izigame.me

Little Gem for me.
It has the right amount of Indiana Jones vibes mixed with X-Com style combat with a bit of stealth and stealth takedowns.
And after a short intro phase of introduction missions and some recruitment missions you are thrown into the world map where you need to decide on which missions you want to do.
Sabotage the enemy?
Sent out one agent for some research/supply mission?
Go on a recruitment mission?
Get the story going?
Also you can equip and skill your agents.
Armor slot, magic item slot, tool slot and up to four unlockable one use items each agent (starting with one slot on low level) plus a tarot card system giving agents unique abilities gives plenty of builds.
The characters of your team are unique and to my liking.
Very much so.
They are a bunch of merry thieves.
Well, not all are merry. Some are quite grumpy.
But I like all in a way.
It clicks well for me.
Does it have a AAA Budget like other games?
Hell, no.
Is it perfect?
No, there are some squabbles.
Sometimes the controls are a bit clunky.
But the game has a SOUL.
Plus the setting is definitely well used and just...does it job well.
The speakers of the characters as well as the soundtrack are two things helping along quite well.
Especially the soundtrack.
it is a piece of art and I enjoy it very much.
Bought the deluxe edition and certainly am enjoying the soundtrack even without the game.
The game is scratching all the right itches for me.
:-)
Update:
Game opens up quite a bit mid-game and later.
The decisions to do are a nice strategic quagmire:
Shall I thwart one of the three enemy factions?
Shall I instead recruit a new character?
Shall I pick up some supplies or ally to gear up or open up some more crafting possibilities?
Your agents can be captured (you can free them in a rescue mission) or killed on missions.
When getting downed they get injured and need some healing taking out the agent depending on the damage received.
Tarot cards give a nice twist mixing up abilities.
Your melees can get some ranged tarot weapon or ability.
Your ranged ones vice versa.
You can later even craft these tarot cards.
That mixes up the skill trees quite a bit and adds further variability.
For those dreading Deathclocks:
The game lets you plenty time to skill up, craft and plunder locations.
The Deathclock can be set back like in X-Com by doing missions to sabotage and assassinate faction henchman.
On the easiest level the setback from these missions can make you go on nearly forever.
On medium it gives a nice "What should I choose for missions feel" and still can set back the Deathclock Counter substantially.
Some may argue "Ah - gods! Deathclock..."
But in this game - as it is a chase of a group of misfit heroes after some sinister organization - it fits.
The game revolves around thwarting, being faster on pick-up of relics and recruitment which ever has a look at the deathclock.
And with being able to set back the Death Clock substantially even on Mid-Difficulty you can still go without much pressure.
There are several "thresholds" on the enemy factions where they get more "abilities" or unlock more foe variants.
But as your agents grow in skill with their skill-tree and tarot cards (which are upgradable or can be crafted) it only is a natural way of adjusting the enemies to heroes leveling up.
The mix between stealth takedowns and real combat is good in my opinions.
As the takedown skills have a limit you cannot clear a whole map by stealth.
But you can reduce the enemies to such a small number you can just steamroll them with your team.
Also going into a fight does not alert the whole map.
Unless you really crash into things like a bull or just want it.
Usable items are found on the map so you can replenish and plunder all you want.
You can even plunder things after the level is cleared and there are hidden stashes throughout the maps.
And your takedown skills can even be refreshed by items in the level.
Any usable items picked up on the map you can carry with you and place in your stash.
So you can save on supply buys with things you plundered doing missions.
The only thing missing so far for me is that you may sell these things.
But then this is a minor squabble as I do not feel to harshly restricted by it.
Plundering levels saves you "money" (supplies) for buying hero items in the shop.
All in all I like how the game opens up more and more on the way.
Thumbs up!
Good playing experience.