Guile & Glory: Firstborn

ᓚᘏᗢ Very enjoyable turn-based tactical puzzler; one of those "modest" little games (started as student project) that turns out to be a gem!

Nice puzzle-like tactics.

Starts off great, but completely BS invincible enemies make it purely frustrating rather than fun later on.

[h1]Summary[/h1] [h3]Full review below.[/h3] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]• Memorable characters and story. • Thoughtful enemy design and encounters. • Deterministic AI rewards intelligent play. • Main characters' playstyles complement each other well. • Boons provide extra depth and specialization. • Retro aesthetics are well done. • Unlockable characters shake things up in Delve mode.[/td] [td]• No option to increase combat speed. • Limited layout variety in Delves. • Perfect clears limit boon variety.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Technical Issues[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]• Sound effect volume is unbalanced, and should be kept low. • Alt-tabbing occasionally resulted in a black screen, though this could have been a Proton compatibility issue and wasn't guaranteed. • There was a single, inconsequential instance of a Delve enemy being untargetable. • Two relic entries in the lorebook cannot be filled.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th][h3]Conclusion[/h3][/th] [td][i]Guile & Glory: Firstborn[/i] is a fantastic if somewhat simple tactical RPG, blending puzzle elements that recall the most satisfying parts …

This is one of those "tactical RPGs" that is actually a "tactical puzzle game". Your characters have relatively limited leveling options, and there is at least one "correct" answer to every level. The tactical puzzle genre isn't really my thing, and usually I'm mostly just a little annoyed that I don't feel like I'm getting the RPG goodness I was looking for. That being said this game is pretty solid. Replaying levels to figure out the exact solution is important, and the dialog quickly becomes tedious (solved: double tap escape to skip) when doing so, but the mythos of being a hulking conan-esque barbarian killing the enemies that "cannot be felled by any mortal blade" by throwing them into spikes or down pits is pretty cool

The world has a shortage of affordable grid based RPG games. It also has a shortage of games with the exact Rastan Saga aesthetic. It also has a shortage of games where environmental traps play a large role. It also has a shortage of RPGs where blocking is important and doing good means not getting hit. This project is abandoned with a few bugs remaining, such as glitches in the lore book, and a rogue's voice being too loud. The plot naturally plays into a second half which doesn't exist, at around 15 hours.