Mind Over Magic Review [ULTRAWIDE] Turn Based/ Colony Sim!
2Two of some of my favourite genres combined in one. A colony sim with a turn based battle system fused in a way that makes absolute sense.
Steam Curator: store.steampowered.com/curator/36307721-Healthy-Criticism/
This game serves you with two main objectives: Build up your base to increase your magicians' strength, and battle monsters in the underground levels of your school to unlock more features and tougher battles.
The base building has some elements to keep in mind. There is a room type for each function, as well as a tier level for that type of room. The research room for example has three tiers. You need to reach the highest tier room in order to unlock higher tier researches. You achieve this by taking a look at the requirements each room tier has in the room book and simply meeting those requirements. The higher the difficulty, the more absurd the requirements will get.
It is a good idea to have at least once magician for each of the elements. Some elements serve a purpose better than others would so synergy is important.
Another thing you need to worry about is the fog that engulfs the surface. Occasionally you will have to push the fog back by completing rituals. The further away the fog is pushed, the more expensive the rituals will get, unlocking more valuable materials in the process. It is quite the double edged sword.
Building out your base does not come without its challenges. Eventually you will unlock more support beams to help you stretch further out into the world, but until then you are limited to what you can do. The more you build out, the less durable your building gets, preventing you from expanding. Do not fly too close to the sun.
Those are the basics about the game. It does get quite in depth within the confines of a colony sim, but do not worry. This game has one of, if not the most, helpful tooltips of any game I have seen. You can hover over a word, or a material you do not have. Once the description underlines certain words, you can click those words, opening up the codex to explain to you how that item works. Incredibly well done.
In summary, this is what I would consider a 2.5D colony builder with turn based combat. Two genres that I did not know could work this well but here we are. Well worth the asking price.