For the King - Roguelike Tabletop Adventure

[Zanzoken]

Apologies if there is already a thread on this game. I did a search and couldn't find anything.



$19.99 with a 20% launch discount

ABOUT THIS GAME

The King is dead, murdered by an unknown assailant. Now the once peaceful kingdom of Fahrul is in chaos.

With nowhere left to turn and stretched beyond her means, the queen has put out a desperate plea to the citizens of the land to rise up and help stem the tide of impending doom. Set off with your make-shift party, either single player, local, or online co-op. Choose to split your party up and cover more ground, or stick together for protection. A sound strategy can mean the difference between life and death.

For The King is a challenging blend of Strategy, JRPG Combat, and Roguelike elements. Each play through is made unique with procedural maps, quests, and events. Brave the relentless elements, fight the wicked creatures, sail the seas and delve into the dark underworld. None before you have returned from their journey. Will you be the one to put an end to the Chaos?

Fight and die as a party in fast paced and brutal turn-based combat using a unique slot system for attacks and special abilities. Find and gather herbs for your trusty pipe to heal your wounds and cure your maladies. Set up safe camps or brave the horrors that nightfall brings.

Just remember adventurer, you do this not for the riches or fame but for your village, for your realm, For The King!

 

[Zanzoken]

*

 

[Zanzoken]

Haven't tried this but it is currently #3 on Steam top sellers.

Despite the cutesy presentation, the game advertises TB combat with a proc-gen map and emphasis on replayability / dying, so maybe there is potential for at least a "good for what it is" type game.

 

[vonAchdorf]

When I played it some time ago (during Early Access), the "story" was always the same, just the locations of dungeons / towns were randomized.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

This game is developed by some ex Klei devs if I remember correctly.

 

[Rahdulan]

Wasn't this in publisher limbo for a while? Glad to see it released in either case.

 

[vonAchdorf]

It's not a bad game, but when I played it, I got the impression, that it's best to approach it as a (digital) board game, not a cRPG (that's why it has co-op). I haven't played it for a months though, so I don't know what they changed. I mainly bought it because it has a nice art style

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

A bro gave me a copy of this out of the blue and I spent a few hours checking it out. Seems like it has (Or had) the potential to be really special, an extremely light roguelike-like-like-like, but it doesn't feel "Clean" enough to really work on that angle. I'm enjoying it thus far but like vonAchdorf said it feels closer to a digital boardgame, almost something like Elder Sign where almost every action involves luck even though you can manipulate it to some degree.
There's a lot of percentile dice chucking (An obscene amount of it actually, a normal attack might involve 5 percentile rolls against whatever stat that weapon calls for and each failure reduces the damage a chunk and succeeding all of them gives a perfect proc and special effect, etc) and potentially some argument for splitting up the party since there's a ticking clock, but in practice it feels like they should've just made the party a blob since you really REALLY want everyone in combat, and XP and gold splitting is useful. Classes also feel like a bit of a mixed bag, most (Maybe all?) of their unique skills are just skills that'll trigger randomly at the appropriate moments, otherwise they're a lump of 1-100 stat ranges so you know what they're good at when it comes to skill checks, weapon types, etc. There's some meta progression with unlocking shit with "Lore books" which you accumulate by play, but from what I could tell the meta progression wasn't anything massively obnoxious. Any more than the norm, at least.

Not really surprised to see the thread's a ghost town since I'd only heard a tiny bit about the game before it landed in my lap, but it seems pretty okay. First run I got my shit pushed in on normal difficulty on the first "Real" fight. Second run and I've cleared 2 dungeons and done maybe 5 quests and I'm entering a new area once I figured out what the fuck I was doing. I also appreciate that they've got a few different game modes.

PS: Jesus Christ this game needs more music. They have one song and they loop it. Forever. AND EVER. The sound is fine, I like the merry little jingles from my bard, but holy fuck next time I boot it up I'm going to see if I can mute the music and maybe play the BT4 soundtrack or something. They're selling the soundtrack on Steam and the fuckers claim there are 30 tracks but all I remember is one song playing.
PPS: The graphics are pretty cute. They're heavily stylized but you can customize your characters a little bit and their gear shows up on their models which is nice.
PPPS: If it is from ex-Klei people it doesn't have near the polish of some finished Kleishit. Comparing it to something like Invisible Inc and how goddamn sharp that game is in the moment to moment gameplay really shows it off. Though if it's just a few people working on a shoestring budget it makes sense.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I tried it month ago.

There's nothing tactical about it, feels like a cheap 4x with all the worst features possible, mostly, you fight once then you need to rest, takes forever to travel on the map, specially if you don't avoid the fights on the way (have to heal / rest after each one mostly except against weaklings)

Tactical combat isn't, it's basic RPGMaker jrpg combat in a different engine with useless animations.
Well, i guess there is a little audience even for that.

 

[Zombra]

A friend of mine is hustling me to get this to play co-op. Would it be good played as a light online game for RPG enthusiasts? Not looking for a harsh crunchy game here, I have other games for that.

 

[Zanzoken]

So I bought this in the last sale and after playing for a few hours, it's actually not bad.

The Steam page is pretty accurate to what the game has to offer. I haven't tried the co-op but it would probably be fun to play with other people.

 

[RuySan]

This game is currently free on epic store. Seems cool and I'll try it once I'm done with Bloodstained.

 

[cvv]

So the art style is off putting to me but I'm sticking with it for now because I feel there might be great potential somewhere inside. Turn-based roguelikes packed with complexities and content aren't exactly dime a dozen.

Still on the fence.

 

[Tigranes]

There really is zero complexity, unfortunately, it's very very limited. It's like half a game on the systems front. After a few hours you're essentially there swinging on autopilot. It's fine, but it really is not many steps above progress quest - I wouldn't waste time.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I liked the art style, but for a computer game it's lacking. It has some nice ideas, but as Tigranes says, it's quite limited.

 

[Zombra]

A friend of mine is hustling me to get this to play co-op. Would it be good played as a light online game for RPG enthusiasts? Not looking for a harsh crunchy game here, I have other games for that.

Yeah, incidentally I did end up trying this too and was bored immediately. Even the human interaction of co-op wasn't enough to keep it fresh. I couldn't play it after a few minutes ... I would reach for the mouse but my hand would fall lifeless to the desk due to waves of boredom.

 

[Fedora Master]

Looks like generic cutesy indieshit.

 

[cvv]

There really is zero complexity, unfortunately, it's very very limited. It's like half a game on the systems front. After a few hours you're essentially there swinging on autopilot. It's fine, but it really is not many steps above progress quest - I wouldn't waste time.

I liked the art style, but for a computer game it's lacking. It has some nice ideas, but as Tigranes says, it's quite limited.

Yeah, incidentally I did end up trying this too and was bored immediately. Even the human interaction of co-op wasn't enough to keep it fresh. I couldn't play it after a few minutes ... I would reach for the mouse but my hand would fall lifeless to the desk due to waves of boredom.

Gave it nearly 3 hours and yeah, I can see it's not what I hoped for. There's a solid quantity of content, a lot of maps, scenarios and such. But it gets repetitive after a couple of hours. Plus I can't get over the art, I thought I hated pixel art the most but I found something even worse. Well, at least it was free.

Thing is I've got a chunky itch for a gaym in this bracket - TB combat in an isometric arena, complex, rogue (preferable, not necessary). Any reliable tips? Blackguards? Banner Saga? It's not what I usually play so I'm kindda blind here.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Thing is I've got a chunky itch for a gaym in this bracket - TB combat in an isometric arena, complex, rogue (preferable, not necessary). Any reliable tips? Blackguards? Banner Saga? It's not what I usually play so I'm kindda blind here.

Both are valid choices, although Blackguards combat >> Banner Saga Combat, which is alright but if you're not there for the narrative, just don't play it.

SFD (Sigma Finite Dungeon) is also a valid option, a really good TB/party-based rogue-like, it's pixel art but well done and the combat is just great (it's on steam and there's a thread about it here)

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

TB combat in an isometric arena, complex, rogue (preferable, not necessary). Any reliable tips? Blackguards? Banner Saga? It's not what I usually play so I'm kindda blind here.

Renowned Explorers is good if you can look past "childish" presentation.

 

[cvv]

TB combat in an isometric arena, complex, rogue (preferable, not necessary). Any reliable tips? Blackguards? Banner Saga? It's not what I usually play so I'm kindda blind here.

Renowned Explorers is good if you can look past "childish" presentation.

I have no problem looking past a childish presentation if the gameplay is super grate. Don't Starve is in my Top 10 of the last decade. But if the gameplay is only so so then yeah, being treated like a 8 year old does annoy me.

One of the reasons I dropped this game. The mechanics just weren't good enough.

 

[Galdred]

There really is zero complexity, unfortunately, it's very very limited. It's like half a game on the systems front. After a few hours you're essentially there swinging on autopilot. It's fine, but it really is not many steps above progress quest - I wouldn't waste time.

I liked the art style, but for a computer game it's lacking. It has some nice ideas, but as Tigranes says, it's quite limited.

Yeah, incidentally I did end up trying this too and was bored immediately. Even the human interaction of co-op wasn't enough to keep it fresh. I couldn't play it after a few minutes ... I would reach for the mouse but my hand would fall lifeless to the desk due to waves of boredom.

Gave it nearly 3 hours and yeah, I can see it's not what I hoped for. There's a solid quantity of content, a lot of maps, scenarios and such. But it gets repetitive after a couple of hours. Plus I can't get over the art, I thought I hated pixel art the most but I found something even worse. Well, at least it was free.

Thing is I've got a chunky itch for a gaym in this bracket - TB combat in an isometric arena, complex, rogue (preferable, not necessary). Any reliable tips? Blackguards? Banner Saga? It's not what I usually play so I'm kindda blind here.

If you haven't play them, you can go with the usual:
Mordheim, Battle Brothers, Storm Guard: Darkness is coming, Warbanners, but the playthroughs are all much longer than in a Roguelike, but I found all 4 very solid.

Sigma Finite Dungeon has simple tactical roguelike combat, with short playthroughs. It doesn't have a ton of replayability, but I found it good while it lasted.
Blackguards is good, but it is rather linear. You should play it if it doesn't bother you.

Urtuk: The desolation might work, it felt promising wshen I tried it, but it is still early access (it is not 100% roguelike, though, as it plays over longer campaigns).
Wildermyth: same as above: promising EA game, but with some issues that I didn't track (there were very gamey exploits at times), maybe a bit light on the complexity, but keeping everyone "alive" was not easy when I tried.
Mechanicus has a nice combat system and good atmosphere, but it is pretty hard to find the "right" settings to make the game challenging.

The Banner Saga, I would not recommend. The initiative system makes it terribly gamey.

 

[Darth Canoli]

If you haven't play them, you can go with the usual:
Mordheim, Battle Brothers, Storm Guard: Darkness is coming, Warbanners, but the playthroughs are all much longer than in a Roguelike, but I found all 4 very solid.

Sigma Finite Dungeon has simple tactical roguelike combat, with short playthroughs. It doesn't have a ton of replayability, but I found it good while it lasted.
Blackguards is good, but it is rather linear. You should play it if it doesn't bother you.

Urtuk: The desolation might work, it felt promising wshen I tried it, but it is still early access (it is not 100% roguelike, though, as it plays over longer campaigns).
Wildermyth: same as above: promising EA game, but with some issues that I didn't track (there were very gamey exploits at times), maybe a bit light on the complexity, but keeping everyone "alive" was not easy when I tried.
Mechanicus has a nice combat system and good atmosphere, but it is pretty hard to find the "right" settings to make the game challenging.

The Banner Saga, I would not recommend. The initiative system makes it terribly gamey.

I second Warbanners, Urtuk and Battle Brothers.

Warbanners : Well designed campaign with some choices, great handcrafted maps/combat design, great battles, sieges, castle defense and whatnot, even some interesting heroes to recruit.

Urtuk : Feel like it's going to become a great game, the combat is amazing, i'd wait for the final release except if you're into EA.

Battle Brothers : it's good, combat is great, encounter design doesn't exist, end-game is boring because after level 11, character progression is dull (+1 in three attributes and no perks), Legends adds a second wind in terms of monster variety, character progression, equipment and starting background...

 

[cvv]

Fuck I completely forgot about Battle Brothers. Years ago I was following the development but then it fell under the table. Don't know the others but will check out.

P.S. So Urtuk looks great but I swore I'll never EA again. It launches in March tho so no biggie.

 

[Serious_Business]

Storm Guard: Darkness is coming

What's dis? Never heard about this one, pretty obscure title