Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest

I won't go into describing the game much—you can see that from the videos. But I wanted to say this:
The other day, I read a sentence from one of the reviewers saying, "If you are on the fence with this one, don't be." Prior to reading that, I was, and man, after 6 hours of gameplay, I know what he meant.
1. I like turn-based games very much, but paradoxically, I don't consider myself to be very good at them. I usually just end up reloading botched missions, learning from my mistakes sooner or later.
2. I was afraid that this game would be really punishing, for all the reactions like, "Every move matters. Everything is a puzzle." etc.
3. I usually hate timed goals.
The truth is that I had to repeat missions once or twice (sometimes three or four times), and despite that, I didn't feel the game was punishing. I knew instantly what my mistakes were, when I had made some, and I could've learned from those quickly.
The more skilled and better equipped your characters get in between the missions, the more space there is for various approaches to the same battle. Don't listen to people saying negative stuff like there isn't because that'd be a bitter exaggeration. Sometimes it's very tight, sometimes you are given a free reign, sometimes it's something completely different. Also, the game's neatly paced in this regard and neither mission feels the same.
Last but not least, even though at least 1/3 of the missions were timed, I was able to finish them even with the bonus goals, not ending up feeling frustrated.
Yeah, don't be on the fence with this one.

One of the best turn-based crpg's I've played in awhile. Each move you make has consequences, and one wrong move can doom the whole battle. Everything has to be taken into account to hit all of your objectives - environment, traps, efficiency of movement, time limit, reinforcements, etc... Use traps, gates, and exploding items against your enemies before they use them on you... Reminds me of Blackguards but with a more lighthearted atmosphere. Highly recommend if you enjoy turn-based combat and putting careful thought into each move, kind of like chess.

Fantasy RPG. Not too long. Turn-based tactic and some puzzles.
Relaxing (on easy), pleasant music, sound and art. Story is good enough.
Overall quality game. Recommended.

The game is very polarizing, but a real gem if given a shot.
It's got a rough start which makes it look more unforgiving than it really is, but if you play in Normal it quickly stops being a problem due to your options broadening and letting you control the fights more. Timed missions are common, but rarely lead to major consequence- usually you can just keep fighting without headaches.

It does a great job at capturing the fairy tale atmosphere, the aesthetics are campy and great- and gameplay has an element of uncertainty and threat during fights that makes victory very satisfying. It's also really not a puzzle game at all, in fact it's ripe with different viable approaches within the limits of its cast.

The story is passable, but the writing is terrible. There really should've been someone reading the script and making sure it was tonally coherent because you can't have people whose expletives are "Bloody roots!" and "Oh, seeds of the forest" at the same time as others call someone a b*tch (it happens often).

Overall if one engages with the systems of the game it's a very rewarding experience. There are new enemies and environments with cool mechanics being introduced until the end, and while there are only 35 missions, I could see other games stretching all those unique ideas a lot more.

PS: The Incurable has the key. The reward is really worth the drawbacks.

The good
-Visual and graphics. Well made, including the animations.
-Sounds are on par with actions and the music is a memorable one.
-Combat system. It works perfectly as intended and there is potential on that.
-You can customize your characters as a runner, dps, supporter, tanker. If they are slow on movement or have more hp.
-Game is constantly on 75%+ discount.
-No bugs.
The average
-Story is cliche. Save the world, everyone thus is happy ever. Where did I heard that before?
-Writing is meh. Sometimes the characters say nonsense, and it's like they are trying a bit hard to be funny.
The bad
- It's a puzzle game with some elements on RPG. Not the opposite as it's looks. Why? Because the strategy to win is limited. There are not many options to complete a level unless you're overpowered(you can come back to levels). And the process to learn that, It's... tiring and somewhat frustrating.
-Basically almost level there are infinite enemies spawning and you feel that you're overwhelmed, either by the time limit to certain death or by the swarm. Like you're group of 3-4 and sometimes you will face 10+ and increasing enemies at the start. So it's always rush or die. I felt like the protection and healing spells are to protect someone who is going for the objetive. So, all levels felt quite the same, while being different. You need to exploit something to win and you need to do that with haste.
Ask yourself: If you're having fun at the combat, you want to be pressured all the time? It would much better if they used that as a exception, not the rule.
-Treasures/tomes at combat are mere items/charges that can used to complete the objetive at that level. No 'random cool loot' vibes from a RPG. They can't even be sold for gold. Feels bad if you don't get what you want. You can even spawn an enemy sometimes which might lead you to replaying the entire level.
TLDR: Great visual and music, but feels tiring to play and the story is not motivating you to push further. Be prepared to replay levels at least once. 6/10

Pros
A most unique RPG Strategy Roguelite puzzle game.
Ton of scenarios,
Fun little story and quest line,
beautiful world map and
interesting battle maps.
Over all great game.
Cons
If this your first go at a strategy rpg, this one maybe a bit much. But I'm sure there are walkthru's for the more determined. (I'm guessing it shouldn't be a problem on easy difficulty for the casual gamer)
The Character portraits kinda feel like they don't match the rest of the games visuals, if that make any sense.

Feels more like a puzzle game than tactics RPG, but still has depth and complexity. The story is basic and simple, the graphics you can see on the store pictures, the soundtrack is pretty solid.
Overall it's fun and really charming, would recommend and buy a second game if it existed.