Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 2 out of 7

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  1. AngrySir
    Oct 3, 2022
    5
    PROS:
    - Good music
    - Skill tree has good depth, not complex, not too simple - Intuitive UI - Easy to learn CONS: - Too short for its price, with just a few hours you can finish the game and see everything it has to offer - Later stages are unfair, enemies start to break your formation and once you start losing warriors there's no comeback, you will have to use squishy lv 1    PROS:
    - Good music
    - Skill tree has good depth, not complex, not too simple
    - Intuitive UI
    - Easy to learn

    CONS:
    - Too short for its price, with just a few hours you can finish the game and see everything it has to offer
    - Later stages are unfair, enemies start to break your formation and once you start losing warriors there's no comeback, you will have to use squishy lv 1 warriors against increasingly stronger enemies and inevitably lose more and more warriors until you fail
    - There's no meta progression system, only unlockable upgrades that are added to the RNG pool, for me this progression system is unsastisfying, it just makes every new run feel the same and more tricky to apply a specific strategy
    - The team combos have a nice initial effect, but are neither rewarding nor satisfying to evolve in the long run. Each level just increases the level of the effect, which in practice is not felt the difference, and on top of that the progression to maximize such team combo depends too much on the randomness of you getting the right mutations
    - The currency management is flawed, everything you buy uses the same currency which implies balance issues and contributes to the defeat snowball effect I mentioned before, when you start to lose you will end up spending everything to maintain yourself and not to upgrade your team
    - Lacks more team combo effects and synergies

    Verdict: there's a good game buried under a pile of problems that drained most of the fun, this combined with the low amount of content resulted in a mediocre auto-battler roguelite strategy game    … Expand
  2. teksturki
    Nov 3, 2021
    9
    Incredibly addictive, good music, good humor, lots of pop culture eastern eggs, easy to learn how to play, but difficult to get gud. Recommend!
  3. kalambaha
    Mar 22, 2023
    7
    +7 to save the game in my favorites list :) and just like for a great game!

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. But Why Tho?
    Oct 10, 2022
    70
    Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder is a very interesting blending of genres that helps bring something new to auto battler games. However, its mixing brings far less to the rogue-lite genre, so fans of titles like Hades or Cult of the Lamb will only want to pick it up if they are big fans of auto battlers.
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  2. COGconnected
    Sep 30, 2022
    75
    This game is a great time, with a couple minor caveats. If you don’t mind the random, roguelike nature of the combat, then you’ll love it. If you’re playing on PC, you’ll love it even more. The writing is snappy, the action is fast-paced, and the character designs are terrific. I had a hard time grappling with the roguelike elements, however. There’s certain patience this sort of system demands of you, and I don’t have enough of it. On the other hand, if running experiments on hapless humans in dank dungeons appeals to you, take heart! Despot’s Game will be right up your alley.
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  3. XboxEra
    Sep 28, 2022
    68
    Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder is a really fun if slightly flawed strategy game that I’m glad I decided to check out. While it’s not something I might recommend to most for a purchase it is definitely worth trying out on Game Pass if you are subscribed.
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