Chains of the Goddess

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Combat itself is effectively idle, so don't expect an action game. However, the roguelite experience and character development can be surprisingly addictive, Your item choices are the most consequential decisions you make, but sometimes you roll the dice with event dialogues, and it makes or breaks a run.

This game makes me feel like the writers of Black Mirror got ahold of my favorite childhood RPG games and are going to distort my memories.

I didn't know what to expect going into Chains of the Goddess, but I was pleasantly surprised at how deep the mechanics go. At the beginning you get to choose a hero from a pre-defined bunch of stats, you can re-roll if you want to try for better stats. Once chosen, you engage in combat against various different enemies which are beautifully hand drawn images. The attacks are handled for you but after each section of fighting you are presented with a piece of armour, a weapon or amulet to take onto the next part of the journey with you. Each item can change your load out. The objective is simple, make your way to the goddess in the labyrinth who is bound by chains. As you defeat each enemy, you acquire gold which can be spent at the main menu to upgrade your starting stats, such as health, agility, strength, wisdom & more. This is where the games core loop mechanic comes into play by demanding multiple playthroughs. It's a good hook, and it does hook you in. Each run will want to see you improve each time. You can choose to rest at the tree of life & continue your run at a later time or continue onto the goddess. I really like the sub story moments as well that the game throws …

Very cool game. Love the art and gameplay!

Does the dev find this fun? I'm honestly baffled. There's nothing to this game beyond the story, which isn't worth the price of admission. You have nearly no decision points throughout the entire game, save for what equipment you choose, except that even that has very clearly optimized answers because Wisdom and Intelligence are useless, so you always want to pump up Strength and Agility. Not that I'd know if Wisdom or Intelligence did anything. There's no clear correlation between raising stats and their actual effect. Coupled with enemy stats being hidden and their attack speed being inexplicably high even after you've dumped an entire level into Agility, and you have a game that just wastes your time deliberately instead of trying to entertain you. Please don't play this game. Your time is more valuable than watching an autobattler with minor input for an hour, only to wipe due to an enemy just out-stat-checking you.