Dunebound Tactics

A fun tactics game that could use a bit more depth. You're limited to three active characters at a time with three more in reserve. Characters gain a main attack, at least one passive, an active, and a map ability that can be used if they're in reserve. Those abilities are great, fantastic little additions that make the crew loadout a little more interesting to build around. The depth ends there. There are modules which can be purchased at the start of the run which can give you some more active abilities, and there are random traits that can slightly nudge how a given class plays, but generally one Mechanic is going to play like another, a Sniper is a Sniper, and so on. There is very little you can do to make the class your own. There is enough there for some skill expression in the tactical layer. I will say that I found the game to be profoundly easy. I defeated the tutorial boss by the skin of my teeth, but found you're supposed to lose that fight. I figured that would be representative of the difficulty. When I got to the same spot in the main game, the end of act 1, I found a much-reduced version of the boss instead of the one I'd fought tooth and nail against. The additio…

I'm sorry, this is a tactical turn-based cover shooter where you cannot shoot around cover?

I LOVE the sand-faring aesthetic. Something just feels immensely satisfying about plowing through the sand with a boat. I'm 3 runs in and lost every single one to a boss fight, but seems like I can have some passive buffs and new abilities to start with that'll make my runs easier.

It's a fun game in current state with potential for expansion in multiple ways to make the game larger/more challenging that I hope the developer keeps working to grow. Many different classes that join the team to fight and a good variety of enemy combinations to encounter. Modules for the characters was a fun addition and the stress of managing the currency as fuel was a nice mechanic. That said it took me 7 hours to finish the game and the combat loop lends itself to cheese the enemy with walls or stun locking to heal the team or defeat the final boss. I would have liked to see ship upgrades to balance with currency. Would love to see the developer take these concepts towards a bigger open world game like airborne kingdom exploration as a future game.

lots of fun

Its.... OK (and clearly worth it) 3 Completed runs and a small handful no one else saw and never happened! 14 of the 18 achievements so far. The game itself is fun, and is very much in what you would expect of a rogue-like game. Standard 2 actions a turn, with movement counted as 1 (you can move twice etc) - most attacks end turn however, so developing a team member that can attack twice in a turn can be very handy (or one that can chain a attack). There are a few things that stick out that feels slightly off, like range attacks not being able to shoot from cover - meaning you need to stand out in the open, after you might have spent a few turns getting to a nice protected spot - heck who am I kidding, I found I was rushing forward half the time to get the brood that can spawn. More choice at the end/start of the run, in what you can use your access tickets for would also be nice - for example upgrading your ship to not use as much fuel when in thick dust, or a tighter turning curve. Also being able to choose one or two of your starting team classes. Likewise the map is very much in a straight line, being able to explore would be nice but would change it's overall pacing (for s…