Two things I don't care about: Circuses and the late 1800's. And yet, this game is golden, at least for me.
Bear in mind that I'm terrible about resource management games -- I've never beaten Darkest Dungeon, because I'm really good at being really bad at planning ahead of time. Circus Electrique mostly eschews that, though it's not necessarily apparent at first.
You've got a number of classes, but they generally become available either during the progression of the story or when you've leveled up the Train Station (the location where you hire your new performers). Character classes are interesting enough, but since you can't rework what moves your characters have like you can in Darkest Dungeon, what you see is what you get. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, as this game tends to try and keep things simple.
And on simple, prepping items for your journey is just a matter of having the resources (earned from encounters in the wild on your map paths) and then assigning them right before a battle. Your map for each given district is a sprawling path with multiple options, with each district having more options than before. If you fight a battle, your day ends and reports happen and you get your resources right afterwards and get to go back to the circus to upgrade or unlock or create any stuffs if you're capable of it. Going back out into the wild just puts you right back where you were on the map, so you're free to explore without losing your progress. It's nice in theory, but having the days end right after a battle can get a little tiresome by endgame, because you're often just having one random non-combat encounter in between each encounter and days passing means needing to deal with circus upkeep.
Not that circus upkeep is particularly bad -- you use a certain number of resources each day, and the only dire one is food supply, which you'll inevitably extend as long as you keep fighting things and exploring. You can also trade for food, but the cost mostly isn't worth it. Beyond that, you're putting on shows for people based on whatever open acts you have available. Your characters each have attributes to contribute to the act and if you meet the necessary requirements, those characters you've thrown into the act are off-limits for a day (or 2-4, depending on where you are in the game) and will be earning you rewards by participating. There's no reason not to run an act if you have extra characters available, because it's always extra resources and potential growth of your circus to the next level for more unlocks.
The bosses are probably my favorite part of this game, though they do suffer from being mostly easy compared to some of the random mixed parties you can fight along the way to them. Some bosses are one fixed unit that takes up all four spaces, and some bosses are unique singular units that have three other hench-things in tow to occupy the usual four slots, a la your Darkest Dungeon combat.
Gripes? Although I like the aesthetic, I wish more had been done with the music -- it's pleasant enough, but you're going to be hearing the same three or four tracks over and over and over and they're not long enough to warrant how much you're exposed to them.
Also, some of the control behaviors are a little weird -- I was playing on a gamepad and moving on the map between locations requires using the right analog stick to move because the left one is dedicated to setting your party and items up on the fly. But there's nothing really stopping just using a button to tab between the two menus, so it's a little cumbersome.
Finally, you've got a lot going on with positive and negative mental states and various kinds of buffs and debuffs and although the Information button is useful, it's a bit of a hassle to move through everything and some things aren't even explained -- I spent part of a run wondering if I was dealing with a bug because my characters were blazing through combat. Turned out that I had accidentally activated x2 speed on the gamepad and never realized it because I heard a sound that blended in with the rest of the action in the game and dismissed it as such.
Finally, the story's a bit of a nothingburger. It's not necessarily bad, but it's spread out through interviews throughout each district in the game and the portioning leaves something to be desired, because it's more of just "another thing in-between combats to deal with" instead of a particularly interesting investment of attention.
I engaged in a few of the side-fights that were available and one wave-based fight, and my total time from start to completion was roughly 21 hours. Repetition of fights aside, it's probably one of the more enjoyable purchases I've made in the last few years, so I'd say it's worth it at 19.99 new. Worst case scenario, wait for a sale on your preferred platform and get it at a steal. If you like these kinds of games, you'll definitely get some mileage on it and of course, there's postgame.
Bear in mind that I'm terrible about resource management games -- I've never beaten Darkest Dungeon, because I'm really good at being really bad at planning ahead of time. Circus Electrique mostly eschews that, though it's not necessarily apparent at first.
You've got a number of classes, but they generally become available either during the progression of the story or when you've leveled up the Train Station (the location where you hire your new performers). Character classes are interesting enough, but since you can't rework what moves your characters have like you can in Darkest Dungeon, what you see is what you get. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, as this game tends to try and keep things simple.
And on simple, prepping items for your journey is just a matter of having the resources (earned from encounters in the wild on your map paths) and then assigning them right before a battle. Your map for each given district is a sprawling path with multiple options, with each district having more options than before. If you fight a battle, your day ends and reports happen and you get your resources right afterwards and get to go back to the circus to upgrade or unlock or create any stuffs if you're capable of it. Going back out into the wild just puts you right back where you were on the map, so you're free to explore without losing your progress. It's nice in theory, but having the days end right after a battle can get a little tiresome by endgame, because you're often just having one random non-combat encounter in between each encounter and days passing means needing to deal with circus upkeep.
Not that circus upkeep is particularly bad -- you use a certain number of resources each day, and the only dire one is food supply, which you'll inevitably extend as long as you keep fighting things and exploring. You can also trade for food, but the cost mostly isn't worth it. Beyond that, you're putting on shows for people based on whatever open acts you have available. Your characters each have attributes to contribute to the act and if you meet the necessary requirements, those characters you've thrown into the act are off-limits for a day (or 2-4, depending on where you are in the game) and will be earning you rewards by participating. There's no reason not to run an act if you have extra characters available, because it's always extra resources and potential growth of your circus to the next level for more unlocks.
The bosses are probably my favorite part of this game, though they do suffer from being mostly easy compared to some of the random mixed parties you can fight along the way to them. Some bosses are one fixed unit that takes up all four spaces, and some bosses are unique singular units that have three other hench-things in tow to occupy the usual four slots, a la your Darkest Dungeon combat.
Gripes? Although I like the aesthetic, I wish more had been done with the music -- it's pleasant enough, but you're going to be hearing the same three or four tracks over and over and over and they're not long enough to warrant how much you're exposed to them.
Also, some of the control behaviors are a little weird -- I was playing on a gamepad and moving on the map between locations requires using the right analog stick to move because the left one is dedicated to setting your party and items up on the fly. But there's nothing really stopping just using a button to tab between the two menus, so it's a little cumbersome.
Finally, you've got a lot going on with positive and negative mental states and various kinds of buffs and debuffs and although the Information button is useful, it's a bit of a hassle to move through everything and some things aren't even explained -- I spent part of a run wondering if I was dealing with a bug because my characters were blazing through combat. Turned out that I had accidentally activated x2 speed on the gamepad and never realized it because I heard a sound that blended in with the rest of the action in the game and dismissed it as such.
Finally, the story's a bit of a nothingburger. It's not necessarily bad, but it's spread out through interviews throughout each district in the game and the portioning leaves something to be desired, because it's more of just "another thing in-between combats to deal with" instead of a particularly interesting investment of attention.
I engaged in a few of the side-fights that were available and one wave-based fight, and my total time from start to completion was roughly 21 hours. Repetition of fights aside, it's probably one of the more enjoyable purchases I've made in the last few years, so I'd say it's worth it at 19.99 new. Worst case scenario, wait for a sale on your preferred platform and get it at a steal. If you like these kinds of games, you'll definitely get some mileage on it and of course, there's postgame.