Oaken Preview: A Solid But Generic Roguelike Deckbuilder
Oaken is an upcoming deckbuilder roguelike title from developer Laki Studios and publisher Goblinz Publishing. While it has a few innovative takes on the genre, it's ultimately a game that follows the blueprint of successful past entries into the genre a little too closely, resulting in a solid but generic experience.
Oaken begins following the story of the Lady, a newly awoken spirit who has immediately been thrust into a forest full of unstable denizens who need her assistance in regaining their peaceful way of life. The narrative of Oaken follows the tried-and-true roguelike philosophy of saying very little and revealing even less, counting on a charming aesthetic and characterizations to help push players forward. Character designs are cute but often far too similar — most of the creatures look somewhat indistinguishable from each other, which can make mousing over units to check which is which a pain — and the environment is gorgeous, with appealing hues of vibrant color that feels uncommon in games this challenging.
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Oaken's gameplay features combat in a tactical grid, where placing and moving units is just as important as the deckbuilding decisions players will make as they're progressing through a given dungeon. A lacking tutorial does very little to prepare players for what's in store, and the game would vastly benefit from a more detailed explanation of some of its nuanced mechanics, especially given the presence of many of them within the first run a player will experience. It's challenging but not intuitively so — whereas some roguelikes succeed by explaining everything and having it coalesce in the player's mind as they progress through iterative
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