Circus Electrique

 Xbox Series X
Metascore
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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. XboxAddict
    Sep 14, 2022
    73
    While I quite enjoyed the turned based strategic combat of choosing my ideal performers and how they all best worked with one another, I struggled early on with understanding the management aspect. With enough time you’ll get the hang of it, but there’s almost too much going on, feeling quite overwhelming initially. Fans of Darkest Dungeon should feel right at home, but newcomers and casual players will most likely feel quite overwhelmed in the opening hours until it all starts to make sense and come together.
  2. XboxEra
    Sep 6, 2022
    70
    Circus Electrique is visually very arresting and is quite possibly the most challenging game in terms of complexity that I have ever played. Die-hard fans of tactical turn-based combat and management simulators will absolutely love this title while casual gamers or newcomers to these types of games may struggle even on the easy setting. It is clear that this has been a labour of love for the developers and is certainly one of the most unusual games to be released on Xbox this year. If Steampunk Victorian archetypes and challenging gameplay are your things this game has your name written all over it.

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User score distribution:
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  1. ISSGOD
    Sep 14, 2022
    8
    Full playthrough review on Series S.

    Circus Electrique is one part circus management, one part exploration and one part turn based tactical    Full playthrough review on Series S.

    Circus Electrique is one part circus management, one part exploration and one part turn based tactical combat.

    The story.

    It is minimal yet surprisingly compelling and voiced by top notch voice acting. I enjoyed it.

    Circus management.

    Here you recruit performers and assign them to the various duties of the circus such as planing shows, leveling up skills and healing among other duties. There are something like 15 performers classes to choose from that become available as you progress through the story.

    Exploration.

    You move about an overview map of London in which there are many different paths and nodes to explore. You will come across games of chance, scenarios in which you choose to intervene in a situation or not, treasure chests full of goodies and of course combat.

    Combat.

    Your circus performers are also the team you will use for combat. You can have 4 in your group at a time. Each circus class has different abilities that lend itself to doing damage, healing, buffing and/or debuffs. Combat is interesting as you have not only health to look after and attack, but also devotion as it is the source of your power. Often it is easier to attack your opponent’s devotion as it is almost always lower than their health to begin with. The lower the power the less damage inflicted, and if devotion reaches zero the opponent will flee from combat. But be careful as the same applies to your circus performers and if they die or leave they are gone for good unless you reload.

    Issues I have with the game.

    There needs to be a difficulty between easy and normal as easy is spot on yet normal is punishingly hard. There is a hard mode which as is, is reserved for the masochistic among us. I also did not like that the characters were slowly added over time as I ended up using most of the starting characters through the entire game. This is because three of the starting performers are all but indispensable. The strongman is your damage dealing tank, the clown does damage, heals and can target opponents devotion while the flame eater can also damage devotion and deals great damage. An early unlock is the snake charmer as she can heal devotion, set poison traps and debuff the enemy. Because not many of the characters I came across had healing and devotion healing abilities I never really used all the other characters. Lastly the game mechanics are incredibly complex which may be a turn off for some.

    With that said I really enjoyed the game. Upon beating the game you are free to explore London and explore areas you missed in your playthrough. If you are in to turn based tactics games, this is a good one to try.    … Full Review »