Shogun Showdown

This is a turn-based "strategy" (it's really mostly tactics) game in which you play one of several characters along the lines of ninja/samurai/judo master, etc. Each character has different starting tiles (tiles are essentially cards and each does a move, attack, or both), different ability, and a in one instance a different movement style.
Every time you skip a turn, load a tile into your queue (3 tiles max), or play the tiles in your queue, it ends your turn. The enemies have the same constraints also.
It's a very simple yet elegant and well-designed game. I've had a LOT of fun playing it, and although the metagame roguelight elements are not that strong, the replayability is high, there are plenty of things to unlock for a while, and the difficulty of the ramping game days (each day is like a difficulty level you choose before a game begins) is quite well balanced.
The average run lasts perhaps 30-45 minutes unless you make one mistake too many and then of course it's shorter. The music and art are both great, fit the style of game, and are pleasing to the eye/ear. The sound effects are also great and suited to what's happening on-screen.
The way the turns work is really quite strange at first, but once you get used to it (in about 5 minutes or so most likely) it becomes clear that planning when you load versus use tiles or move vs attack, etc becomes the focal point of both the fun and challenge in this game. If you have two attacks that total 3 damage, it'll take you 2 turns just to load those tiles, which may be too slow to kill an enemy with 3 health. Luckily, there are plenty of solutions to that kind of situation beyond the obvious solution of a single attack that deals 3 or more damage. Depending on your character you can push, throw, or move past enemies, and there are also tiles that allow for these same types of movements as well.
There are upgrade shops and you draft new tiles like you'd expect from a roguelight card game, but one cool thing different than most games in this genre is that each tile has a number of pips you can use to add upgrades, and once you run out, you either have to add another pip or you can't upgrade it further. This adds another fun element to the game of having to make tough choices of which attacks to make stronger or faster, add pips for further upgrades, or to enchant with special abilities.
I've got over 100 hours into the game so far, and I think that's above average for this game in its current state, but I think anyone who enjoys this game will get at least 40 hours out of it currently, and there seems to be an endless amount of significant content coming out fairly regularly from the devs, so I'm sure that number will go up soon and probably at least 1-2 more times this year if the current speed of updates continues into the future.
I'd say this game is a great value proposition because it's really fun (most important), reasonably-priced, and you get a lot of playtime per $ spent. I play a lot of games and enjoy some and don't enjoy others, but it's rare that I actually take the time to pay attention to the studio behind the game. I've enjoyed this game to the point where I'm very interested in anything developed in the future from the same team because they've done such an exceptional job of balancing the various pitfalls a game like this could fall into. It's fun, it's a bit addictive, runs are a great length, it sounds and looks good, and has plenty of replay value. I had a few minor gripes initially but they've all been addressed by early updates not too long after initial release so I can say with confidence that it's a game very much worth checking out if this type of game in interesting to you. I love it and hope that some other game developers make knockoffs of it like what happened with vampire survivors recently or Slay the Spire a few years ago. This style of game needs to flourish, there's something really neat here, design-wise.

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

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 Rogue-like hasn’t grabbed me this hard since Into The Breach!!
Every element of this game has captured me. The art, the music, the way the levels parallax in, the way the silly little bird looks around on the signpost!!
This game feels like the developers made a game they would love and be excited to show the world
I am already over 10 hours in, and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon!
Play this game!!!

+ 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.

If Slay the Spire and Into the Breach had a child on a 2D plane, it would be this game. Even though at first people may think Darkest Dungeon, it's far from it. Like StS, you can see your opponents actions and react with tiles. Unlike StS, your hand is always the same as you build your "deck", which are called tiles in this game, although every action has cooldowns.

Where it becomes a little bit like Into the Breach (And that may be a bad example since the way the turn goes, its 1 action for you, 1 action for the enemy) is that where you move actually matters.

I appreciate the variety of the characters available (So far, 4) which each have their own playstyle.

I also appreciate that skill is far more of a factor than luck when playing this game. Sure, some games you draft tiles that just work very cohesively where you're just obliterating the game.

The difficulty balance I think is just right, although I've just unlocked Day 2 (the 2nd tier) with all the characters just now. Each complete run is about 30-45 min but it's addicting.

What impresses me most is that this is in EA. I paid $10 for it and it's been worth it so far. I'm hoping the dev adds more characters and playstyles, more tiles, etc etc. More content really. The core of the game is more or less completely playable. Some minor bugs that I encountered but nothing gamebreaking.

There could be some better balance on tiles as some of them just have a too long natural cooldown to be effective. And some get ridiculously overpowered once you stack the right buffs.

Shogun Showdown is truly a breath of fresh air and a shining gem in the rogue-like line of games that have come out in recent years. As someone who has poured many hours into most other games of this kind (from Nuclear Throne, FTL, Binding of Isaac, Gungeon, Slay the Spire, Spelunky and many others), Shogun Showdown still manages to stand on its own through beautifully crafted and thoroughly considered simplicity. Simplicity that nevertheless manages to offer you a myriad of strategic opportunities for you to exploit and fully utilize to your advantage to win.
One aspect I feel most other games of this type eventually fall into and become a sore and thoroughly unenjoyable part of the game for me, is their RNG based mechanics. You'd play run after run where the game either gives you the most mediocre of items for hours on end, making the experience either tedious due to the items' lack of synergy or utility. Or you get every rare and broken item in the game in a row and sleep through to the finish because the game lost all semblance of challenge. Or you may get items you're sure would win you the game, but the game decides to present you a random enemy or boss, or multiple of them in a row, that directly counters your entire build and you just die in the end. Of course, that's a matter of skill about whether or not you'll score a victory, but fact is, in the end, I dont feel like I had earned that victory or loss one way or the other.
Shogun Showdown manages to surprise in this aspect. Instead of going the usual route of adding uncountable amounts of items to the game to increase variety and then retroactively balance them so that they don't become either game-winning or nigh useless, it instead goes the minimalist route. The game offers a whole variety of weapons for you to choose and make each run distinct with, as well as a variety of characters to start each run with. Each that plays incredibly distinctly from each other and with their strengths and weaknesses to consider. Yet the maps and enemies remain consistently predictable. Each stage is pre-defined, their tiles as well. But, you may still pick which way to go on the map screen when a path branches out, each path offering distinct benefits for you to pick from. Even the seemingly most useless weapon you may pick up, you can still manage to find a way to make it wreck havoc through upgrades and enchantments. Sure, the shuriken may only do one damage at the start, but if you add the Curse effect to it, making the enemy take double damage on next hit once you hit them with it, and since it's ranged, it opens up a lot of opportunities for the rest of your loadout all of a sudden. The whole arsenal has this potential and that's truly refreshing and a playground to experiement with.
With the later difficulties, each of the decisions you make play incredibly very significant roles that must be considered in full for you to even get near a victory. Carelessness isn't easily forgiven and each single action you take is something you really have to mull over before committing to, lest you get punished and straight up die as a result.
Positioning and forward-thinking and planning are here of bigger importance than the individual weapons you pick up. That in itself negates a lot of the experience I grew irritated with other games of this kind, like I mentioned. No run feels like I had done everything right and still lost, or done everything wrong and still managed to eek out a victory. And that's truly refreshing. With the aforementioned thought that's necessary to have given before committing to each individual action you do, makes this a pleasure to play.
On the design side of things, the game looks and feels truly wonderful, evident in the screenshots. The music is atmospheric and calm to keep you fully engaged, with some tracks being absolutely catchy bangers that had me bobbing my head while I played every time they came on (Theatre of Illusions and Spirit Gateway being notable mentions) The controls are tight, and the animations bouncy and full of life and character. Colour palette is also well considered so that each character stands out and everything's clear.
I thoroughly recommend Shogun Showdown to anyone even mildly interested in this genre and most others, really. It's more than well worth the money.