Finally, leaving Early Access, Shogun Showdown is a turn-based roguelite game with some deck-building elements thrown in. Unfortunately, that combination of genres is becoming very crowded. I had a chance to play Shogun Showdown and see what it does to try to make itself stand out from the crowd. Lets jump in to see if this one is worth picking up or leaving in the shadows.
In this review, I will be going over the following topics.
Story
If you visit Shogun Showdown’s Steam page, you will see just the essentials. One thing it is lacking is a story. Even in the game there isn’t any dialogue, other than a comment from the occasional shopkeeper. Not saying that is a bad thing. It just needs to be noted that there is no story for this game.
Gameplay
With the lack of a story, clearly, the focus of Shogun Showdown is the combat. Like most rogue-lite deck-builders, there is a branching map and places to collect or upgrade your cards, or in this case tiles. There are also shops that can upgrade your tiles and buy passive skills. Then, you can use those tiles to get through the next combat, hopefully making your way to the Shogun at the end of the map.
Map
The map in Shogun Showdown alternates between combat and shop nodes. This map doesn’t branch out as much as some in the genre. The only choices you are making are which shop to visit when the path splits. Then it narrows back to just one combat node to go to.
Only the next available node is visible on the map. This means you cannot plan out your route like some games. The biomes seem to stay in the same order each run. However, the enemies and scenery do change depending on the biome that you are in.
Combat
It is very clear that the main focus of the game is combat. You can tell that a lot of attention went into this combat system. The combat is based on actions. For each action that you take, the enemy gets to take an action, so you will need to pay close attention to your moves and that of the enemies.
Actions that you can take are moving forward and backward, turning around, waiting, loading a tile into your queue, and using the tiles in your queue to attack. Action management and positioning are key. Most tiles are forward-facing attacks, so make sure you get yourself a backward-attacking tile if you can. Otherwise, you will be spending a lot of time turning around. It could mean the difference between a successful battle or defeat. Waiting can also be quite variable. Sometimes, it is better to let your opponent come to you while you let your tiles cool down.
An interesting mechanic that adds a lot of strategy to combat is the ability to queue up tiles. You can queue up to three tiles at a time before attacking. This allows you to chain some cool combinations to remove multiple enemies at once. The more you can take out in one turn, the less you have to deal with when the next wave comes. On the other hand, using three tiles at one time means you could have all your abilities on cooldown if you aren’t careful.
Tiles
The tiles in Shogun Showdown are kind of like the cards in other deck-builds, except for the fact that you only start with two tiles and will probably finish a run with just five or six tiles. Saying Shogun Showdown has just some deck-builder elements is pretty accurate. It feels more like a Roleplaying Game because you are focused on just a few abilities and leveling those abilities to perfection rather than collecting a deck of 15+ cards.
The other big difference is that you always have your tiles available to you. Even if they are on cooldown, you know when they will be available next and can account for that in your strategy. With a more traditional deck-builder, your battles are a lot more luck based. You don’t know what card is going to be available when. The tiles make Shogun Showdown feel even more strategic than most deck-builders.
Items
As you defeat enemies in combat, they will drop coins and items to pick up. If you don’t get a chance to pick up everything, don’t fret. You will automatically get everything on the ground at the end of the combat. The coins you can use in the shop. The items, on the other hand, can be used in a fight. They are a free action and add another tactical layer to combat. Some items you might find include health potions, shields, and reducing the cooldown of your abilities. You do have a limited inventory of items, so don’t be afraid to use them when you have them.
Shops
Between combat nodes, you will get to visit a shop. Different shops offer different skills and items to purchase. They are also paired with an enchantment statue. This is where you can spend all that money you have been collecting from your fallen enemies. The enchantment statue will boost one of your abilities for a set amount of coins. You can do it more than once, but the price goes up each time.
The shopkeepers are quite generous and give you a health potion for visiting them. They start off with just one ability that can be purchased. The abilities are passive and usually do things like boost your health or boost your attack for hitting an adjacent enemy without moving. The shops can be upgraded to have more purchasing options if you use the meta currency to unlock the slots.
Skulls
Speaking of meta currency. Skulls are the currency in Shogun Showdown. You will use them to unlock additional tiles between each run. The first few tiles start at a low cost. The price ramps up quite quickly, though. Also, as previously mentioned, the skulls can be used to unlock additional slots at the shops. The more slots you unlock at a shop, the more options you have for purchasing when you visit there.
Characters
So far, there are only a handful of characters in the game. You start off with only one unlocked. You will unlock the others by performing special tasks. Each character has a special ability and two set tiles that they will always start with.
Conclusion
So, whether we call it a turn-based deck-builder or a turn-based RPG, all that really matters is if Shogun Showdown is any fun. It most definitely is. Shogun Showdown is a total blast. It has a lot of strategic depth, even while feeling quite simplistic. There are no complex controls or dozens of cards to memories. You just have a handful of abilities that you can focus on while moving around the miniature battlefield. You can queue up multiple abilities to pull off some awesome combos, and the enemy will, too, if you aren’t careful.
If you are looking for something with a deep story, then you aren’t going to find it here. You also are not going to find a traditional deck-builder like Slay the Spire. There is nothing wrong with that, though. That’s just not what Shogun Showdown is. It’s a small turn-based rogue-lite that can really pack a punch. Go check out their Steam page if you are interested. You are not going to want to put this one down.
A review key was graciously provided by the developers at Roboatino.
