TAVERN GUARDIANS: BANQUET

Very addictive match three/rpg hybrid, in the likes of puzzle quest. Very different in terms of gameplay mechanisms compared to many similar (cheap in all context) clones of the forementioned hybrid. It gets tough very early and forces the player to adopt various strategies against different enemies. For example matching four or five similar gems create a random hyper one which gives more utilities or lifes etc. It requires careful planning on each level depending on the advancement of enemy minions and bosses. Player should use enhancements and the (limited) inventory often, and many "tight" decisions have to be made early on, both in terms of which equipment should be used and in which items should you carry. Money is thin and one should use it with careful planning depending on his/hers playstyle and enemy requirements. That seems to be the most solid way to victory. I played 7 hours straight cause it gets really challenging, and it didnt seem boring or repetitive, something very common in similar games. I think I will enjoy this one to the end. Totally recommended, and a welcome newcomer in a very popular genre.

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Tavern Guardians Banquet:
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Taverns are being attacked by hordes of strange creatures with magical powers all around the country. Tavern owners are in need of people with strong combat and strategy skills to repel these attacks. The only issue is that they are running low of guardians and need to find new warriors urgently. Why not become one of them in Tavern Guardians Banquet?
Tavern Guardians Banquet is a casual / Match 3 game developed and published by Wombo Combo Games Inc and is currently available on Steam as an early access.
The game has two modes of play: Story and Survival. In the story mode, you have to save 10 taverns across the map, or survive as long as you can if you decide to have a go at the survival mode. However, you must beat at least the first five levels of the story mode to have access to the challenging survival mode.
Well, let’s be very upfront here. This game is really tough from the get-go, and super addictive too!
As you start the game, you’ll be asked to choose the difficulty you’ll like to play first. I would strongly recommend starting on the normal difficulty rather than hard if I were you. From here a map will appear and you’ll be able to jump straight into your first mission if you wish to do so, or check out the wagon, bar counter, forge and inventory icons located on the right bottom corner of the screen. There, you can select your hero by clicking on the wagon. Bear in mind that one hero will be available when you start a new game and another two will be unlockable as you progress through the game. At the bar counter, you’ll be able to purchase potions and other items to help you through your next battle. At the forge, you’ll be able to craft additional and important equipment for your hero and the inventory will show you all the items you currently own. You can also equip 4 items and 4 pieces of equipment to bring along to your next battle.

The board is made of 8X8 tiles. AS the level begins, each of these tiles will have either a blue potion, meat, arrow, coin or stone icon on them. Underneath the board, you’ll also have a shield, three magical power attacks and a heart icon. As you start matching three or more of the same icon, enemies will start appearing at the top of the board. Each of these enemies will have either two or three icons displayed within their tile, which most of the time are a movement and health icon. Sometimes they might also have a shield and you’ll need to destroy their defence first before draining their health. As it is a turn base type of game play, you have to be very careful how to play your next move, especially if one or more enemies have a sword or spell icon displayed on their avatar (tile); that will indicate that they will attack on their next turn. Thankfully, you might be able to protect your hero by activating your own shield, or maybe by launching a magical attack (as long as you have gathered enough blue potion to do so). If you don’t, each of their attacks will decrease your health extremely quickly, and it could be game over in a few turns. The other way to inflict damage to the enemies is to match three of the same icons right next to their tile. It will be even better if you manage to line up four of five which will bring on more damage. Each of the stages has two waves; the first one will have around 8 enemies to kill, while the second phase will bring on a boss and more enemies too. You can regenerate your health, shield and mana by matching three or more meats, stones and blue potions respectively.
The second wave is where you probably use some of the items you have in your inventory to help you to win it, but it can take you several attempts to do so, and that is on the normal difficulty! Before starting the next level, make sure to buy new items at the bar counter or forge new equipment for your hero. That is, if you have managed to collect enough coins.

Nice graphics and sounds. The maximum resolution is 1920X1080, which is fine and can turn on and off the music if you wish to do so. The game offers good re-playability, especially with the survival mode. By the same token, I would like to see more levels for the story mode.
Positives:
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+ Nice graphics
+ Fun and challenging gameplay
+ Great bosses
+ Good re-playability especially with the survival mode
Negatives:
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- Need more levels (story)
- No Achievements or trading cards as yet
If you are looking for a fun and challenging match 3 game, then Tavern Guardians Banquet is your game!
7/10
Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!
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This is a fun and challenging Match 3 adventure! The player is a tavern guardian, and they go from tavern to tavern smiting all of the creatures there. There are gear and items to purchase. Plus, there are characters with different powers to change into.
The main board is a tile board with different objects, and each object does something different for the player. Arrows take down a monster's hit points, bricks recharge your wall points for defense, potions add to your mana points for abilities, meat recharges your health points, and gold accumulates which allows for purchasing items and gear. A chest will appear at the top, and it needs to be dropped to the bottom to collect its contents.
Oh, and monsters appear on the board. They start at the top, and they work their way down. They have a counter which indicates if their next turn is movement or attacking. If it attacking next turn, it's a sword. However, it can be a number which indicates how many turns until they attack. There is also a counter indicating their life. Now, there are multiple ways to damage monsters. Arrows damage monsters. Clearing tiles around monsters (the more, the better). Using abilities from mana points damages monsters. Dropping a monster three tiles stuns them. Depending on your gear and items used, there can be a different amount of damage done. Kill the monsters or block an attack next turn with any wall points you have.
Eventually, a Boss Monster will appear, and they are particularly nasty. Killing the monster wins the level, so the other monsters that appear aren't important ... but cannot be ignored, either. This requires even more fancy matching.
There is lots of strategy to this. Picking and choosing where and what combos to make is very important. Maximizing abilities helps. All in all, a very fun and challenging match three game.
Two thumbs up! Joe Bob says check it out...

I’m really enjoying this so far. Yes, it’s difficult, but I like a game that makes me think carefully about each move I make. No, it’s not puzzle quest (frankly, nothing else is), but I think this is a better title (at least in the early going) than reviews give it credit for. I feel bad for getting it so cheaply.
I’ve finished the story now. It’s a nice length: not super long, but doesn’t overstay it’s welcome either. The reviews that complain about grinding bosses or say it is all luck—no offense, but these people just aren’t very good at games like this. I didn’t lose any battles, but they were tricky. If you are having to do them over and over again, slow down and play more strategically.

Better than I expected. The meta-fiction is goofy (defending a bunch of taverns for a guy who wants to build a bunch of taverns, and no plot -- why not something actually heroic, with a story?), but once you get past that, the mechanics are pretty fun, with different character classes with unique abilities, offensive / defensive strategies when choosing matches to make, bosses with unique abilities, upgrades and consumables to purchase, etc. It starts easy and can get challenging fairly quickly.
The art is good; the music a bit 90's early soundcard feeling and anachronistic, but it gets the job done; you can tell the text was written by a non-native speaker but it's better than most indie titles.
It's a fairly small game. There are only 10 levels, which can be played on Normal or Hard difficulty. An endless "Survival" mode unlocks about halfway through.
It has a demo, and I recommend you give that a try. I wasn't going to purchase until I played the demo.

The game-play is straight mediocre. It's not fun, but it's not so horrible you quit playing.
It's one of those games you start, and you keep playing just to finish it.. but the game-play never really expands.
Purchase at your own discretion. MIXED is very correct for this game.

This is a really fun match3 battle game. The Items you match are resources such as mana potions, food, shields, and arrow attacks. Match 3 resources adjacent to an enemy and damage the enemy. You can choose one of three heroes with unique special abilities. Enemies have unique attacks and special abilities, each level has a unique boss. you can buy Items from the tavern bar and weapons from the forge. There is also a survival mode.