Circus Electrique

I like having a casual game around for when I'm drinking whiskey, Something calm but still exciting! This checks all the boxes with it's awesome music and sound fx and gives your imagination plenty of room to play as you drink away. Cheers!

Lovely little game. Bought it on a whim, not let down. The art work is fun, and the turn based strategy is refreshing (and cute). It feels like a more updated Darkest Dungeon.

Circus Electrique is a strikingly unconventional strategy RPG from Zen Studios that merges turn-based tactical combat with circus management in a steampunk reimagining of Victorian London. The premise alone sets it apart from more traditional entries in the genre: a mysterious phenomenon known as “the Maddening” has driven much of the city’s population into violent insanity, and the only individuals seemingly resistant to its effects are the performers of the titular Circus Electrique. Strongmen, fire breathers, clowns, acrobats, fortune tellers, and other eccentric acts become unlikely heroes, venturing into the streets to subdue rampaging citizens and uncover the truth behind the chaos. The concept is both whimsical and dark, blending theatrical flair with social unrest in a way that gives the entire campaign a distinct personality. At the heart of the experience is its turn-based combat system, which draws inspiration from formation-focused tactical RPGs. Battles unfold across side-view arenas where positioning matters greatly, and each performer archetype brings a specialized set of abilities. Some characters excel at absorbing punishment, others manipulate enemy positions, wh…

It's really hard to recommend this game, as it's so close to being amazing, but some design choices are holding it back, and you end up feeling perpetually hamstrung without the ability to work towards alleviating it. Pros: - I really liked the setting and art style - voice acting and music/sound is good - story seems decent, though haven't finished it - cool classes: this ties into the setting, it's a cohesive universe - the Amazemeter is a nice touch (basically a limit break mechanic) - crafting itself is a welcome addition - circus shows are interesting at first (but need balancing) - some of the mini-games are fun Cons: - too many layers of rng. This is by far the worst part of the game. You're managing a roster of randomly generated performers, some of which arrive with outright bad builds that you cannot change or fine-tune. You need characters that are good at everything, both in combat and on stage. You can't just build one 4-man party that you use for every fight, and another 3-5 characters for performances, because you need to keep rotating the shows, and each have different requirements that different characters excel at. So not only do you need your chara…

Note: I played this on Easy! I saw reviews saying that it was unmanageably hard and went "okay I'll see how it is on Easy", since the game was on sale for 5USD. It's kind of hard to pass up a game so tailor-made for me at that price. This is essentially "what if Darkest Dungeon was set in Lies of P, but you were also managing a circus the whole time?" And for me personally, that's a premise I can get behind. This is not a smash hit work of art type experience, but it is REALLY fun. I found the logic puzzle of "what performers do I have, what show am I trying to put on this week, what combinations of those performers get me a good result for money and items from that show, and from there, how the hell do I put together a battle ready team of four from the rest" engaging and fun. To compare it to Darkest Dungeon, I found it more fun in a lot of ways. While you certainly can lose units if you play your cards wrong, since the gameplay loop is "traverse the map, assign your troupe, do a single battle, repeat" it's far less punishing than DD, where if you ♥♥♥♥ up a dungeon crawl you're set back quite a bit of play time. Plus, since you can save any time out of battle, reloading i…

Very good Darkest Dungeon-esq game with a surprisingly good story.