Epic Manager Preview

Epic Manager is a roguelike with D&D 4X (eXpand, eXplore, eXploit and eXterminate) elements that implements an FTL vibe that creates what could be a potentially interesting game, as long as the RNG doesn’t ruin you in the first couple of turns.

The game will randomly generate the map and heroes, meaning you could have a great starting hero or a start where certain tiles are better than others depending on the build you want. Whilst some games will throw full on random generation to practically everything, the game’s use of consistency makes the RNG not instantly ruin your chances of winning the game. An example is the starting area, you will (from the numerous restarts of the game I’ve done) have a castle tile that will be within two to three tiles away. This is great as the game allows you get yourself situated, giving you time to plan on whether you want to start questing or rerolling in order to get better heroes to contract.

Its things like this that excite me, I just wished I survived long enough to reach rank 3.

Attributes/bias of the heroes for the most part are tiny boosts with some being major hindrances, which the RNG element ruin where someone has a fear of goblins and is great at killing them balances the perks into neutral. Moments like this don’t make sense, so the game could make improvements there, but it isn’t really game breaking. You have 16 different classes of heroes, with each one having two variants as their starting special moves (I couldn’t progress far enough without losing before reaching level 6 to even unlock their next abilities to find out if there are more variations). The variations are nice, but the ability to pull a mulligan would be nice when deciding on your first hero since some classes are able to stand their ground better than others.

Honestly the art style isn’t for me, it’s cartoonish and round shapes remind me of a game found on Miniclip and 1Cup1Coffee which I would play during my breaks and lunches during secondary school. Which isn’t a disservice to the quality of the gameplay, but the lack of polish in the overall game makes it hard to recommend the game with a price tag. Part of the issue is the delay between each action such as hitting a button, waiting for the animation to finish and then I can click on the next button. Also, the lack of full keyboard control feels off considering I can hit the number keys for certain attacks but not use WASD or arrow keys to select the target for an action. Rebindable keys would be a nice quality of life addon as would the ability to skip certain animation cycles that last slightly too long for my liking.

Like this hero, its charming but "rude" with issues which quickly leave me with mixed opinions.

But it’s really the core gameplay loop that’s really the gem in the rough for me. The writing feels tacked on which could do with some work if the ManaVoid Entertainment wants to develop its lore, such as mini story elements relating to the world of Astraeus which could involve relics of the war that happens before the game or even a new war looming over the horizon and if you’re chummy with another guild you team up to face the villain. The combat mechanics are really interesting in terms of team synergy where you’re able to store up Action Points which can be spent using items, attacking the enemy with your regular and special moves which have varying costs. The leveling up system of the heroes help accentuate this idea of synergy, but pulling off some of these synergies can be really difficult, making sweeping certain enemies feel even better (or frustrations). But once they die or the contract expires and you don’t give them the money they want they’re gone for good, which is a love hate thing for me and since it take so much time to get a great hero and they die instantly after pouring resources into them it does leave a sour taste.

Verdict

The random elements helps give the game some life which it lacks with the map being sparse without enemies randomly wandering the world map, and overall I look forward to seeing how the game progresses. But in its current state with its lack of polish and the pacing feeling sluggish because of the transition time between each action, I can’t really recommend it in its Early Access state.