Shogun Showdown

I've owned this game for 2 days. My wife keeps telling me to do something else. She just doesn't understand...

I must defeat the Shogun.

This game makes you feel like a genius.
Pulling off a combo where you swap places with an enemy so they hit their own teammate, then follow up by backstabbing another one... you just think, "Damn, I'm so clever."
But the truth is, that's exactly how the game is designed. The devs are literally encouraging you to play this way. Still, it feels like you've just broken the system—in the best possible way.

Alright, so I put over 110 hours into this game and finally beat day 7 with a single character.
The runs are always fun and different.
The weapons and skills ALL work.
But when you get to the later days, it simply becomes a game of RNG. If you don't get the right options there's spots where there's no way to win. It's just that simple.
Because of the RNG of the runs, I don't intend to pursue day 7 with anymore characters.
All in all I highly recommend this game, but it's not perfect.
8.3/10

This game is perfect. One of my all time faves at this point.

Hoping for a sequel or DLC.

DLC idea for dev (If you happen to read this): Movie mode -> after the end of the run compile every fight but have it move in real time for some real martial arts action

+ Exceedingly addictive
+ Highly strategic
+ Easy to learn, hard to master
+ One miscalculated move will be always your fault
+ Great choice for short gaming bursts
+ Progression tree is impeccable
In a way, I curse these bloody games that steal every inch of my life. I already had Balatro, now this.
One of 2024 best games, period.
EDIT: Mandatory edit for the Steam Awards 2024.

It's as if Fights in Tight Spaces and Katana Zero had a child. Positioning is key, mistakes are severely punished, the gameplay is rhythmic and elegant. Move, turn, wait, queue your cooldown-based skills in a fast-paced tactical frenzy. The graphics, while plain, convey the setting and possess the oomph. A well-timed twitch and a swoosh effect coupled with a little bit of screenshake make a mace to the face feel as it should. The UI is really helpful by showing you enemy intents so you could strategize around them to your heart's content. Alas, it only thinks one step ahead, you need to be better than that. This game is deeper than it looks, challenging without relying on randomness. As a way to mitigate the hardships, it provides profound skill modification options that feel truly impactful. This is easily Shogun Showdown's crown feature, which makes it stand out big time.
Every skill has a number of upgrade slots you can utilize after every other fight or at the shops, and you can occasionally raise the cap. The system allows you to create overpowered monstrosities out of anything by adding damage, enchants like poison and double-hit, or lowering cooldowns in a mostly unrestrained manner. That creative freedom puts Shogun Showdown in the no-run-feels-the-same category. Given how short and eventful those runs are, you'll keep coming back for one more over and over again. If I had to name a flaw, that would be a rather stingy meta-progression. The unlocks really make a difference, though. Overall, this game deserves its rating. It's tight, snappy, and thought-out mechanically. A steal for the money. I feel like I barely scratched the surface by killing the Shogun a couple of times. I yet have so much stuff to get done, but I can already tell I'm having a blast.
P.S. Them archers, am I right? Anyway, Day 6 is as far as I can go. It gets monstrously difficult by the end. But hey, time enjoyed isn't time wasted.
My curator Big Bad Mutuh

A turn based strategy action game. Like Into the Breach, it's got pixel art and you know exactly what the enemies are going to do on their turn. This means that every death feels completely fair, and each turn feels like a mini strategy puzzle. But unlike Into the Breach, you control one character with a selection of moves with cooldown and move left to right as enemies spawn in. Each time you move or add an action to your queue, your turn moves forwards. Each "turn" is a single button press, so it moves very fluidly, no menus or confirmation buttons here. Just left, right, turn around, wait, and add and activate actions. It's presented very simply but slowly reveals more depth as you encounter more enemies and unlock more moves and characters.
This game has been a godsend for rocking my newborn to sleep. 1. You can play it with only the mouse while holding a baby in your other hand. 2. No need to pause, if you don't press any buttons the enemies don't move. 10/10 new parent game