Come on shogun, cards on the table! Shogun Showdown game review

While waiting for the sequel to Slay the Spire, roguelike fans are throwing themselves at everything they can find. We have already played such successful clones as Roguebook or Wildfrost, but also slightly more distant variations such as Balatro. We rolled the dice in Dicey Dungeons and Dicefolk, but also defended the engine in Monster Train. We also tried a lot of weaker titles that we quickly forgot about.

Shogun Showdown: A pure turn-based roguelike

In my opinion, the next title that will satisfy the appetite of croissant lovers will be Shogun Showdown. You will see in the first minutes that it is an extremely simple game, which at the same time has enough depth and allows you to try new approaches every day.

We don’t have cards here, only “tiles”, tiles. In fact, you could even call it cards if you insist. The point is that it concerns certain combat skills that, after being used, regenerate for several turns. One hits the square in front of the hero, another hits the square behind, another hits both, and yet another flies like an arrow to the end of a straight battlefield. You know what I mean.

We can improve these skills between fights. After one fight we will add damage, after another we will reduce the waiting time, apply a poison or freezing effect. Classic. Additionally, each character is assigned a simple positioning skill at the start, and you can buy certain passive effects from a random pool in stores. The number of combinations is, of course, increased as we progress.

Replayability – longevity

Sounds like roguelike bread and butter, right? All this in pleasant pixel graphics with pleasant, well-matched music. We defeat subsequent groups of interesting opponents, start performing combinations that are rewarded in various ways, become familiar with the game’s economy and sell the healing potions we pick up instead of using them… And so on ad infinitum, because each approach seems different and new.

In Shogun Showdown, we unlock certain things by completing the game in more difficult conditions. A good comparison here will be the ascension system from Slay the Spire mentioned at the beginning. First, fewer potions appear, then random enemies have additional features, bosses are strengthened, etc. I don’t know yet where the ending of this game lies, but how rarely do I have the ambition to get there. I want to defeat the Shogun at the seventh level and learn his secrets.

This game has a certain plot and atmospheric descriptions of the enemies. So far, however, I have treated it more as something sideways. The combat and upgrade system is the core of the game here. It’s a nice change from the situation when the plot is engaging but forces you to boringly repeat the same actions and grind. It’s also nice that one approach requires approximately as much time as one episode of the series. So even if we get tired of “shoguning”, we can give up and return to enjoyable gameplay after a week or a month.

Shogun Showdown. Indyk beats AAA again

Shogun Showdown is another game that can help fans of turn-based roguelikes while waiting for the second part of Slay the Spire. One of those that does it really well. Suffice it to say that last week I had to play, among others: Frostpunk 2 and several other new features. Once again, however, a simple indie game without any advertising triumphed over the AAA PR behemoths, overdeveloped and deprived of the basic feature – playability.

Rating: 9