Children of Zodiarcs
Children of Zodiarcs is a story-driven, tactical RPG set in the fantasy realm of Lumus; a world divided by affluence and poverty. Take control of Nahmi and her fellow outcasts, utilising a brand new deck and dice based combat system to strike a blow to the noble Lords’ and Ladies’ unquenchable thirst for profit. Professional thieves on the trail of an ancient relic, the group infiltrates the glittering halls of a corrupt noble’s private chambers in pursuit of their target, narrowly escaping the wrath of the city guards at every turn. Desperate to find an escape, they seek refuge in the city’s seamy slums and brave the sunless pits of the underworld. Out to get them are heavily armed city guards, rival gangs and psychotic families of subterranean cannibals. Abandoned by the system and used by selfish criminals, these young companions will be forced to come to terms with their own reality. But be warned – in the world of Children of Zodiarcs, no one escapes unscathed!
Game Discussion
Steam User 4
yes with some caveats. The core game is very fun but after 20 missions the game gets very repetitive. You end up facing the same 3 factions over and over again and while the maps are fun, overall the enemies just move too damn fast for any real worry about positioning..
By the end all the enemies are moving faster then you, have a wide variety of melee and ranged attacks and are stacking so many bonuses I just stopped caring about what they were doing and sped through their turns.
The combos are good, the use of dice-building and deck-building was very fun and if you play through it fast you might not even notice the repetitive nature but I liked to grind for better dice and to level up before boss fights and that is where I started to really notice how ever fight felt "the same" even when given optional objectives likes "get to X" or "survive for Y turns".
Also while the general narrative of the story is fine the writers decided to go for a "Warriors" style where everything happens in 24 hours and the issue with that is that they try to squeeze too many twists and character arcs which by the end ended up breaking the narrative. The Warriors worked because the characters individually didn't go through a story arc, but the group dynamic did. As different members were killed or arrested the group dynamic would change but basically every character individually was the same start to finish.
Instead you have characters go from "we're all one family, i'd do anything for my family" to "i'm going to murder everyone" in the span of a few hours which is a tonal shift that would make GoT Season 6 blush.
In conclusion, it's a great mechanic and a solid game that hits a sharp decline right at the end but luckily by that point it's easy enough to just power through and finish the game.
Steam User 2
This is a story about a girl seeking freedom. It does not delve into the nature of the Zodiarc weaponry. The battle mechanics is innovative and I delight in having a new concept to consider. There are pretty strong boundaries to the kind of sandboxing I usually like, though. Having the choice to listen to the story as you progress is really nice, though.
Steam User 1
the gameplay is decent ! there is plenty of RNG, but so is RNG prevalent in games like XCOM.
at least this time, you can see the dices actually roll. and you can change and craft your dices (tho i never fully understood the mechanics...)
the weakest part imo, is the writing. the dialogues between characters were cringy and uninteresting, awful at times
actual dialogue
''....'' ''....'' ''....'' ''... i farted... ''.
in short, if you like card games with an emphasis on positioning, this is a decent game. just don't expect much from the story.
Steam User 1
Really good blend of dice & cards mixed into a turn based RPG, incredibly well balanced, the enemies you fight really use alot in their wheelhouse and don't just charge stupidly at you. This game deserves way more praise and attention, would love if characters were voiced but if you like turn based RPGs this game is 100% worth your time
Steam User 0
I'll start by saying I like tactics and deck building games but if you don't I can't recommend this. Its a new take on tactics by incorporating a few different elements which makes the core gameplay feel like you have to adapt a lot which can be fun sometimes and wildy dissapointing at others. The dice play a role in how effective your actions are and the deck determines said abilities. You can edit the dice a little individually but abilities are how you build your deck and the cards involved are mostly level gated in terms of effectiveness and options. This mean some early levels are a tad bit simpler but harder because there are litterally less abilites to build with and less dice custimization to work with. You never have more than 3 people in a party at a time and the units are pre determined but that doesnt meant there aren't a lot of decisions to make during actual combat. As far as the rpg element goes it pretty linear with side missions mostly to expand on the story more than add choice to the narrative. The story begins by feeling somewhat like a generic adventure tale but takes a pretty dark turn with its themes and going thru the sidequests and the dialogue moments emphasize this. Without spoiling to much, this is a pretty tragic and dark story that is mostly on rails and straightforward. Not a bad story per say but not for everyone if you are in it for the plot. I enjoyed movements was overall kinda bummed by the story but got my enjoyment from the game. It feels like it needs a little more fleshing out, it already has a lot going on mechanically but it also is just a stage select sort of gameplay loop anyway out of combat. I kinda wish the narrative had more player agency or the non combat portion had a bit more player input but in the end the game is about the tactical expierence. If you'd like to try a novel way of playing tactics with stylish look this game can entertain you.
Steam User 0
Fun system. Wish party was more customisable
Steam User 0
its pretty cool