Galactic Keep

I didn't expect much, and I got exactly that. Not an RPG whatsoever. The map offers no more than a succession of 1 on 1 fights. Which would have been good enough for me, had there been a modicum of tactical value to them. There is none. As you can predict as soon as the rules are explained, whoever gets the initiative wins the fight. There is no need to think. Apart from that, everything is RNG-based. On 1d10, which means large fluctuations. Enough to occasionally lose the initiative roll despite your base stats. Enough to occasionally lose a fight despite having the initiative. Even your movement on the map is rolled on 1d10, for no sensible reason. I thought that the art would be better, but the tactical vacuum alone grants a thumb down. Buy yourself a 10-sided die instead.

A fun little game. I love the art and the extra little bit of text description here and there. The combat is good and i like how you can place items you found into a container that you can access in another play through. Eg. you might have a bot character who cannot use certain heal items so placing it in the container for when you play with a human character for example. If you are into these sorts of games, give it a go. (note: it seems the devs have abandoned finishing the game, sadly. The game had a lot of potential.)

Galactic Keep is essentially a sci-fi fantasy board game with (very) light RPG elements. The vibrant artwork gives the game a unique psychedelic look. The story is involved enough but not particularly deep. Although game play is quit simple, it's enjoyable & engaging. Game Details: You command seven different characters (two human, one robot & five aliens) who investigate a crash site of a space ship. One by one, each character is deployed to explore the board. A d10 die is rolled to determine the number grid squares your character moves. As the board is revealed, you combat hostile aliens, discover treasures, uncover clues & ultimately solving the mystery of the crashed ship. Combat is simple - you have four options: Attack, Block, Special Use, & Item Use. An initiative roll is made to determine who goes first. Attacks are "I-go-you-go" until one side dies. There is no inherent armor or defense. Dice are rolled per weapon type, usually with modifiers. Damage is inflicted accordingly. Blocking doesn't stop or reduce an enemy's damage but instead grants your character a health point increase. Special Use allows a character to employ any special weapons or equipped items. Item …

Some first impressions on this. Thus far, I'm REALLY digging this. Encountering monsters has dialogue describing what happens and what they look like, combat is simple yet challenging, the art style is right up my alley, and it's a cool old-school immersive dungeon crawler! This seriously makes me miss playing D&D, far more so than the modern PC D&D games. I like it!

This game reminds me of my early pen and paper role playing games. Very good, and very tactical. If you like those old pen and paper role playing games, then you may like this game as did I.

A lukewarm recommendation from me. Great visuals, lore and character design. Lots of enemy and loot variety. Let down by iffy, repetitive mechanics (healing, movement, combat). Sadly, the game seems to be discontinued, so no more modules, so the overarching story is incomplete.