Fights in Tight Spaces Review (Ksempac)
Good ideas, impaired by bad UI
Fights In Tight Spaces is a roguelite that mixes tactical gameplay and deck building. You could call it a mix of Into The Breach and Slay the Spire, a genre that is getting more and more love recently. This one is interesting, but it is hard, and you will need to endure some frustration before finding the fun. This is another "I wish there was a "thumb in the middle option for reviewing"
A tight gameplay...
You use cards to act, and the goal is to affect the board in such ways that your enemies get hit and you don't. It's up to you how to do it. A straight up "punch and kick" approach, where you kill people before they hit you. A grappler approach where you move people around so they hit their friends instead of you. A turtle approach where you just tank everything that is thrown at you...All these options and others are available.
There is a lot to try, a lot to learn, and quite a lot of cool fights to happen.
...a loose UI/UX
However, this is severely undone by the user interface. In trying to make a game that looks very clean looking, with limited use of colors and icons, the developer has made the game quite hard to follow.
Enemies have a variety of abilities, some of them will act when you act (instead of Into The Breach where enemies never act during your turn), some are invulnerable to specific card types, and generally, there is a lot going on in a single turn, so it is hard to plan when it's hard to understand everything that is going to happen.
While all the information is available, it's all scattered, sometimes in the form of icons, sometimes in the form of text. Sometimes it's on the map, sometimes it's above the enemy head, and sometimes it's in the tool tips.
Despite being a veteran Into the Breach player, my first few attempts at Fights In Tight Spaces were extremely frustrating. I would plan a turn, play my cards...only to realize I had misread/forgotten an ability, and all my plan would do is get me killed. A single mistake, a plan that unravel, and suddenly your run is over (which is frustrating considering a full run takes several hours to finish).
If you like tough games and don't mind some frustration, this could be for you
This UI problem makes for a poor experience, especially compared to games in the same genre like Into The Breach or Alina of the Arena.
However, if you like tough tactical games/puzzles, you think Into The Breach is too easy, and don't mind some frustration, this could be a game for you.
After a few failed attempts, I started memorizing all the different enemies and their patterns. I no longer needed to refer as much to the tool tip texts, nor messed up a plan by failing to notice an ability. And once you get pass that hurdle, there is a good game somewhere in there, with some intense deck building and tactical plays. The game is hard, but rewarding.
However, if you want a cleaner experience, or if you already feel Into The Breach is too hard, then this is not the game for you. Stick to Into The Breach, or try Alina of the Arena for a better experience.