Drop Duchy

Interesting concept. Unfortunately, the game becomes less fun the more you level up. I hope they find a way to balance the game and make progression feel worthwhile. I will revisit the game after updates and change my review if warranted.

A fun game to play with an inventive mechanic behind it. However, they must add a banish action to the card deck that allows you to remove previously unlocked cards from the deck pool. As it stands right now you can make your self weaker with each successive technology tree upgrade as you bloat your deck more and more. If they add this feature I would happily switch from not recommended to recommend as otherwise this has the basis of a good game.

Drop Duchy is a fun, innovative idea for a game. Unfortunately, the game loop begins to feel stale after a few days of playing an hour here and an hour there. Drop Duchy has calming graphics, fun Tetris-style gameplay, and rewarding terrain interaction. However, the game falls short mainly due to a lack of progression and combination customization. The meta-progression after each run does not noticeably make future runs feel stronger, but it does noticeably feel tedious. While inside a round, my card combinations don't feel original; they feel scripted. To the player, it seems like the difficulty curve is built around a few card combinations chosen by the developer. The heart of roguelike gameplay is building something uniquely powerful from a wide array of spare parts, but Drop Duchy feels more like choosing which mediocre blueprint to follow. I think Drop Duchy would benefit massively from increased card-upgrade depth, with Monster Train's system being a good example. Having a few upgrade slots where the player gets to choose from a range of options would allow players to develop their cards in the direction they want. Drop Duchy is a great game idea but needs work on its depth. A stronger focus on its roguelike roots would significantly improve the game going forward.

Drop Duchy is a very addictive game that somehow mixes Tetris, card games, resource management, and strategy games and makes it all work and be very fun. You select a faction, and then you have your classic roguelike map with options that can get you cards in different shapes or a stage for gathering resources or combat. You need to progress, organize a strategy with the cards you are given and then try to beat the bosses that await you at the end of each map. It has a LOT of options both for combat or for resource gathering, and there is a lot of interaction to discover and improvements to make on the huge tree that you unblock by making progress. A great game with great ideas.

Nice combination of tetris meets slay the spire. Having fun so far. Seems like there is a decent amount of content. I am still on the first class.

The balance of upgrades is really bad, all of the unlocks are downgrades. You start with the best cards in the game and every time you unlock something new you add worse cards in the pool. Makes for a poor rogue-like experience. Where you can easily beat the game on your first couple of runs, but it just gets worse every time you progress. While I'm all for the game getting harder as you progress, doing it by making your deck weaker is a really "feel bad" way of doing it. As you just get punished for completing challenges. Fun concept with a lot of potential, maybe if they balance the upgrades I would be able to recommend the game.

Interesting concept but poor execution. This game would be 100% improved if we had some control over tile drops on a map rather than some random order. It would add a good deal of strategic depth. Or a few more reserve slots - with a limit of one enemy building in reserve. Currently some runs are a complete waste of time due to random tile drops. Then you are eliminated and have to start over. Very user unfriendly game.

Drop Duchy is a fun little strategy game that combines tetris-like tile placement, cards/deckbulding and roguelike elements. I can highly recommend it, as there are many combinations, strategies to be fund. I'd say give it a try, I'm sure you'll be able to decide during the 2h refund period if the gameplay is to your liking. What really got me was how fun they combined the different elements to create the game. The tile placing mechanic affects not just your resources, but also how much health you'll walk away from the encounter. Will you focus on your unit buildings to get stronger, or try to get as many resources as possible? And whichever you choose, how much will you let the enemy buildings gain while trying to bolster your side? All these are given a little extra, because you have no saying when will the building or the just right shaped terrain will come from the deck. There are three factions in the game, which have rather different starting cards, plus each have a passive mechanic unique to them. All these are to open up deck combinations which either use other mechanics/cards to bolster the faction's own, or the other way around - getting cards to a certain type of deck and using the unique cards to support that. There are multiple difficulties - making the enemies stronger and stronger. I'd suggest to play a few on easy to get a picture of how a full playthrough looks like, get to know the "bosses". Those are at the end of each map (Acts) which of there are 3. These are maps with special rules, where you'll have to bring your A game to at least weaken the enemy enough to not loose too much health. What was a pleasant suprise is how well they nailed the card system. While there are multiple cards that are fall into the "it can be usefull" category, there are some that are basically the cornerstones of a certain types of decks. For example: There are multiple ways to earn gold during a match, which you can spend on stuff, but it's only one of the multiple resources you need to manage. You can boost the amount you get, but still have to focus on other things. Now, what if you can gain units for the amount you earn during playing? Now it's not just a resource, but a way of winning matches! I really enjoy this game. It can be played casually or on high difficulty. It has options and room for experimenting with them. Give it a try!

Game seemed really good and then I unlocked rivers and now game feels like dogshit.. this was maybe an hour into playing it. They really need to take another look at their meta progression system - game shouldn't feel like an 8/10 and then one unlock changes that to a 3/10 almost immediately lol.

Good tetris rip off mechanics. Unfortunately you can have the best run in the world which can be totally ruined by being unlucky in how the random blocks are given to you in a single combat. Very limited strategy available to handle those situations. Boils the game down to feeling like I might as well flip a coin.

If I had to summarize my problem with this game, it's mechanically too much while being narratively too little. There are bosses, and factions and changing terrains and I have no idea why any of these exist. They are all in a vacuum. This could easily be a game where the color green is trying to beat the color purple by having more widgets than it. The game has the thinnest possible paint job of medieval on it to try and justify anything at all going on. There is no story, no characters, no reason to be trying to win other than you like points and unlocking things. Mechanically, it's just a lot. It works, but you're playing tetris with a rogue-lite deck and having to keep track of a dozen building's interactions with terrain types and each other and potentially traps, all at the same time. It's frustrating to put two buildings together because it makes tetris sense for a second, but realize it screws up everything in all the other senses. It's a lot to keep track of all at once, and I'm sure some people will enjoy that. I don't really.

Two big cons that ruin the game for me: - Game gets bloated with too many useless tiles once you go down the unlock tree - During a run you get too many tiles you won't ever use. Very unsatisfying.

An enjoyable 40 hour romp. Thankfully they implemented a forgiving save system. Unfortunately, as others have commented the progression system is not fun towards the end when you need achievements to unlock the final pieces. By which point, what you are unlocking doesn't really incentivize further play (the Noble pieces). Had there been one further class specific to Noble pieces with some additional synergies I'd say this is a 9 out of 10, but as such is an 8.

This game is about a 7.5/10 whilst using the first faction. Once you unlock the republic it jumps to a 9.5! Cant wait to unlock the third faction to see what that brings to the game. So satisfying when you get a great combo working. Highly recommended.

Fun and satisfying roguelite. Gives similar satisfaction to playing Tetris but also gathering materials and building up your deck. Difficulty gets consistently easier with progression, which happens through an interesting tree system tied into the achievements/challenges. Once the game clicks, however, it becomes significantly easier. There are still elements of RNG but you are able to consistently get a strong build and beat the run. I definitely recommend if you're a fan of deckbuilders in general.

This game answers the question: What if tetris were a rogue like deck builder? Very interesting combination of gaming styles, I enjoyed it quite a bit. 70 hours to 100%. Pro tip: Just swallow your pride and play the factions on easy until you complete the faction quests. I'm not saying it's impossible to win but you're extremely handicapped with the cards you have available. You need to figure out the meta anyway.

A great premise and a super fun game. Working through easy, normal, and hard difficulty has perfect feeling progression with each faction offering distinctly different play styles. The game is a bit on the challenging side overall, especially before you unlock the full progression tree so it comes with lots of replay-ability. I only have a two minor complaints. The first of which is the first set of peaceful engagements in each run. Each faction clearly has a preferred terrain distribution and nothing is preventing you from restarting your play through until you get the desired starting zone. The second is the lack of factions. Adding more would be a huge overall positive since a number of play styles aren't explored in the base game. This could be remedied with Steam Workshop and community support down the road.

It is a lot of fun, and seems simple but can get very complex if you want a challange.

Game is really fun! Very neat balance of deckbuilder and tetris. i just wish i was better at tetris

It's creative. It's intuitive. It's very fun. (And the art style is gorgeous.) Longevity of the roguelite progression systems will need to be evaluated. I feel I unlock a lot of stuff in the first two or three runs, which worries me that A) either there is a lot of unlocks and not all of them will feel fresh enough or B) you run out of things to unlock pretty early on. I like the general, first run, first win, types of unlock, but makes us work for some as well - not just make me play the game for a few more minutes.

I think it lacks a bit of variety as rogue-like, but the complexity is finely tuned, and the game is very fun and refreshing. Strongly recommended!

As a rogue-lite enjoyer with what I'm sure are a few thousand hours in various titles, I was very interested in the game but a bit worried after reading some of the negative reviews. After playing for 4 hours I'm happy to say that I'm having a blast and I'd like to specifically address some points that might scare off others: [list] [*]Difficulty curve requires meta-progression - I managed to defeat Act 2 boss on my 2nd try and finished a run on my 3rd or 4th. The only noticeable power creep is obtained from the faction specific quests as they directly upgrade your starting deck and resources. They took me 10-15 minutes of targeted achievement hunting and then I was done. Since I'm also learning the game and enjoying the feeling of progression this had no effect on my overall enjoyment/patience. [*]Meta-progression dilutes your deck - this happens in every single deck builder I've played. Your most consistent runs are always your first few before unlocking more cards. After each act you get to choose 1 terrain type to remove from the game so this will increase your consistency. [*]Mechanics locked behind meta-progression - I see this more as a way of tutorialization and easing you into more mechanics. On a conceptual level I agree with this point IF you've already mastered the game up to that point and feel like you have to wait around to unlock more gameplay. However I never felt Drop Duchy reach that point or even close to it. You get barraged with achievements in the first 1-2 hours of play which is enough to unlock technology cards and that's where the game really opens up [/list]

Who was asking for a Tetris Rogue Like? Not me, but here I am loving it. The gameplay loop is pretty chill and relaxing, but the missions and the different factions keep the game just interesting enough that I’ve sunk almost thirty hours into it in my free time. I’m not sure if this game has a huge amount of longevity, but it’s good for what it is. Pick it up if you enjoy slow paced Rogue Likes or chill puzzle games.

As a Tetris lover, this is a really awesome game, mashing the mechanics with rouge-like features and card deck building. I've nearly filled out the full upgrade tree after 42 hours of play. It does start to get monotonous around this point, but that may just be my lack of experience with resource management games. Over all, it's a lot of fun and definitely worth the money!

Great little puzzle strategy game. Enough variation and repeated challenge to keep you invested for 80+ hours. Highly recommend. My game of the year to date.

Innovative gameplay with lots of options, but slow on my PC.

Easy to learn, hard to master. Religion seems to be extremely strong. 10/10 would play again tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day afterwards....

This game is incredibly fun. I read a review where they were referencing this as Carcassonne tetris and I agree. The art is beautiful the music is devine and when you start to see the combo potential of some cards and build a solid deck it is very rewarding. It will take time over a few runs to get the mechanics but once you do I found myself locked in with this game. It can be a bit frustrating when you miss interpret a card action word but trial an error and practice alleviates this.

Very chill game, new but interesting take on tetris. Reminded me of Into the breach, which is a good thing. You can get around 20 hours out of this game just to finish normal difficulty progression, then its up to you how much you want to challenge yourself with harder difficulties.

The sound design and the depth to buildcrafting make this game fun and satisfying. If you like strategy rogue-lites, perhaps with slight affinity for Tetris shapes, give this a go. My only real issue with the game is the non-toggled skill tree. This means when you unlock a building/upgrade, you can not turn it off and it can really dilute the building/card pool in your runs. I can see this being addressed in some way soon, but also realise that it would make the game too trivial if you could essentially toggle yourself a guaranteed build. I look forward to more factions and other updates in the future c:

A really good mix of various game types, well worth the asking price.

I love this game. The UI is clean, it has great audio design, and I love the art style. The 2D animations are a nice touch without being distracting. Each card description gives you only the information you need, and it's challenging without ever really feeling frustrating. It just feels good to play. I think the devs could have made it a pure card game, but there's a brilliance to the Tetrislike mechanic that helps rounds flow together and move at a nice pace. I saw another reviewer who didn't like the progress tree bc it's linear, but I have to say I disagree. A skill tree with lots of choices makes sense for an RPG, but you're not customizing a character here as much as unlocking new ways to play. Each new point on the tree unlocks totally new mechanics and cards, which keeps the gameplay fresh enough that it's worth the $15.

It took me a few runs before the complexity of the combat system clicked for me, but once it did, my mind was blown. And as a tetris game you will of course be convinced that you can totally make all the right plays, and then you get only the worst blocks in the world for 10 blocks in a row until you're crying watching your absolute mess of a battlefield form. My only issues with the game are that it seems somewhat unpolished, especially the UI elements, and the meta progression feels way too fast. I am rewarded with things long before I feel as though I've earned them

Relaxing and addictive game you can hop in and out of at any time. Definitely worth a try!

overwhelming depth injected into a timeless classic. Very, very clever and very fun

reverse squiggly vs a 1x4 gap. game has limited but engaging content.

The game has an interesting mechanic. You can replay it often. It gives enough challenges and you unlock a more mechanics as you play. The game also has a very good user experience. 10/10 recommend if you like a roguelike puzzle game.

Tetris mixed with a deck builder mixed with a strategy battler type game. What's not to love! I can't recommend this game enough! If any of those genres appeal to you I'd highly recommend you picking this one up.

Tetris, roguelike, deck-builder done right. There is a lot going on, in a good way. The variety of mechanics are a fun mix, and the core loop is satisfying. Some QOL is definitely due for exploring/filtering cards, upgrades, deck, etc. Excited to see how this game continues to evolve, develop, and deepen.

Amazingly fun game with some cool and unique concepts! Think tetris meets deck builder and the them is awesome as well!

Very Unique, fun game - I beat every difficulty with every Deck and I gotta say Nightmare is a nightmare but apart from that a very well done game. The progression is fast and intended for the player to not be overwhelmed when starting. There is a huge tree where you can unlock more Cards and Factions. The factions play very differently from each other with some builds that are viable for every faction. All in all I can say it is worth its price. Even if you don't like Tetris that much I would recommend giving it a try

A must have for people who like relaxed Rogue-like games. It's Tetris, Balatro, and Risk all wrapped into a very Earthy aesthetic. Buy this game now and spend days of your life locked into this majestic Indie game. Much love for all who worked on this game.

Fun game with some very interesting ideas. A lot of tension and considerations where to place your tiles and which cards to draft. Meta progressions could be better as well as how to approach combat at the end of the round (always 1 optimum solution), but really enjoyed my time playing it.

There's a Tetris element to this game, but the main part is a kind of card based roguelike. It's not too difficult, but great fun to play!

Amazing Game Loop and joyful progression.

Super simple and clean game with a clear understanding of its experience. I've only done a run through the normal mode of the game so I may change my mind, but it's exactly what I want for the price point. There's clear replay value, the runs take about an hour, and I look forward to the various factions. My only real complaint for the game so far is the relative lack of variety in enemy units. I get there are only so many ways to approach that, but I'd like to see more threatening enemy tiles. Something like changing land types or building that blocked off more of the build paths like a stone fortress. Enemy-only buildings would also be nice to see. Given that's a fairly secondary mechanic of the game, really like it!

One of those games I'll be coming back to until I beat all the normal and hard content. Worth the full price.

fun enough game, great concept and ideas. im a little annoying and it seems like most of the bad reviews are based around the upgrading system. the more i unlock the worse the builds become. there needs to be a class system or a ban system in place. as i unlock more cards the more bloat and the worse choices i have, my runs will end only because there are so many trash (for the deck) cards i cant get synergies, which is what this game is about, not really an ability to pivot either. i did enjoy playing this but untill they change that issue i probably wont be playing any more, too frustrating.

Frustratingly difficult, especially the boss levels which have extra rules, even on easy mode. I love the game, love the concept, and continue to play and restart levels in hopes of not getting absolutely destroyed by the randomness of the part drops (which doesn't feel as random as it feels purposely trying to cheat you out of a hard earned advantage...not even a win, just the right placement sometimes). I'll continue to play and might change my review then.

Pretty neat. Random bugs with terrain percentage and has a lagging issue but fun either way.