Crowntakers Review (PC)

fair
key review info
  • Game: Crowntakers
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Crowntakers

Crowntakers is an isometric, turn-based, roguelike role-playing game that blends a lot of fun mechanics with some pretty visuals and thoroughly annoying randomness.

When I first ran into some screenshots from it, I saw hexes and clean, hand-drawn graphics and I was instantly sold. Unfortunately, I had hoped it would be a strategy game, and the realization that it wasn't left me a bit disappointed. However, the promise of tactical combat was still reason enough to pick the game up.

And so I did and noticed instantly that it didn't feel like a PC game. It's light and it has a suspiciously mobile-ish interface. It feels like a mobile game, and apparently it's also heading to mobile platforms sometime soon.

With that in mind, I proceeded with caution, ready to raise my anti in-app purchase shield at the slightest sight of gems, crystals or ungodly waiting times. Fortunately for Crowntakers, it manages to pull off a pretty convincing PC game act.

Explore the countryside
Explore the countryside

Gameplay

The story revolves around freeing your father from an underground dungeon. He appears to you in a dream and calls for your help, and there's nothing you can do but oblige.

As luck has it, your father is the king, who has been abducted by an evil duke, and your brave adventure to rescue him will ensure your place in history, as a great hero of the realm.

Of course, being a roguelike, you're supposed to die often, and the king is quick to point out his relief at the fact that you were not his only chosen one.

The actual gameplay feels like a mix of turn-based tactics with role-playing game elements and a board game. The action takes place on randomly generated maps that gradually reveal themselves as you explore, presenting you with opportunities and choices to make, and with a lot of death.

Each time you die, your level and experience points are carried over to the next run, as are those of your companions. In this manner, each death becomes a sort of progression, enabling you to reach further and further every time.

That, of course, is on easy mode, the one where you actually have a chance to complete the game, with enough patience and run-throughs, that is. The normal difficulty is, as with any roguelike that lacks a sense of balance and design, a much harsher experience.

As you have no option to spend time in your hut doing push-ups, you have to rely on pure luck to benefit from the necessary drops to enhance your characters and get them to be better at fighting.

The basic gameplay has you following a path and interacting with various hotspots along your way, where you either fight, search and get some items, or lose health.

There are some instances where you are presented with choices, but nothing ground-breaking, and you can also bribe some of the guards and thieves if you want to avoid confrontation.

There are also inns and blacksmiths where you can recruit additional members for your party (one for each area) or upgrade your gear and get valuable items such as food, that can be used to fill up health bars between battles, or potions, which have immediate effect during encounters.

The game gradually blossoms and unfolds itself, and you have to be pretty patient and start everything over several times before you stand the slightest chance of seeing the late stages.

Don't expect a deep experience though, as Crowntakers is a lighthearted, casual game that's accessible to everyone, easy to pick up and easy to like, while at the same time bearing enough of a resemblance to tactical RPGs to warrant attention from more serious gamers.

It looks like we're doomed
It looks like we're doomed

Tactical combat

While navigating the procedurally generated maps is fun and dandy, combat is the real meat of Crowntakers and the defining mechanic that regulates your progress.

Each level has a boss encounter that will severely test your ability to juggle your party and your consumables, as well as your luck, and will most likely end up in a defeat the first few tries.

The actual system is pretty simple, it uses a hex grid and two actions every turn, that can be used for either moving or attacking, or for special abilities.

The number of enemies is unknown every time, and their placement (as well as yours) is completely random, which may lead to your party beginning the game with your archer under siege from a pair of pikemen, essentially rendering him useless.

There are some interesting concepts such as flanking, attacks of opportunity, using an action to defend and retaliate on the next turn, or backstabbing implemented, making combat more strategic, but it's not overly complex, and it is perhaps a good way to whet someone's appetite for tactical games.

During your turn, you can also make use of various combat potions, giving you an extra action, healing, or the ability to become invisible and get out of harm's way, and hoarding them and applying their effects at the right time can make the difference between winning and losing a battle.

You can purchase scrolls to resurrect fallen comrades once the battle is over and you're on the world map, but if your character is slain in combat, it's game over, so it's not a bad idea to use them as meat shields.

Your characters also have various abilities such as extended range or guaranteed hits for ranged units, or strikes so strong that the enemy is pushed back, and proper positioning and switching between characters will greatly increase your odds of success.

Visuals and sound

The game's graphics look very fresh, I liked the overall design very much, and although it's simplistic, it also serves its purpose wonderfully. The world is far from static, with the background popping in at every step and stuff being highlighted by your touch, together with tiny animations that make the entire experience more pleasant.

The visuals work very well with the mechanics, on the world map as well as during tactical battles. Clean and eye-catching. The sound design works in a similar way, complementing the experience, and the background music didn't get on my nerves at all, in spite of the fact that I was constantly starting the game over.

Crowntakers has a distinct mobile game vibe, but it looks and works very well on a big screen.


The Good

  • Fun and lightweight
  • Cute visuals
  • A good mashup of genres

The Bad

  • Luck is too big a factor
  • Frustrating at times
  • Very short
  • Limited scope

Conclusion

Not being a fan of Russian roulette, I like it when my saved states are neatly stacked on top of each other, to the point where I can always go back and alter recent events in a way that will help me finish the game faster so I can go on to the next one, instead of repeating the same unrewarding experience that teaches me nothing new.

I like to learn my lesson and apply it, not to gamble indefinitely for favorable game states. I like to learn the inner workings of a game and then crowbar my way through them. This is the reason I got bored with Crowntakers pretty fast. I liked it, I just wished that there was more to it.

You essentially have to play the same portion of the game over and over until you grind your way to a higher level that allows you to take an extra hit or kill enemies in just two blows instead of three.

This, of course, can be offset by random placement that kills one of your units in the first turn of a crucial encounter, and then it's back to the drawing board, taking up everything all over again.

The game is also pretty short, and all this randomness seems more like padding around that, like a way to get more gameplay time out of the game before reaching the end.

If the idea of fruitless exploits and praying to RNGesus doesn't scare you, Crowntakers is a really pleasant experience, marrying exploration with tactical combat, all set in a lovely-looking world.

story 3
gameplay 7
concept 7
graphics 8
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 6.5
Editor's review
fair
 
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Crowntakers screenshots (21 Images)

CrowntakersExplore the countrysideIt looks like we're doomedInventory managementPhat lewt
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