James Endicott
I've been hooked on a #rougelike autobattler called DWARVES: Glory, Death and Loot ever since I saw DangerouslyFunny play it.

Gear selection is always my favorite part of a roguelike so this really scratches that itch. The only thing you can do during fights is let them do their thing or run away so I get to devote my whole brain to gear and squad composition.

There are two things that really make it stand out: the very cleverly designed difficulty options and the rune circle metaprogression system. I'll explain both in comments because they're interesting but you should definitely check it out.

Also, it's solo developed by a German speaking guy (Austrian) so it reminds me of Fedi friends.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sidekick.dwarves

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2205850/Dwarves_Glory_Death_and_Loot/
Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot - Apps on Google Play

Lead your own dwarf legion in an auto-battle roguelike of glory, death & loot.

Feb 25 at 5:47pmWeb
Show threadJames EndicottFeb 25
The three main difficulty options are loot, glory, and death. In loot mode, you don't lose if your squad wipes, it just subtracts 10 victories but you keep all rewards up to that point. That lets you push as far as you want because the only "lose" condition is retiring. So, right out the gate you can power through to explore areas, get powerful items, and defeat bosses without metaprogression or knowing what you're doing.

In glory mode, you lose if your squad wipes. The big thing it teaches you is when to retreat because there is no penalty if you do so. So, you can still try to fight harder enemies when under geared or after pivoting comp, as long as you run away if things go south (though, be careful because fleeing takes 4 seconds and you absolutely can get wiped that fast if you aren't careful). But there's a neat interaction with the rune system here. Glory gives 2× as many runes if you end a run by retiring but that halves (back to 1×) if you end a run by wiping. So your only penalty for losing the risk/reward game is not getting as big of a bonus. You can't do worse than if you were playing on loot mode.

The hardest difficulty is death. In that, if a dwarf dies, they stay dead. Rewards are 3× loot mode to make up for it but it's a pretty radical departure in gameplay. Some of the optimal strats in other modes involve glass cannons but you just can't risk it in death mode. On the other hand, it does teach you about how much stronger you get by frequently retiring dwarves and hiring new ones. If you retire a dwarf, their XP is either divided evenly among the squad or 90% converted into beer which you can target who gets. That means retiring someone when you see a good recruit in the shop is great because you can quickly level them up—potentially with better per level bonuses since you've got better late game gear and those bonuses aren't retroactive.

You can play each of these difficulty options in regular mode or eternal mode. In eternal, you don't return to the shop between waves, they keep fighting until you flee. That adds another risk/reward layer to gameplay because dwarves who fall in battle don't get any XP but there are some buffs (like Berserker that gives +5% damage per kill) that stack like crazy but reset on battle end.

I normally wouldn't go into the details of difficulty settings in a game, I'd just play on easy and not care. But I'm impressed that the dev makes all 6 combinations play differently so you have legitimate reasons to play on all of them beyond wanting to challenge yourself. And there's no need to number buff enemies to do it the way most games do.

I'm regularly using 3 of the clans (save slots) to play different styles because I crave different things even though the basics are the same. I've got one loot (eternal) to push end game content via AFK grinding. Another is set up on death for efficient gem farming. The last is for experimenting with different builds on glory.
Show threadcatraxx Feb 25
@o76923 Oh i had my eye on that one! Actually worth the money?
Show threadJames EndicottFeb 25
@catraxx

I'm enjoying it but it is pretty grindy. The biggest selling point is definitely the metaprogression. It's centered around unlocking options (runes) and re-speccing to use different combinations of them. So your runs eventually get really different in ways you choose but the core loop doesn't have a ton of depth.

If you like risk/reward push as a core mechanic, don't mind a bit of grind, and want to reward a clever solo dev who solved problems in an interesting way, I'd say go for it. On the other hand, Coal LLC is normally the same price but is currently 20% off and that's an unambiguous yes recommend for anyone who plays roguelikes, hole diggers, or numbers going up on PC.
Show threadcatraxx Feb 25
@o76923 Hmm ok, then it's pretty much still what i remember from youtube. Thanks
Show threadJames EndicottFeb 25
@catraxx

With how hooked I am, I wish I could give it a stronger recommendation but I'm not in the late game yet so I don't know if it's worth the $15 opportunity cost on a gaming budget, unfortunately.
Show threadcatraxx Feb 25
@o76923 oh nono, you did exactly what i asked for, i wasn't being sarcastic 
Show threadJames EndicottFeb 25
@catraxx

Also, there have been so many good games in the space recently. Kin and Quarry is an adorable mining game with cute animal friends for automation. How Many Dudes? is a silly combat game with fun synergies. Wander Burg is a roguelike about filling your mobile castle with as many cannons as possible. And so many more.
Show threadcatraxx Feb 25

@o76923 Wander Burg looked very awesome.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3526710/Everything_is_Crab_The_Animal_Evolution_Roguelite/ this one is fun

Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite on Steam

The Animal Evolution Roguelite. Hunt, Flee, Scavenge and Thrive in a living ecosystem. Choose from 100+ Evolutions and Specialisations for unique creature combinations in every run. Adapt to survive the natural curve in order to beat carcinisation... or get Darwin'd trying!

Show threadJames EndicottFeb 26
@catraxx

I think I've seen it on my to watch list? I'll just have to make time to watch it instead of Stargate.