IndieRPGs.com Checks Out Heroes of Steel

Howdy, IndieRPGers! The Trese Brothers, auteurs of nearly a half-dozen Android RPGs, have offered me a Windows build of Heroes of Steel to check out.

If I’m not mistaken, Heroes of Steel is the very first game the Trese Brothers have released on PC, and so mobile origins notwithstanding, I’m judging the game as a PC title. Without further ado, here is the first 35 minutes or so of the game:

So! What’d I think?

Basically, I like it! Heroes of Steel doesn’t wait long to start offering you branching paths and alternate equipment load-outs, which I really appreciate. And while you can’t create your own characters, I find that this is largely counter-balanced by the characterization and plentiful dialog of those characters the game does give you.

Combat is appropriately tactical, and the action point system suits it well. Personally, I tend to prefer larger fights with more characters under my command, but Heroes of Steel makes it work with a four-person party. The limited pool of action points and variety of abilities on offer mean I generally have at least a few interesting choices to make each turn, which helps keep the fights engaging.

You’ve already heard my gripes about certain aspects of the interface, so I’ll avoid rehashing those here. Suffice it to say that while the game makes you click a lot more than necessary to perform basic actions, this never rises to the level of, say, Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land. It annoys me as a designer moreso than it does as a player; which is to say, it isn’t enough to actually prevent me from enjoying the experience.

The game’s music, sound effects and visual art are all juuuust good enough to not be distracting; and the gameplay is really the main draw here, so “good enough not to be distracting” is good enough for me.

Now then: if you’ll excuse me, I have some tunnels to navigate and a Magus to visit.

You can snag Heroes of Steel for Windows for $11.99, or for iOS or Android for free with in-app-purchases.

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3 Comments »

 
  • jackal27 says:

    I’ve really been enjoying this game on my iPhone. Tons of content and a pretty intuitive control scheme. Things can move a little slow at times, but it’s still really solid.

  • BarryB says:

    I remember being pleasantly surprised back in 1992 when playing an RPG/strategy title, Challenge of the Five Realms. The characters you could add to your party had different skills, and if you were in a situation that required one of these, that party member would say in character the equivalent of “Allow me,” take over, and execute it. Opening locks was a specialty of one person you could pick up. After that, of course, it become more common, but…

    It’s kind of amazing that, more than 20 years later, some developers are still unaware of how to automate this repetitive chore.

    You derive entirely too much pleasure out of making up those accents, ya know? Just kidding. 😀

 

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