LONESTAR

Wow...just..wow! This is the PERFECT game for me! Best $17 dollars spent ever! I was super surprised at how good this game is. Didn't expect this out of such an obscure indie title.
This game fits many genres: turn based strategy, roguelike deckbuilder/dicebuilder, puzzle, tactics... but the best descriptor for it is resource management. It's all about using the finite resources you get each turn to your best advantage. Each turn is its own puzzle in which you have to solve how best to do that, while planning ahead for future turns.
This is definitely a very "thinky" game, even though it's very simple on the surface. There are LOTS of decisions to be made, at every point in the game. And if you want to beat the game on highest difficulty, you're going to have to spend your time thinking through your plays carefully. My LOWEST record time is 1 hour 10 mins. Lots of games have been over double that.
There is soooo much variety in this game. Over 80 unique "units" (that's what they call the ship components that are the heart of your engine) for EACH ship (that's right, each ship has totally unique units!). There are currently 2 ships in the game with a 3rd coming. Over 150 treasures (relics). 48 ship pilots and 47 random pilot talents (Each pilot has a unique talent and rolls 2 from the random pool, for 3 total). I'm 50 hours in and still discovering new stuff. Just fought a new final boss 3 runs ago. Ran into a new event last run. I feel I haven't even scratched the surface with all the different builds you can do. Every run is so unique because of the system of random pilot talents combined with all the usual randomness of what components and treasures you find in a run, and the random events you encounter on vacations. Haven't even touched the boss run mode, which is also something you can sink a ton of time into. There is so much here!
The game also looks great and is well polished. Lots of attention to detail; a lot of components have cool little animations, as do enemy ships. The lasers look great, and there's a ton of customization here, too; there are like 50 or so you can choose from! The music is good, not exceptional, but definitely not bad. Sound effects are great. UI is very good; everything laid out well and looks clean and organized. There are a couple UX things that could be improved on, but overall it's good too. Game gets an A+ for bugs/performance; haven't encountered a single bug yet, and 0 performance issues. I have THOUGHT on several occasions that I ran into a bug, but every single time it was just an error on my part (there are lots of moving parts to this game, so its easy to get math wrong).
If you're a fan of math and "thinky" games, this is the perfect game for you. Roguelike and deckbuilder fans will also appreciate this unique take on the formula. Can't recommend this game enough.

Fun little game.
The first half of difficulty curve is kind of weak if you're good at this sort of game, and the few levels are pretty quickly beatable without finding yourself in an unwinnable fight. But, if you find things are too easy you can try a different pilot or a ship type with a different base mechanic (shield, swap, paint).
I've seen a lot of people compare the game to FTL but the comparison isn't (in my opinion) apt. it's not nearly so unforgiving as FTL, as you can retreat/retry encounters to refine your loadout/strategy until you win. It's more of a puzzle game than an adventure... but different doesn't mean bad.
If I had to pick a complaint it's that some of the mechanics aren't explained very well, I've had to go to the forums to look up how a few units could work. I've had a few units that didn't work how I intuited they should, but I've also found interesting combinations (Whiteboard + Detection Core) so finding pairs that work great kind of offsets when something doesn't do what you think it will.
Anyway, I've had fun with it and am still unlocking things. I've gotten pretty good value out of the purchase, and haven't bored of it yet. A run doesn't take very long, so it's a good game to play in bite sized chunks like when you wanna kill 30 min waiting on something.

If someone calls this FTL meets Slay the Spire slap them. It is nothing like either of those games.
Lonestar is a turn-based game about numbers and everything else is set dressing.
Your ship consists of 3 rows that produce a number of attack power and the same goes for the enemy.
You subtract the losers power from the winners power in a row and whatever is left is dealt as damage.
Everything you do in this game has the purpose of making those numbers go up in various ways.
Core among them is the units on your ship. Little blocks with spaces for number cards.
You draw numbers from your number deck and add them to a unit.
So the "deck building" aspect of it all is literally just what numbers you have.
And you might do an entire run without changing the numbers in your deck at all.
There are wacky passive buffs, but the units then are where the complexity and build strategy are.
As a boring example the very first one you will probably see is a unit that says "when you add 2 identical numbers add + 2"
On that same ship is another unit that can make numbers go up and puts them back in your hand and there is your first combo, make the numbers go up in the right way to have 2 identical ones for a bonus.
And then of course there are many many different units with different synergies that you try to get throughout the run.
The passive buffs need the right unit to become useful but if you can combo they get VERY useful.
There is an added layer, the number cards have colors and you can only put in numbers into a unit of the right color or a "stronger" color.
And a strong unit will have slots of higher tier colors. So balancing your number deck and units around each other can be important.
The enemy then for the most part is less interesting. They just have their own fancy way of making numbers but your strategy is mostly unchanged. You need a big number to win the damage race.
That being said a small part of them are absolute fuckers that will mess up your entire build.
Unwinnable situations are rare but possible.
The game lets you restart a battle as many times as you want and even switch around which units you have equipped.
But sometimes the enemies numbers are just too big no matter what you do.
And I think that can be a problem but is in the nature of turn-based roguelikes.
You are at the mercy of the loot you picked up during a run and maybe your luck just sucked and you cant combo hard enough.
Now no matter how "skilled" you are if the highest number you can produce is a 17 but the enemy hits you with a 26 every time there is nothing to do about it.
Meta-progression is handled very well in this one.
Often a roguelike will add more and more stuff to find during a run but in turn make synergys increasingly unlikely.
So often your reward for playing is making the game worse.
In here all the randomization happens before the run even starts.
You get a random pilot with an ability specific to them and 2 random bonuses.
You can reroll your selection until you get something that seems good and all unlocks are just more pilots and more random bonuses, so your actual run will still have the same units and synergies.
A consequence of this is that there is not that much longevity to this game.
Sure the many pliots can offer wacky twists but for the most part you have seen those enemies before,
you have seen those units before and you have used that strat before.
The music is servicable and the story non-existent. Many dialogue blurbs and enemy briefings are just jokes and references.
Which is completely ok, I think the devs succeeded in wanting to make a fun little game and would not be surprised if a few updates shook things up and added variety in the future.
So really the question is do you want to spend a couple dollars on a fun little roguelike that sets itself apart from others that you can play for a day or two and then put away?
I do.

I found this game via Esty8Nine's stream and absolutely love it. Today, I finished the climb with the first ship to defeat the highest difficulty currently in the game (I think). After doing so, I was reminded that everything wasn't in the game since its not 1.0 yet, which I completely forgot that this was technically early access as of right now. Which is truly a testament to the quality that currently exists in the game.
I love everything about the game with 1 small exception. The game NEEDS an undo button. I understand that undo adds complications if an action reveals additional information, then an undo can be used to game the system. I'm not sure if the answer is to just turn off undo if an action like that takes place or just allow a certain number of undos per fight. Having the ability to infinitely reset the fight is not an adequate solution.

I will premise this by saying: I feel this is a game moreso geared towards those well-versed in roguelikes and/or deck builders already. It lacks an amount of prettying polish that leaves it a little rough around the edges, with boring visuals and a story so forgettable I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what it’s about other than “spaceship fights”.
That being said, the mechanics and QOL pieces in this game give a die-hard roguelike fan a great game to dig into. The concept is simple: place the numbers you draw each turn into your lasers to increase their power. Make your number bigger than your opponent’s to deal damage. There’s all sorts of different ways to get to that beautiful churning engine point that we all love in these types of games- using positioning of your guns, or even your ship; accruing treasures (relics) to augment your ship; and even upgrading your numbers to draw bigger and better ones are just a few ways to make a winning strategy. You really hit a big “a-ha” moment the first time you generate a flood of energy all in one turn.
I strongly appreciate that this game’s per-run progression is heavily altered from the typical Slay the Spire map feel that’s becoming a little too pervasive. You have to fight 4 enemies per galaxy for 3 galaxies to win a run, and it’s always in the same difficulty curve of enemies each galaxy. It has a wide enough variety of enemies and bosses though that you don’t feel like you’re facing the same ones over and over, and different enemies really force different strategies- sometimes even remapping where your guns are to optimize for a fight. In-between enemies, you have a number of vacation days to spend on various events, mixing up the traditional branching tree navigation of roguelikes.
The three ships you can use aren’t too different from one another, but there’s a ton of captains you can use, with some unique to their ship type. I haven’t used anywhere near all of them, and some seem pretty lackluster to top tier options (Dango all the way baby!), but with as many options as you have, it’s inevitable some won’t make the cut. Though it is nice to have some that are wildly different playstyles for replayability!
There’s a meta progression system, pretty standard for the genre. You unlock new captains, new units, new treasures for succeeding. As you keep winning, you unlock new difficulty levels (your ascension levels), and they really provide a challenge as you climb the ranks.
The part I really want to point out is the various QOL features in the game. As someone who doesn’t put in the effort to mod games, there are a lot of small fun things I feel you’d normally have to add in yourself. For starters, all the damage you and your enemy are going to take/deal is very clearly displayed. The UI is fairly simple, making for a nice and easy to learn experience- and an excellent Steam Deck game! There’s an in-game save scum feature that just lets you retry a fight with no penalty. As someone who admittedly has done so in many a Slay the Spire run, just offering a quick reset button if I make a stupid misplay or want to try a boss again adds to my willingness to push the difficulty in this game. There’s also an optional post-game boss rush where you fight several bosses back-to-back with no healing in between. As someone who’s often sad at the end of a particularity busted run, it’s awesome to have a little victory lap when you’ve got that beautiful 1-turn-kill ship up and running.
To summarize: overall, I think if you've sunk tons of time into Balatro, FTL, Slay the Spire, Hades, or any number of other rogues and are looking for something new, Lonestar is a great little game that’s designed for you. I don’t think it’s in my all-time greatest hits of the genre, but it’s absolutely been a great way to fill the gap while waiting on something else big and new to come out. I can see this being a pick up and put down rogue I’ll keep coming back to every now and then, and definitely recommend it for us devoted roguelike fans!

This joins the pantheon of "must-play" games for genre fans of deckbuilder roguelite/likes, right next to Slay the Spire and Balatro. However while the complexity of the mechanics and general difficulty level make it a great selection for those familiar with the genre, the same characteristics limit the game from having the same broad cross-over appeal that those two games have.
Highly recommend it. Excited to see what updates come out, but its an excellent 1.0 release in terms of content and depth.

"FTL"-like, but with a tremendously deep battle system that requires "Into the Breach" style planning of each turn. I spent minutes planning a turn to make a defeat into a victory, which is tremendously addictive.
Devs took two of my favorite games, extracted the best parts, and made a beautiful new game.
This game is worth it at full price, which is very rare praise from me.
Edited for 1.0 release: Game got even better. This dev is a model for how early access should be handled. Best game I've played this year.