Tomb of Tyrants

"After defeating 20 assaults by everyone and their mother, the 14th tyrant was suddenly defeated by the Fire Marshal's draconian fire laws." Maybe you think this game is hard but there's ♥♥♥♥ in it like this that is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mint.

"You Must Build A Boat" is a game I spent a lot of time playing. This game looks similar, and it could be fun, but I can't get into it. The game seems needlessly complex without being rewarding. I just get tired of watching everything at once. It would be better if the game paused itself after moving lines, but you have to press the space bar every time. It's disappointing that the main mode of the game is just an endles mode. Your final boss is your highest score. After that, you start from scratch, no unlocks, no new content, nothing. https://store.steampowered.com/app/290890/You_Must_Build_A_Boat/

Tomb of Tyrants is one of those games that looks simple at first glance, but quietly eats hours of your life once the systems click. On the surface it’s a dungeon builder. You’re an evil overlord constructing a death trap to stop waves of heroes. But the twist is that everything runs on a match-style resource grid. Every move you make generates gold, monsters, traps, and mana that power the dungeon. It feels like a strange mash-up of tower defense, puzzle game, and idle strategy. The real hook is the upgrade loop. Every run unlocks new monsters, stronger traps, and deeper dungeon layouts. At first you’re barely scraping together goblins and spike pits. Later you’re chaining combos that flood the dungeon with undead armies while your traps shred entire parties before they reach the boss. It’s the kind of game where you tell yourself “one more run” and suddenly an hour disappears. What I like most is that it respects the player’s time. Runs are quick, progress is constant, and the mechanics stay readable even when the dungeon becomes chaotic. If you enjoy puzzle strategy games with strong progression systems, Tomb of Tyrants is a hidden gem.

I am so sorry it took me so long to review. This is a very fun game with a lot to unlock but I got frustrated with having to reset switching OS's back in the day. That's on me, this is a solid puzzle game with rich rpg mechanics that creates plentiful reasons to play it again and again to unlock and explore every option.

I bought this so so long ago, and mostly played it on a touchscreen. definitely worked well and was a lot of fun! but I took a decade of a break before finding this in my library again, and I much prefer using a controller now. I needed to alter the controller settings to be viable, but not a big deal. runs are satisfying, and it's a lot easier to make progress than I remember (which makes sense given this game continued to get beta updates 7ish years into its lifespan). I'm not a fan of the timed aspects of the game (especially without any optional meta-progression between runs) but runs tend to be quick enough because of that so things still feel fairly agile. the little summary at the end of each run is also fun/cute fwiw, I like seeing the different hero names especially for some reason. the art is also chaotic but fun, and the UI is fairly legible (especially with the different options available). I don't recall what I paid for this game in 2016, but I'm confident I got it on sale and that it was worth the small investment (especially now that I'm replaying). I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys a run-based game and finds multitaking fun!

Tomb of Tyrants sneaks up on you — what looks like a simple match-4 game reveals itself to be a surprisingly deep dungeon management strategy game, and the moment it clicked for me I lost several hours without noticing. Matching resources to build floors, recruit minions, and fend off waves of heroes creates this satisfying loop where every decision feels meaningful, especially once you start chaining prophecies and building toward a specific dungeon identity like an undead horde or trap-heavy gauntlet. Fair warning: the learning curve is genuinely steep and the tutorial only scratches the surface, so expect some confusion early on — but pushing through that initial fog is absolutely worth it. The solo developer has clearly poured real care into this, and it shows in the charming pixel art, the puns hidden everywhere, and the steady stream of updates. If you can tolerate a rough onboarding, this is one of the most rewarding puzzle-strategy hybrids I've played.