Othercide

Sick game, sick BGM, game is hard but that's the whole point of Suffering. Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain something of equal value must be lost.

This is a fun game! There's great battle mechanics! There's enough bugs to qualify as a bethesda title! It's an all around great game!

Super dark and creepy. For cinematic effect alone this game is worthwhile. The turn based strategy aspect of it appeals to me immediately, and I actually found it pretty satisfying. The enemies are well described and you can read what to expect from each in the Codex. Definitely makes for a thought provoking game while experiencing some weird psychological horror stuff. 5*

Interesting concept, bosses can be cheesed a lot if u know how. But still enjoyed it.

Cool and Fun game with turn based combat. Good mechanics. Good strategy. Cool theme and art.

Beautiful aesthetic, lots of strategy, tough choices. 10/10

Honestly can't believe how addicted I became when stumbling upon this gem.

What a diamond. What a beautiful game were hidden from me. But finally i found it. I love everything about this game. Firstly the art style. I have no words. Unique and just feels good to look at it. The story is Dark as the world is and its great. Bosses are fantastic especially the Surgeon and the Maid. My 2 favorites. The gameplay is best desribed as a turn-based,roguelike game. High risk,High reward gameplay. 4 different class,Everything works as you should think it will work so its a big win. You have a lot of way to take down enemies. Soundtrack is unique and never out of place every boss fight has its own soundtrack. Please give this game try if you read this review it wont let you down and it will reward you greatly if you play it through.

Amazing game, amazing soundtrack. Worth

The gameplay isn't really my thing, but that's more about the genre of game than anything else. I'm told it's a bit simpler than other games in the genre but I'm not the right person to comment on that. I am intrigued by the story and worldbuilding I've seen so far. I enjoy the soundtrack. The voiced lines get a bit repetitive/don't have much variety for how often they're spoken. The aesthetic is spectacular, in my opinion--I love the choice of grayscale and red as well as the art direction. it feels borderline cosmic horror and gives me vibes of Bloodborne.

A fantastic turn-based strategy with a very focussed and tight style to it and roguelike elements. The minute-to-minute decisions feel more akin to a board game like Gloomhaven rather than the "I hope this 70% shot hits" RNG fest of X-Com, and this leads to very satisfying combos and planning.

This game is such an underrated gem, it's a shame it's not more well known. Overall, I've really been enjoying this game and would recommend it to people who love punishing turn based strategy. However, it's not without its flaws that will put some people off, but I think the core game is fresh and unique and well worth a go. I'd love to see a sequel at some stage.

PROS:
* There is such a dark but engaging atmosphere to this game. Your decisions, losses, and sacrifices all feel very gritty.
* The permadeath of units adds so much tension to the game, leading to some tough decisions as you progress. As a huge XCOM fan, I love this.
* There are some great moments of unit synergy once you understand how they work and can be exploited. It's a great feeling when it all comes together.
* The initiative timeline is a cool and unique mechanic, and the initiative boosts + delays give some good strategic options.
* The art direction is amazing and really accentuates the theme of this game.
* The soundtrack is amazing, particularly for the bosses.
* The game is brutally difficult and you certainly feel the costs of your mistakes.
* The voice acting is fantastic - although the lines do get repeated quite a lot.
* The different kinds of missions, while limited, are interesting and diverse enough.
* The animations are fluid and the short cutscenes for some abilities and for some killing blows look great.

NEUTRAL:
* Sacrificing your units to heal and upgrade others is a great concept. However, I think it is underutilised and the requirement of sacrificing a unit of greater or equal level largely makes it an unviable strategy as you progress.
* It seems some abilities look good on paper, but are far less useful than their alternatives in game, so they seem like traps to new players. I find myself selecting mostly the same abilities across all units because they are objectively better than the alternatives.
* There are only a limited number of maps, so you will see the same ones fairly often. I think they could have padded this out a bit better with varying the starting locations, enemy configurations, randomly distributing the obstacles, etc.
* I think the rougelite mechanic is a little bit lacking, and it seems to be used more for saving overall progress rather than unlocking new and exciting things.

CONS:
* Boss fights can be incredibly unfair and almost impossible to predict or even plan for. If you don't know in advance what you're fighting against and you bring the wrong team comp, the fight is almost unwinnable.
* Normal enemies spawning near your units is such a pain point. The melee units are largely predictable, but the ranged units can just spawn and immediately shoot your units and you have no real way to mitigate this.
* Some normal enemies are horrible to fight against. They have their turns too often, do too much on their turn, and there's no real way to counter them.
* There are some major things lacking in the UI that really should be there. Particularly around what traits and memories your units have - it makes it difficult to build your team comp and utilise them in battle if you don't know what your units do.

OTHER:
* I'd love to see more classes, more useful abilities, and a greater diversity of missions. Essentially, just more content.
* I'd like to see a better way to manage your units turns, particularly when they are all in a row. You're at the mercy of the imitative bar and often you want other units going before others to properly utilise some skills and setup combos. Perhaps a simple delay initiative ability would be useful.

It was far too difficult for me. The first 2 hours seemed fine, but by the third it became too difficult for me to manage. I can't say it's bad, but I can say I didn't enjoy the spike that happened just too far in to refund the game.

I bought this game a long time ago and almost finished it, then other games distracted me. After a few years I came back and this game is epic - dark and beautiful, gameplay, bosses, music, atmosphere - If you like Turnbase, Rouge/Souls like games - just try it and enjoy!

I am only about 8ish hours in the game and I am obsessed! I suck at tactical games, but this has such a unique style and the challenge scared me at first but you are actually rewarded when losing so it makes me feel empowered and ready to kick butt the next time. Fun game play, average story so far. I cannot wait to finish; however, I'll be sad to say goodbye. Worth the buy!

MAKE ANOTHER ONE

Personally, I really like the game. The gameplay itself is great. Exactly what I want form a turn based strategy game where you have a squad of fighters. A lot of people compare it to Xcom. It's no surprise then that I will also do that (You'll see I have played a lot of Xcom 1 and 2).

Visually, a lot of people like it. See the screenshots and trailer to see if it's your thing. Personally, it doesn't do much for me both negatively or positively.

Audio is great. Sound effects, voice acting and the music as well are all fine. However, the voice lines do get repetitive pretty quick.

Tactically, the game is similar and does scratch the same itch as Xcom. However:
- There are only a few classes, and not many skills per class. Basically, you have less tools. Also, because there is no elevation mechanic, and no cover mechanic, and no items to bring, it's a lot simpler.
- Therefore, a lot more important to make correct decisions. It does get hard if you just mess around. There is "dream" option, but if you struggle with X-com or similar games on normal difficulty, you're not going to like this. Or at least you're going to die a lot.
- The timeline mechanic is actually GREAT and it allows for more planning, tactics and tricks then simple turn-based. Wonderfully done.

Now, I do want to debunk some things:
- I see a lot of people claim "grind grind grind" for heals. This is not (entirely) true. Basically, git gud (no joke). This is why your decisions are important. IF you screw up too much, or IF you play "casually", you will lose a lot of health and your daughters WILL die because you can't heal them.
- But I played the game for the first time, and I reached the first boss the 1st round, the third boss the 2nd round, and I'm doing quite well in my 3rd round where I'm sure I'll at least reach the fourth boss (there are 5).
- For every boss (or at least the first two) you kill, you can get 1 resurrection on ALL your next campaigns. And you can get resurrections throughout the whole game (if you don't skip parts). I've just done the third boss and I've resurrected both my A-teams from the 1st and 2nd campaign. You CAN (without grinding) make a perfectly healthy, strong team of the daughters you're attached to.

Now there are some negatives as well. First of all the seems not be tested properly. EVER.
- In the beginning it feels super clunky. Oftentimes you have to click multiple different buttons where there should have been no need. ESC doesn't work to cancel. It opens the menu screen. (cancel is C).
- Numbers on the UI are wrong. They don't show all boosts or debuffs. Just base stats/damage.
- Some things are not in the UI at all. A lot of stats of your units (traits, equipped buffs, etc.) can't be seen or found anywhere when you're inside a mission. Some of which are really important, such as "does 40% damage buff on adjacent units" and such.
- Instead of giving tooltips, the game makes you press every skill and every unit to check what they do (and then you have to cancel out again).
- You do get used to it, but it's the main problem with this game for me.

Repetiton:
- The game is, luckily, not that long. I am still enjoying but I can see that if you have played through fully, you're done. There is no reason to restart unless you're REALLY enjoying it. But there is no higher/lower difficulty, no new units to discover, no this or that choices, no nothing that can result in a different type of campaign. They're all the same.

Devs:
- I've seen a lot of messages on the forum of devs saying "we'll look into this or that" and they never did. And then they abandoned the game without getting rid of the kinks.

Is it worth it? In the end, yes, if you LIKE tactical games AND are at least somewhat skilled at them, you'll enjoy it. If you're not that skilled, or you want a chill game, don't buy this.
The game does provide a well thought out tactical system with interesting units and possibilities. By the time you've seen all of it, you're probably just about done with the game anyway. I would guess 25 hours or so? Which is reasonable for this price. Basically, it's "fun till you get sick of it".

I'm not sick of it yet, so I'm happy to say I got my money's worth.

I can say I'm a little bit of a scaredy-cat. so noir themes can go both like and dislike.
I started it for the tactical game, but this game held me in its grasp until the end.
Recommend.

𝐒𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.
𝘈 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦.
𝘚𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.
𝘚𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺.
𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮.

𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱, 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦.

— 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵... 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦.
— 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥? 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦?
— 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦...
— Why did you leave us? Can't you hear our tears...

𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳?
𝘔𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭...
𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳.
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘺.

𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯.
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦...

Lots of atmosphere, great soundtrack.

Atmosphere is great, art style is immaculate, and gameplay is everything you'd expect with some interesting twists. Punishing & rewarding, with multiple ways to strengthen your units. The action point/time line mechanic in combat allows for unique strategy and risk-taking. If you've never played turn-based tactical games before, maybe give this a miss because you might not get the same kick out of it. If you are a turn-based fan, I would definitely recommend.

Bought this game on release because of the outstanding style and presentation, and in 2024 its still absolutely worth your time

It's been a while since I played a fun turn-based tactical game. And here it is again. The tactical and RPG components are pretty good, the art style and music create a great atmosphere. The voice acting is decent. There are some small rough edges in technical part, game mechanic, I would like a higher difficulty settings, etc. but overall I am happy.

If you're checking this game out, it's because of the super-stylized visuals. In that respect, the game nails it. Fantastic visual style, environments and music. It's really unique and does it very well.

Gameplay-wise, though, the game gets super tedious. My biggest gripe is there are only 3 classes, each with ~3-6 skills (depending on your level) and the skills honestly don't really differentiate or even synergize. Lots of them break down to "do a lot of damage in 1 hit" vs "do smaller damage in 3 hits" vs "do medium damage with a push effect". The environments are just a big flat square grid interspersed with barricades that don't even serve as cover in the X-Com sense. So you're usually just looking at all the enemy movements and then trying to remember where they are all going when you pick yours. It's dumb and tedious.
Much like X-Com, the game can heavily punish you if you make a mistake. But unlike X-Com, it doesn't really give you the tools to do anything about it. I guess it kind of fits the brutal stylings of the game visuals, but it makes for a lame gameplay experience.

The perfect encapsulation of the game is this: Your character health does not regenerate after missions. You need to sacrifice another character of equal or greater level in order to heal a wounded one. It's a very unique mechanic that fits great into the vibe of the game. But as far as how it actually plays gameplay-wise? It's awful. You're essentially wasting the time you spent on one character so you can sacrifice them to heal another.

Short Version: Short and sweet for a tactics game that delivers tight gameplay with a broody atmosphere, a solid choice!

Long Version:
Gameplay: Mistakes are punished hard but very few feel forced once you know what your units/enemies are capable of. Especially enjoy being able to check what moves enemies/bosses employ before they use them, really helps not having to learn through trial and error. You get a decent variety of skills/modifiers/classes to dispatch enemies that don't get too repetitive by changing/upgrading as you delve deeper. Roguelike elements are simple but let you choose between the usual starting from scratch but stronger or jumping back into the area/boss you last were.

Story: I'll be honest, despite reading all the flavour text on equips/enemies/etc. provided, I didn't bother piecing everything together into a cohesive storyline, I never felt the need to have a concrete reason to fight on so I can't vouch for the strength of the plot, it's there if you need it.

Sound: Music does a very good job of providing the right mood, sombre tunes that intensify as the peril grows, harder tracks when facing Bosses (though I'm not a big fan of vocal stuff). Sound design is on-point, weapons swing/hit satisfyingly, monsters sound creepy and die gurgling. Voice acting is okay but Mother is not as good a narrator as Darkest Dungeon's Ancestor (which is a high bar to meet/clear).

Graphics: Love the art-style and colour scheme, Daughters looks bad-ass and monsters/boss are appropriately nightmare styled.

Final Note: Game could have used some final polish, some maps are too easy/hard, some enemies too tough/weak, some choices too one sided, etc., that being said, it was a solid experience from start to finish and I'm glad I got to enjoy it, well done folks!

good !

this game i want to like but no matter what its stupid at how it plays. ive gotten killed for no reason more then 12 times full HEALTH and the enemy even though its a basic enemy guess what death for me but them nooooo they never die plus the time line stuff is kinda dumb as well oh you used 51 points well your going to 100 LIKE REALLY

It's a tactical game in a grim dark world. I can see this being intriguing if you like that environment and story type. It also has an interesting mechanic where if a character dies, they are gone from your party. You can resurrect them by earning an item at the completion of chapters, but otherwise you won't have them for a while. It also has a somewhat unique turn order determination. You can alter your initiative based on how much movement or AP you spend on your turn. It was a bit confusing and didn't ever really click for me though.

I don't usually play these types of games, but the vibe and art style alone got me wanting more, it's fun and I love the mechanics, being able to have a reacting move is so fun, you can use some of ur own health to do a move that can protect an ally, if ur smart and plan things out it can go well, being able to bring back favored characters is fun, the end of a run doesn't feel like the end it feels like the start to another try, I don't even really feel punished for failing, in a good way, though I am on an easier difficulty, it's a lot of fun and I feel like the harder difficult would be fun too it's just not for me, I definitely recommend

Very cool game.

It's an extremely difficult game. But, if you can get a foothold with the permanent powerups, that's how you can start to make easier progress.

had this game in my libary for years and gave it shot back in the day not liking it very much. Gosh was I wrong. Due to a recommandation I watched on yt I gave this another shot and it didn't disappoint. The only thing which i really disliked was the way on how a certain boss was implemented. ohter than that give this a try. :)

What can I tell ya - it just doesn't have the sauce. I'd love a goth XCom, but this lacks depth and feels tedious. I admire the commitment to the red & black colour scheme, but with only 3 classes and half a dozen or so maps, there's not a lot to it. There's no cover mechanic, no elevation changes, and no interaction with the environment, which means most turns are just checking everyone's movement ranges and making a decision about staying out of range or moving into it. I'll grind in a game that rewards me, but this is pretty dull.

Great game concept and the gameplay seems to be fun, even though I heard it was repetitive. I didn't have a chance to test this, since due to a blue screen my savegame got corrupted to the point I cannot even start the game. I get stuck in the title screen. I have tried to find solutions to this, but it seems that the only way to fix it, is deleting the savegame, which would result in me having to start over. That is a game breaking bug. I am not willing to risk losing my savegame again, when there are tons of other great games out there, without such issues.

Stunning visuals, very stylish + perfect combat.
I am not a big fan of turn-based strategies, but this game is one of my favorites.
Highly recommended.

This is a very good game!
I would recommend trying to get all memories and reading through the entire story with them. It gives new meaning and depth to everything you do.
There is a lack in variety in missions and maps, but this does not diminish an otherwise great game with a gripping narrative that is told with care and empathy. It's quite beautiful.

What makes this turn based strat game different?

I love it. Fantastic game, well made combat system that rewards good play and punishes your mistakes harshly. There's an easier difficulty if you aren't used to tactical games or if you just want to play more casually with less stakes, and no shame if that's the case!

Gameplay: 9.5/10. The only reason I dock any points is because in the skills section when examining an enemy, it can be a little finicky about displaying the skill you're hovering over. Other than that, wonderfully smooth system that feels fun to play and rewarding to master

Atmosphere: 10/10. Absolutely stunning atmosphere and a world that really draws you in and gets you to care about mother and your daughters (and then breaks your heart when they fall or have to be sacrificed). This game did a fantastic job of pulling me in and getting me involved with the story

Visuals: 10/10. A gorgeous art style that really aids in captivating you and bringing you into the story and world.

Story: I will say, I have not seen the ending of the game yet, but the story has me captivated and searching for more with every battle and cutscene.

All in all I give this game a rock solid 9/10. An absolutely stunning and unique experience in the turn based strategy genre. It's even inspired me to record a second playthrough and write a small story using whatever happens in that playthrough as the base

Give this game a shot. You won't regret it

I like turn based games by default, so this already fills that desire, but I also like the rougelike aspect to it. The concept is new to me and fresh. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes turn based strategy games. I hope a sequel is in the works.

I liked the art style so much that I got the artbook but after awhile the gameplay felt like ass to me

All the concepts I really enjoyed, but trying to survive missions over and over just to get your girls to be strong enough for big bosses, only to do it all over again for the next boss? Not to mention if you fail the big biss and have to grind again if you didnt beat em the first time.

Got too exhausting and repetitive, ain't nobody got time fo dat

one of the best gaming experiences I have had, my favourite game within the genre

Long time XCOM fanatic and this game delivers as far as tactical gameplay goes. I am a ninny, so I didn't play at the harder levels, but learning how to utilize the daughters re: sacrificing was a welcomed challenge. Especially because I'm the kind of person who never wants to lose a soldier. I still haven't been able to defeat the final boss and finish the game...but the good thing about it is you can keep coming back to this game and have new experiences. Love the art direction, too.

visuals are great, I really like the monochrome style specially with a slight brush of red.
The gameplay is simple to learn, hard to master. The design and monsters are interactive and well planned, loop gameplay is appealing with each ability you can buy at the start of each run, roguelite experience. Good game to pass the time.

One of the first things this game does is admit that this game is flawed. The game genuinely says be prepared to lose your favorite characters because they will die to B.S. They're right.

The game is hilariously unfair, even with the easier difficulty mode. Get used to your girls dying in just two hits because every single enemy is overpowered. You'll have 700 HP at the start of the game with one girl for example and a hit from an enemy is 350 hp. How is that good game design? Why do you want our characters that you want us to build up and keep die so ridiculously quickly? Horrible game design.

The BIGGEST PROBLEM with this game is it's AP system. You are only allowed to use FIFTY of your one hundred AP points. If you use more than fifty you are PUNISHED. THAT IS SO INCREDIBLY STUPID AND A TERRIBLE GAME MECHANIC. Moving takes so much AP so moving to an enemy usually uses your first 50 and then you're screwed if you use anymore because if you go above 50, the game punishes you by pretty much forcing your character to wait double the amount of turns before you can do anything again. On top of that attacks cost 25+ AP so combat is a terrible chore that isn't fun. Does this even sound like good game design? No, it doesn't. It is flawed and horrible and yet they decided to keep this garbage in the game.

Game also allows enemies to pretty much outnumber you every mission but you're only allowed to bring up to 3 girls, sometimes 4. This is the worst, especially during rescue missions when the enemy amount is doubled. No, that's not fair. Stop restricting us with poor game mechanics and decisions and let us have fun. Already put in my request for a refund for this garbage game. Don't waste your time.

OVERALL - Not recommended.

I cannot recommend this game, unless it is on a big sale and you want to try the tactical combat mechanics (which I think is the only strong point of the game). Otherwise, this game is skippable.

STORY - 1/5
I really didn't like how the story was presented. Basically unless you want to read all the codex, the story as presented while playing through the game is almost non-existent. Chosen Child, Child is corrupted, stop the child, stop the corrupter. For the most part I just kept asking why do I care at all about these characters. I read some of the codex, but it didn't peak my interest enough to keep reading.

GRAPHICS - 2/5
The "gray-scale + red" (red for blood, of course) looks pretty good overall and I enjoyed the intentional style. But I found it hard to look at and discern details. I wish all the enemies had a small color added in for each type too. I think it would have been very helpful visually if cultists, nightmare creatures, and corrupted daughters all had a small amount of different color.

COMBAT - 4/5
The tactical combat mechanics are quite interesting. Definitely the strongest part of the game and why I finished it. I really enjoyed the initiative system and the choice to "burst" or not. Also, keeping movement and actions all under one action point system was a nice change from most tactical games. I felt the game had lots of interesting mechanics, but some could have been explored more


OUTSIDE COMBAT - 2/5
I felt the outside combat mechanics had some interesting aspects, but almost all of them needed more refinement. The memories were a mess. Trying to sort through them was a pain and it felt like most of them weren't very useful. Also they weren't always clear what they did. At least a few of the abilities had almost not choice for memories. The traits were a pain. Some of them were really good and others were just ok. Some were even detrimental. But since they are all random, there was almost nothing you could do about it. Sacrificing your daughters worked thematically I guess, but overall I didn't like the mechanic. By the end of the game the vitae(main currency) was pointless. I also had so many memories it they didn't even feel like a limited resource except for a few of the really rare ones.


UI- 2/5
I honestly think the UI on this game was ok, but because of the choices with the outside combat buffing it made the flaws in the UI stand out. The main problem is you just have no good idea how much damage you're going to do. The UI tries but there's just too many modifiers.
Base Dmg
Enemy Type Damage
Skill Memory Damage
Armor
Flanking/Backstabbing
Crit Chance
Crit Damage

There was also quite a few bugs in the UI when using the inspect on enemies.


Games I would recommend instead
Banner Saga 1,2,3
Into the Breach
XCOM 2
Star Renegades

Gothic, dramatic XCOM that takes its own story, detailed lore, and worldbuilding completely seriously and where the Ironman mode is always active. The game “easy” mode is hard, the game “normal” mode is almost implausibly difficult. The meta-game rogue-like progression makes subsequent runs more manageable. The art direction is outstanding and they fully committed to it to the point where the visuals are noir and almost completely black-and-white. If you like to play a turn XCOM game at a high difficulty level where understanding and exploring game mechanics like timeline is crucial to victory, there’s a good chance you’ll like Othercide.

Edit after 100%: this game is great. The soundtrack slaps, the art direction is amazing, the lore is outstanding. In time, it gets almost too easy once you know what you are doing.

HOW TO BEAT THE FINAL BOSS EASILY: It can be almost impossible to beat in some setups, but knowing how to explore the powers and synergies you can beat it without allowing it to have a single turn. Have a mix of Scythedancers and Soulsligers, group them close to the spawn point of the final boss, and don't move them so they will give each other bonuses, use spirit burst, haste, and the harvesting. When the final boss appears, but then use shadow round, too. Use memories that make the enemy suffer additional damage, the daughter do extra damage or act sooner.

I cannot recommend this game, unless it is on a big sale and you want to try the tactical combat mechanics (which I think is the only strong point of the game). Otherwise, this game is skippable. Long review follows.

STORY - 1/5
There is basically no story, just some background narrative.

GRAPHICS - 3/5
The "grayscale + red" (red for blood, of course) is intentional and well-executed, but it gets a bit stale after a while. Nonetheless, it fits perfectly well with the game overall tone and thematics.

GAMEPLAY - 2/5
The tactical combat mechanic is quite interesting, and the only strong point of the game. The game is divided into "eras", which last a fixed number of days. You advance days in order to unlock new missions (and also to rest and heal Daughters). When the final day comes, you are forced to fight the boss of that "era". The problem is that, even at the lowest difficulty setting, the game is quite punishing: if your team gets killed, you are forced to start all over again from Day 1 of the first "era", even if you already unlocked the second "era". This can get repetitive and boring quickly.

The "failure" mechanic. The second problem is that the game says that the player is expected to fail, but failure is too punishing: you often want to keep your Daughters (by resurrecting them) in order not to start from Daughters with too low level, but this is not always possible. So, you actually need to level up new Daughters, which is fundamental (in order not to get crushed by later missions) but feels like an unnecessary grind. Also, "memories" (updates which are applied to Daughters) are lost, which (again) feels a bit punishing. This wouldn't be such a big problem per se, but failure is basically unavoidable when you face a boss for the first time - you mostly likely will fail (on the first attempt) trying to better understand how the boss works. Then, you need to redo all over again, get back to the boss fight and use the knowledge you gained from the previous run to beat it. So, failure is actually baked into the game as a true mechanic, but it is still a bit too punishing for new players, and can turn into a chore for more experienced players.

OVERALL - Not recommended.

Good game. It lacks a bit in tactical depth, but makes up for with with cool aesthetics.

Although the story is very on-the-nose on the allegory it's making, it was still enjoyable. And the small details of the situation, given little by little to the player, make it easy to sympathize with the mission of the Daughters. I wouldn't dismiss this a an "2edgy4me" game. There's an actually interesting tale being told here.

Plus, even if you don't like the story, there's no need to interact with it. Skip every cut-scene, don't read any memories, and the game becomes just a turn-based-combat-rush. While I didn't do it myself, I appreciate the option being there.

People who like turn-based tactical combat will definitely have a good time with this.

It was interesting to realize that in order to get stronger in Othercide, you actually have to lose and restart. And again and again.. Until you feel like you can actually beat the game. It may seem repetitive and boring, but the visual aesthetics, music and lore make Othercide a great turn-based strategy.

Found the concept of the game very intriguing! Got hooked on the premise of raising your own daughters to fight for you. It made you care about your units a lot more. However, that was pretty much the extent of my interest.

There's not much in terms of diversity when it comes to the playable characters. There were only 3 classes, with each class only allowing you to pick one of two skills every few level ups. While there were some accessory options, like changing hair or weapon skins, it was also very limited.

Combat was also interesting at the start. But after the 5th battle, fighting already started getting stale. It doesn't help that the new enemies you face in each area aren't really all that unique to what you've already faced. Since this game is a rogue-lite, having the combat become stale that quickly made playing this a drag. As much as I wanted to continue playing this game, it doesn't do enough to keep you invested.