![]() ![]() Pawnbarian is single-minded with a specific experience that it wants to offer. Each of the three characters has a different playstyle.Ī big difference between Pawnbarian and other games is that feels intentional rather than an unfortunate shortcoming. You can never change the number of cards in your deck, and the enemies can get repetitive fairly quickly. The variety of upgrades you can obtain is small. The downside is that the game, while mentally challenging, is still a fairly shallow game for the genre. The advantage of that combo is the game feels very polished and cohesive. Pawnbarian is a bite-sized game with a very focused design goal. If you want to test yourself, Pawnbarian gives you the option, which is nice. Alternatively, you can continue within the same dungeon to see how many stages you can win in a row before failing. ![]() They are similar to ascensions levels in games such as Slay the Spire. If you manage to master the game enough to clear all three dungeons with a single character, You can begin to take on ascending handicaps. ![]() Pawnbarian simply feels polished compared to a lot of games that cross my path for the same low price. Its design remains consistent throughout the whole game, lending Pawnbarian a distinctive identity in a crowded market of puzzle games. The game’s visuals are simple but elegant. Upgrading your cards gives you a few more options. While the Templar can gain extra actions by using two knights in a row. The Pawnbarian, for example, focuses on pawns and can turn them into queens during battle. They all do a good job of taking the game’s simple concept and altering how you play with it. ![]() The three playable characters have their own playstyles as well. Each of the game’s three dungeons has its own approach and strategies you need to use. It might not sound like much, but choosing what cards to upgrade really matters. A shield that protects you from damage, a bonus action, or two different abilities that attack spaces orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to you. Every card can be upgraded with four different effects. Each one has different quirks, such as being invincible as long as you are adjacent to them, or spreading a blight on the board that inflicts damage. Pawnbarian can be a really satisfying brain burner to work out how to land the best combos. At the same time, you only heal 1 HP per stage, additional healing requires that precious gold. The faster you win, the more bonus gold you earn to spend before the next level. So you have to really dig deep and plan out how to make your moves without getting hurt yourself The Shogun can be tricky at first, but follows the same concepts. Hovering over an enemy will show you how they are contributing to that damage. The game always outlines squares where you will take damage. The tricky part comes from dodging attacks and using your character’s abilities and upgrades. Even if you aren’t familiar with Chess, the concept should be easy for anyone to pick up and play. Landing in a space occupied by an enemy figure defeats them, and that’s the game. If you play a Bishop you move diagonally instead. If you play a Rook, you can move as far you want in an orthogonal line. Each turn, you draw three cards that correspond to different Chess pieces, and you move your character around the board by playing those cards. Pawnbarian is an incredibly simple game to learn and can be played solely with a mouse. The quicker you clear each stage, the more gold you gain for upgrades, but if you risk too much on a Queen’s Gambit, the only thing you will be checking is a game-over screen. You can only move the same way that Chess pieces do!Įvery battle is a puzzle where you have to balance taking out your enemies in the least amount of moves, with taking as little damage as possible. Every move you make is dictated by the movement patterns of chess pieces such as Pawns, Knights, and Bishops. Pawnbarian is a roguelike puzzler that plays on a chessboard. You can find a video version of this review here on YouTube! And more of an “I proclaim my intention of luxuriating in the splendor of my wrathful indignation” kind of game. The name might be a play on the word barbarian, but it’s definitely less of an “I would like to rage” type game. Pawnbarian is a simple, but fascinating little game where brains are infinitely more useful than brawn. ![]()
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