in case of a couple of boss immunities, status effects / debuffs were quite useful and reliable. It didn't just devolve into stacking power onto big attacks (though this is a potent strategy as well- Armilly is amazing in the late game). My only major complaints in terms of gameplay come in around the middle. There's a significant (but not totally BS and unplayable) difficulty spike. Group status effects, big damage, enemy team-wide buffs, the works. There were even a couple of spots where the screen transition could lead you into an unavoidable encounter with no chance for a preemptive hit. I ground a few levels as I explored alternate paths and looked for treasure, and this was around when I settled on my favorite team compositions and basic deck setups. After that, there was just the mild annoyance of certain enemies playing multiple cards and just taking a while to let me play the game again. Not universal, but there were a couple of annoying moments. The story and cast don't reinvent the wheel, but do the job well. Even if they present a common trope, it's done earnestly. Flaws are challenged and hidden strengths are brought forward. Even "the Persona 4 chapter" (you'll see) was okay. It definitely channels the spirit of a classic fantasy tale. Again, simple, but with enough sauce put into it that it's charming instead of one-note and boring.

Turn-based, party-based RPG, and deck building, all mechanics I enjoy. Would recommend.

Nice addition to the franchise

fun