Loop Hero isn’t a game for everyone, but if you do fall for this game of endless repetition, you can expect to fall hard. It’s a game that can be played in short bursts or for hours at a time, and it’s riveting enough to draw me in again and again. It will play itself in the background if you let it, but it’s also deeply strategic and surprisingly challenging.Īt the time of writing, we’re just over halfway through 2021, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Loop Hero winds up being one of my most played games of the year. It’s familiar and nostalgic, but it feels like an incredibly fresh take on the roguelike genre. It’s an addictive little game that’s made up of contradictions. It didn’t take me long for me to realize that I was going to love Loop Hero, and I’ve only fallen deeper in love with the game with each subsequent loop. When I head out on a new expedition, I’m not just looping for the sake of it (though I would probably do that too) I’m specifically venturing out to gather new materials so I can craft new structures, access new gameplay features, and meet more of the strange characters that make up Loop Hero‘s clouded world. This aspect feels a little more modern than other elements of Loop Hero, but it helps give your constant loops a sense of purpose. As you build new structures and enhance your existing ones, you’ll gain access to new cards, perks, and even brand-new classes to play. This is where you’ll encounter Loop Hero’s town-building elements. At any time, you have the option to retreat and return to the camp you’ve made with other survivors. Loop Hero also offers an occasional respite from its never-ending loops. I’ve uncharacteristically refused to look anything up during my playthroughs, and I feel like I’m constantly making these kinds of discoveries. Survive for three more loops and it will turn into a Count’s Lands, which provides powerful healing benefits every time you walk through it. Place it next to a Village and it will create a Ransacked Village, which spawns Ghouls. This can be simple - placing a Meadow next to something else creates a Blooming Meadow - but it can also be fairly complex.įor example, placing a Vampire Mansion card means that vampires will spawn on your map. Placing one card next to another could create something else entirely. What I find particularly captivating about this aspect of Loop Hero is how much card placement matters. You can then place the cards you collect on the map, transforming it into a vibrant world that’s filled with greater threats and more enticing rewards. Before you set out on a new expedition, you can build a deck that you’ll draw from during your loops. The other tool you have at your disposal is a set of cards. Sometimes, an enemy dropping a powerful sword mid-fight is enough to save you from certain death. Weapons and armor can be equipped at any time, even if you’re in the middle of a battle. As you fight enemies, you’ll collect gear that you can use to give your character much-needed stat upgrades. Thankfully, you have a few tools in your arsenal that help you keep up with the ever-rising monster threats. As your character circles around again and again, the monsters in the loop will become more powerful, making it harder to keep your character alive if you just let the game play itself. Loop Hero is an auto-battler, which means starting a loop doesn’t require you to do much more than press start. The promise of that discovery was enough to keep me coming back again and again, even in the face of constant death and failure.īut while I find the little snippets of story in Loop Hero to be incredibly alluring, it’s the gameplay that has me addicted. Most of your time will be spent fighting enemies, and collecting loot, but it always feels like there’s something much deeper under the surface waiting to be unearthed. Your family is killed and the hamlet you live in is destroyed, so you venture into a fortress seeking answers. At its start, Castle of the Winds only gives you enough story to send you on an adventure. The game that Loop Hero most reminds me of is the first roguelike I ever played, Castle of the Winds. Loop Hero exists in a world where the hazy, barely-there stories from the games of my youth are the only thing that can exist. The new memories you make are almost impossible to carry with you, like air or fog. There are only a handful of survivors that remain, and these survivors all struggle to remember the world as it should be. In Loop Hero, you see, the world has been destroyed. Every time I speak with a villager or encounter an enemy that has something to tell me, I feel like I’ve been transported back to a mostly forgotten past. Story is not the emphasis of Loop Hero - it really only has smatterings of dialogue here and there - but it might be the part of the game that resonates with me the most. I feel the same way when I play Loop Hero, an indie roguelike that mostly involves walking in circles.
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