This is the game that I didn't know that I needed in my life.

This is simultaneously an incredible tactics game and a great base defense game, while also being a fun roguelike. I love that characters aren't class locked, allowing me to customize my characters and try new strategies every run. I also appreciate that I feel like I have a sense of meta-progression even in the middle of runs and pretty regularly. It makes even failed runs feel worthwhile, and oh boy there will be failed runs. I'm 23 hours in and still haven't won one, but it doesn't feel as frustrating as failed runs in some other roguelikes since every run yields real progression and helps me formulate a better strategy for the next one. Playing out your "Last stands" intense, and surviving one is such a great feeling.

That said, it's not perfect. I've seen some people call it "grindy", and I do get where they're coming from. While the meta progression is enough to satiate me from run to run, it is true that you're defending the same map from the same hordes every time. There is enemy variation, but most often you won't see much of it nor will it matter much for the first few nights. Considering how often you will lose, I can understand some people finding it repetitive, even if I personally didn't.
Runs are also brutally long, which is alleviated by the meta-progression mid runs IMO, but sometimes you know a run is going to fall apart and since you don't get much in rewards for failed nights, there's not much motivation to stay in a failing run unless you enjoy playing out the last stands (Which I do).
The music is also really good, but I do wish there were more songs for the various nights as the main one does get repetitive when you hear it in every battle, which is a very large portion of the game.

All in all, if you like tactics games and/or challenging roguelikes, you owe it to yourself to check out this gem. While there are flaws, the core game play loop is so good that I find myself not noticing them until after I've put the game down, read them online and go "Huh, yeah I guess that's a fair point".

The RPG mechanics and progression systems on display here are tightly designed and enticing, it's difficult to put down once you've gotten into the groove of a given run. Between Omens, Tainted Essence upgrades, and milestones, you have a lot of numbers to drive up in the pursuit of a more powerful party. The gear based approach to skills and abilities also incentivizes flexibility and creativity in character builds, since characters are bundles of stats and perks that can be used in multiple ways, rather than being locked to a specific class and playstyle. The randomized nature of which stats you get also forces you to adapt your strategy in terms of party composition, which keeps runs fresh.

On the other hand, the "tactics" on display here are quite limited. It becomes apparent very quickly that the most important thing to optimize for is crowd control, and while there is some enemy variety here that should encourage you to make tactical decisions in terms of target priority and deployment, an optimized party tends to nuke it with the rest of the horde. As a result, a lot of battles outside of the ones near the end of a given cycle feel like formalities, with the goal being to optimize your score so you can get the rewards you need to develop your party enough for them to beat the boss and nothing more.

The other thing I don't much care for is the world they've built. There just isn't much here, and the constant Marvelesque quips from your squad as the fight against hordes of undead monstrosities undercut whatever atmosphere this nominally "dark" fantasy world could have had. I think Hades has clearly demonstrated the value in storytelling and worldbuilding in the context of Roguelites, mechanics heavy though they be.

Despite these failings on the tactical and aesthetic elements, the strategic portion of the game; building your party and haven to squeeze as many resources you can in preparation to confront the boss on the final night is enjoyable enough to make it worthwhile.

I'm done trying to have fun with The Last Spell.

I like a lot about it, but it's so crunchy.

The UI is atrocious, and the controls on every platform are a disaster because of it. There's like 4 shops and an inscrutable upgrade menu, and there's a base builder section that is so slow-to-start that I haven't even really understood enough to know what I would need to do there.

The tactics gameplay is really great. They just added so much on top of it that I don't love