Loop Hero

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/loop-hero-review/

LOOP HERO REVIEW
This charming "micro RPG" is one of 2021's early gems.

Loop Hero is the rehydrated essence of a dozen misremembered, ancient games. From the moment the 16-color title screen fades in alongside dramatic chiptunes, you feel like you're playing some forgotten, VGA-era fantasy RPG, a game that still contains some of the mystery and difficulty of 1991, but gently modernized to 2021.

This isn't nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. Loop Hero presents a novel and dead-simple gameplay format that's strangely engrossing, considering much of your time playing it is hands-off.

You send one of three hero classes (Warrior, Rogue, Necromancer) on repeated expeditions to an empty road sitting in an otherwise blank void. As your little hero auto-walks around this stone path, you populate the rest of the world yourself by playing cards like graveyards, battlefields, villages, meadows, or mountains one by one. These environment pieces in turn alter hero or enemy stats like attack speed and HP, and spawn corresponding enemies that you fight automatically as you pass through them: ghosts, ratwolves, bandits, packs of spiders.

What Loop Hero adds to the "fight, die, repeat" formula of roguelikes is this indirect action. You do not decide where to move or what to attack; you can only build the level itself and hope that the machine you're piecing together is good enough to give you enough XP, resources, and gear to make you strong but not kill you outright. Each run becomes a small experiment: what if I drop a bunch of spider cocoons and sand dunes, which lower all creatures' HP? What will river cards do if I intersect them with the road itself? Can my Warrior survive two adjacent tiles filled with giant sandworms?

Loop Hero becomes a game about tending a vicious circle, a gauntlet that perpetually regrows deadly shit that scales up in level each time you complete a loop. Make it too hard, and you'll get pummeled. Make it too easy, and you'll probably fail to kill the boss or earn enough resources to make the trip worthwhile: wood, food, and mysterious orbs you need to build and upgrade new structures back at camp, the persistent layer of Loop Hero.

My favorite design element are the hidden effects that trigger when you play certain cards. When you drop nine mountain cards in a 3x3 grid, they transform into a massive Everest peak, granting a mega boost to max HP. But, surprise: harpies now live in the mountain you built, a challenging enemy type that will fly down to a random part of your board every few days. And if you play a tenth mountain or rock card, a goblin encampment will randomly spawn on the road, churning out some nasty, fast-attacking enemies.

These surprises are arbitrary, telegraphed, and delightful. It's refreshing as hell to play a game that doesn't even hint at how to unlock some of its powerful effects. But by the time I was 15 or 20 hours in, I just wanted more of these surprise interactions. Unfortunately they aren't sustained evenly across the entire four-chapter 'campaign.'

Loot Hero, more like
The other side of Loop Hero's spare interactivity is swapping out pieces of gear, an almost constant task of swapping out helmets, shields, and enchanted pikes. The inventory is permanently fixed to the screen, and as you kill monsters, new gear of differing rarity pops into your inventory for consideration. It's fun and effective in practice, a hyper-distillation of action RPGs like Diablo: would you rather have 25 percent more attack speed or 15 defense? Then, seconds later: here's some new boots with high evasion—but is that better than improving my critical hit chance?

One knock against all the loot management is that, like its mysterious card effects, Loop Hero doesn't explain the relative value of every combat stat. Particularly for the Necromancer, I had to guess whether +4.3 "skeleton level" was as valuable as +24 percent "summon quality." Did buffing my own attack speed also make my skeletons hit faster? Unclear. Likewise, some enemy abilities aren't easy to understand, even though Loop Hero contains tooltips. It could be argued that all this under-explanation is a deliberate, nostalgic part of a retro RPG that doesn't tutorialize or hold your hand. I'd be wary of opening up a wiki on Loop Hero and potentially spoiling its best surprises. Loop Hero's in-game encyclopedia is a smart way of mitigating some of this confusion (as a bonus, be sure to unlock the actual paragraphs of lore for super mundane items, like a dresser).

Loop Hero does have some fun class-specific nuances. The Necromancer was my favorite class to play. Combats with multiple enemies can become pleasantly tense battles of attrition, where your Necro struggles to summon enough skeletons to soak. The Rogue only earns loot once he reaches the campfire tile, so you're often holding your breath until you reach this finish line, praying you make it there alive to heal up and gear up. Necromancers get a unique amulet slot that gives them a powerful HP over-shield, an accessory unaffected by cards that lower max HP.

These are wonderful little pockets of depth considering you have zero control over combat other than the gear you're wearing. My small disappointment is that the build I came up with for the Rogue so vastly outperformed anything I could figure out for the Warrior or Necromancer.

Loop Hero is the concentrated experience of watching numbers get bigger in a video game, but a grimly enchanting one at that.

It's a style of game that has something in common with the so-called idle and clicker games that've emerged over the last few years, and 2012's Half-Minute Hero. It's a pleasant format, and maybe Loop Hero's biggest point of success is that it makes a home in this middle zone between watching, planning, and acting. Supporting each moment is some excellent music and sound design—scraping slashes, a giant mosquito's buzz, the unlubricated sound of a skeleton reanimating. I love the creepy little organ you hear every time you drop a Vampire Mansion into the level, one of Loop Hero's tougher bad guys.

This is the sort of smart, focused resurrection of old games I want more of, something that feels old and new with every expedition step. I managed to put more than 40 hours into this quote-unquote small game.

THE VERDICT
83

LOOP HERO
The spirit of early-'90s fantasy games, cleverly revived in an original and digestible form.

 

[Haba]

The second boss is absolutely stupid. I was outhealing the enemies, went in full health, but the boss is pure RNG.

Don't even bother trying, just grind resources so you can unlock the upgrades. Beating the boss reliably can happen only in specific circumstances.

Also: not an RPG.

 

[Galdred]

CanardPC review was not so positive, saying the game gives a very strong first impression, but becomes quite repetitice as time goes. What do you think about its long term appeal?
I wished for *4 and *8 speed buttons during the demo.

 

[Haba]

Very repetitive, no real depth, there is not much you can actually do. It is essentially a more evolved idle game.

I'd say that 5€ would be a fair price. I guess some people like the fact that you don't have to do so much. Maybe this is a good game journo game.

 

[lukaszek]

dunno whats the deal about receptiveness. Did you guyz try different classes?

 

[Jaedar]

Wound up buying this on release, demo progress stayed so I immediately jumped onwards to 2nd boss. But loops got a bit tough, and my cards/skills weren't great so I ditched. Need a lot more wood to unlock rogue, guess I'll "grind" a few loops.

I really dislike how there's no save&exit though, you have to retreat to camp to not lose all your shit. Kinda goes against the casual "play 20 mins before bed" vibe.

 

[Kabas]

Necromancer seems to be the only suitable class to go up against the second boss, just managed to beat her as one.
I have no idea how you can punch through all of her constanly respawning shields as Warrior/Rogue.

 

[lukaszek]

Necromancer seems to be the only suitable class to go up against the second boss, just managed to beat her as one.
I have no idea how you can punch through all of her constanly respawning shields as Warrior/Rogue.

just reached 2nd boss with rogue, for first time. Had her down to 25%, so close for blood grove to kick in.

It appears that winning strategy is to stack attack speed as high as possible. She isnt that quick to spawn new mirrors. You survive loops with arsenal golden card, those amulets are sweet. You get attack speed from forest tiles

 

[Bara]

Bought it game seems allright but only played an hour so far.

I honestly don't see myself playing this withought doing something else like watching a movie or listening to a pod cast when playing.

I wouldn't recomend picking this up unless you looking for a quick in and out game.

But yeah I'm going to say definitly not a rpg. Maybe if the game was Loop HeroeS and had a full party which to fully control in battle in the vein of final fantasy 1 I'd dig it more.

Also, I do really apreciate the fact they have a couple other options for text display other than pixalated. Dosent fit thematically but I'd take legability any day.

 

[sser]

Do I need to be upgrading my base to beat the first boss? I keep getting my ass absolutely whooped.

 

[Zanzoken]

Spoiler

(Hasn't launched yet)

This hadn't occurred to me before now, but I'd hate to be in charge of marketing this game. It's actually pretty compelling (at least in small doses, not sure beyond that), but trying to communicate that through conventional advertising (trailers, etc.) to anyone who hasn't tried it seems like it would be exceptionally challenging. I don't think that trailer did a good job of it, but I also don't think I could do a better job.

Well whoever did the marketing has done a bang up job, because the game is having an amazing launch. It's currently #2 on Top Sellers and already has over 1k reviews in its first day.

Don't really get the hype because the gameplay looks like basic JRPG shit and it even lacks the cutesy presentation a la Undertale and Stardew Valley that makes casuals squee.

 

[Ranselknulf]

Spoiler

(Hasn't launched yet)

This hadn't occurred to me before now, but I'd hate to be in charge of marketing this game. It's actually pretty compelling (at least in small doses, not sure beyond that), but trying to communicate that through conventional advertising (trailers, etc.) to anyone who hasn't tried it seems like it would be exceptionally challenging. I don't think that trailer did a good job of it, but I also don't think I could do a better job.

Well whoever did the marketing has done a bang up job, because the game is having an amazing launch. It's currently #2 on Top Sellers and already has over 1k reviews in its first day.

Don't really get the hype because the gameplay looks like basic JRPG shit and it even lacks the cutesy presentation a la Undertale and Stardew Valley that makes casuals squee.

To me, it comes across as a "twitch stream" where you have slightly greater input than being a docile watcher.

If you can understand twitch streaming with bonuses, that's what I would psychologically relate this too.

 

[Thac0]

This plays like an idle game, but a really evolved one. Honestly evolved is an understatement, this is the apex of idle gaming.
You are constantly making small decisions to optimise your playthrough, the game flows from relaxation as you grind for items to excitment as your hero fights to get back to the bonfire at the brink of death.
Also the hidden interactions with the environment are cool. I wish there were more of them.
It is surprisingly tough and easy to overextend in this. I retreat maybe on every third run, the rest of the time I eat the dirt.
10 runs in, killed the first boss and now waiting for a good shot at the second boss.

The game wouldn't be good enough to keep my attention on its own, but amazing for throwing something light on the second screen and listening to some music.

 

[Thac0]

And what about the rest, is it a kind of tower defense?

You play the dungeon master for a small hero, who walks in circles.
On the circle you place towers, forests, swamps and crypts, which give the hero fights. The harder the fight the better the xp and gear your hero gets from the fight.
You decide what gear the hero equips and what feats he takes.
You want to gear him up fast enough so that you are able to kill the boss when he arrives. But if you go to hard and build too long a dungeon for him you die aswell.
For depth you can also place healing buildings and buildings that help the hero on the loop.
Also there is a little minigame where you can build mountains and plains and stuff in the empty space around the track. That gives your hero more stats and unlocks a few secrets.

So you can't fight the fights of the hero yourself.
Instead you want to build a dungeon for him that just barely lets him stay alive to level at max speed, and win the game.

 

[Jenkem]

was playing while watching some videos on youtube and had a really good fucking run, lich was about to appear, had full health and tons of evasion/counter...

I alt tabbed to change videos and when you alt-tab the game goes to the menu screen and I wasn't thinking and hit "exit" thinking it would exit the menu but it closed the game....

when I restarted I was back at camp, it gave me resources though (probably treated it as if I escaped and lost half my resources)


fucking raging right now

 

[lukaszek]

Do I need to be upgrading my base to beat the first boss? I keep getting my ass absolutely whooped.

would be useful yes. You want to unlock traits, which basically unlocks leveling. Base upgrades give new tiles, you want to experiment with them and see what works for you.
To beat lich easily you want to rush him, aim for loop 7 or even earlier if can. Magic damage is stat to look for on items

 

[Jenkem]

05.03.2021 - Loop Hero v1.005 hotfix

We're sorry for critical errors and your lost time, and made a fix for that
Now if the game crashes, all the loot you'd otherwise lose will be saved in your camp

Turned the steamcloud back on with fixes
Fixed a crash with necromancer's skeletons in 3rd chapter bossfight
Buffed the labirynth of memories cards
Changing the fullscreen with alt+enter now works better
A couple of typos fixed
Secret enemies now don't change their names to ERMAK when switching languages or screen resolutions
Fixed the possibility of 2nd boss summon killing the hero after the boss is dead
Fixed resetting the attack speed to basic when changing items in battle
Hopefully fixed the village and road lantern bug

=============================

05.03.2021 - Loop Hero v1.004 hotfix

Cemeteries now don't give out memory fragments until meeting certain conditions
Made one sprite a little prettier

=============================

05.03.2021 - Loop Hero v1.003 hotfix

Fixed an issue with darks slimes causing critical error in villages
Fixed an issue with villages causing critical error when surrounded by road lanterns
Game titles now work properly
Building menu doesn't get overlayed with black rectangle in ultrawidescreen
Cemeteries now properly give out memory fragments after meeting certain conditions
Fixed an issue in which expedition could go on while the boss tile is spawning
Fixed the sound of hero steps playing in the camp after leaving the titles
Temporarily disabled steam cloud, since it's working wrong for a lot of people and might be messing with demo achievements. Looking for the solution, will enable it back on soon

=============================

05.03.2021 - Loop Hero v1.002 hotfix

Fixed a crash when dying of thorns

=============================

05.03.2021 - Loop Hero v1.001 hotfix

Fixed possible crash on linux on launch
Fixed the possible transformation of camp tile into wasteland
Apostrophes in pixel fonts now draw properly
Fixed some of the continuity issues in english and russian languages (in the other language those were fixed already)
Wheat field card doesn't lock after dismantling the gymnasium if picked in deck
False healing effect doesn't appear when equipping an item
Game (probably) no longer crashes with too many bandits on the village tile (map_travel error)
Post-processing (and manual application surface drawing) disables automatically if the game is too slow. Could happen on some mac machines in fullscreen

 

[Riddler]

Do I need to be upgrading my base to beat the first boss? I keep getting my ass absolutely whooped.

No but it becomes much easier if you do. I beat the lich on my second loop, not having upgraded anything, but it was a close thing.

 

[Ranselknulf]

Do I need to be upgrading my base to beat the first boss? I keep getting my ass absolutely whooped.

No but it becomes much easier if you do. I beat the lich on my second loop, not having upgraded anything, but it was a close thing.

It's basically how you place your tiles and how long it takes you to go around a loop. It can take me 5 or 6 game days to go around a loop because I start stuffing the path with enemies directly ahead of me as I walk so I get geared up fast.

I mean you could spawn him loop two if you just spammed tiles and got the right gear drops immediately, but I like to grind a few extra turns for gear.

 

[sser]

Do I need to be upgrading my base to beat the first boss? I keep getting my ass absolutely whooped.

No but it becomes much easier if you do. I beat the lich on my second loop, not having upgraded anything, but it was a close thing.

How did you get him to spawn so quick? Usually it takes me a good clip of time until I get the tiles/cards to pop his meter.

Also I did beat him last game -- I took that 'Oblivion' level up which gives you a full stack of those cards, popped him in, and just aethered everything between me and the lich, including his lil' lich home.

 

[Haba]

dunno whats the deal about receptiveness. Did you guyz try different classes?

I was expecting the second act to introduce a completely new map, new mechanics, new enemies. You know, something radically different. But nah, just the same thing with a new boss.

New buildings give new cards, but most cards are pointless (they don't even have any cool synergies). Your crafting loot is capped so you have to grind for materials repeatedly.

I have no idea how you can punch through all of her constanly respawning shields as Warrior/Rogue.

Rogue is easy, take Forest card, pump up your attack speed and evasion. Beat it on the first try. Warrior was way more reliant on getting lucky, though with all the new crap unlocked maybe it would be easier.

 

[fantadomat]

Played the game for a few hours,got to the third boss and it begun feeling pretty much muh. It starts pretty interesting and the story/setting is nice too. Tho when you reach the second chapter you had already seen trough the game. It lacks any real complexity,it is a glorified mobile game.Everything is pretty much based on RPG,will you get good equipment,will you get enough terrain cards to summon the boss before you get raped by the very poorly balanced mobs,will you get the two useful skills when levelling or will you get a useless ones,etc etc. It is extremely grindi and very poorly balanced later on,it becomes very repetitive and boring after a 10-20 loops. The base upgrade don't really offer you anything that will improve your chances against the mindless mobs that spike their damage a few times by the 7-10th loop needed to summon the boss. The gameplay loop is very boring after some time,it is mostly watching your hero killing monsters and from time to time putting down cards or changing equipment....if you manage to get a decent one. Most of the time i ended up killed off by the mobs because the enemy just stop dropping useful items and you get filled with useless garbage. The cards don't have any real evolution that could keep up with the broken mob evolution. You keep on getting meadows that do +3HP regeneration at best,but your enemy begin doing 50-100 damage per hit,it is a joke. Also there is downright useless and retarded cards,like the fucking desert and the swamp. Deserts for example do -1% max health for everyone....but that is clear negative for the player because enemy have 20-100 hp most of the time but you get 1000hp,so they lose around 1-2HP and you 10-20hp.


In short,terrible balance,repetitive and tedious grind.

On the plus side,decent setting and good music.

 

[Berekän]

Overall the game needs too much constant input for an idle game but lacks any meaningful complexity to justify you having to keep tabs on it constantly. A shame really as the presentation is excellent, but it will get boring fast.

 

[Jenkem]

fantadomat what values did you change in cheatengine?

 

[lukaszek]

How did you get him to spawn so quick? Usually it takes me a good clip of time until I get the tiles/cards to pop his meter.

it does require some luck. In general to speed spawn boss you want to have a lot of enemies on map - more enemies = more tiles. So you start with minimal card rooster that packs mainly/exclusively cards spawning hordes of enemies. Like spiders or goblins. Its a snowball effect, hence me calling it lucky. It can sway +/-3 loops

You keep on getting meadows that do +3HP regeneration at best,but your enemy begin doing 50-100 damage per hit,it is a joke.

meadows main utility is food resource, not regen. If you want something that affects combat you go for deserts and forests. Or rocks if you are interested in getting more enemies

Most of the time i ended up killed off by the mobs because the enemy just stop dropping useful items and you get filled with useless garbage.

either play rogue or keep unopened treasuries. Pop them when its time for upgrade, or right before boss

It lacks any real complexity,it is a glorified mobile game.Everything is pretty much based on RPG,will you get good equipment,will you get enough terrain cards to summon the boss before you get raped by the very poorly balanced mobs,will you get the two useful skills when levelling or will you get a useless ones,etc etc

perfect cards rooster is mainly based on class you are playing. Then you adapt items based on boss. As such you can claim there are 9 combinations to learn and master

will you get the two useful skills when levelling or will you get a useless ones,etc etc.

that one is true... Although it feels more like each class got 1 or 2 clearly best skills so you feel upset based on 'did I get it or not?'. It is elevated further by most skills not working on boss fights(like rogue skills vs 2nd boss)

Also there is downright useless and retarded cards,like the fucking desert and the swamp. Deserts for example do -1% max health for everyone....but that is clear negative for the player because enemy have 20-100 hp most of the time but you get 1000hp,so they lose around 1-2HP and you 10-20hp.

deserts are awesome for rogue. You stack them and rush through the loops single hitting every enemy. Afaik swamps are for necromancer but Im yet to play one. I tend to keep to rogues whether it makes sense or not.
Get mana shield from amulet, place vampires and swamps everywhere, profit

My main issue with this game is writing. Jokes really do not work for me.
Honestly grinding didn't hit for me yet. I always try to retreat ahead of time(25% of the time work every time) and just keep experimenting with card rooster. Small adjustment can result in improving from death in 5th to 10th+ loop.

btw looks like 52% of player base defeated lich. 21% dropped priestess. Quite amazing numbers. People that do play get quite engaged.