Shogun Showdown Review

There are a few things I could open with about Shogun Showdown, but first, I really want to point out the depth within its basic gameplay. At its core, it’s simple, with a small amount of basic systems which interweave into a far more complex and engaging whole. This is one of the most important aspects of a roguelike, and Shogun Showdown manages this incredibly.

The basic gameplay loop is simple: reminiscent of Into the Breach but in 2D, the player is faced with waves of opponents. The combat is turn-based, and as the protagonist moves, queues up attacks or activates said attacks, a turn passes, allowing the opponents to take the same actions. The player has access to different attack “tiles” which have a variety of effects, from basic melee and ranged attacks to far more interesting abilities, such as the Shadow Dash, giving you the option to dash through the closest enemy to the space behind them. This combination of attacks and movement abilities allows you to queue up a variety of moves, which makes up much of the game's depth. Enemies, however, have access to many of the same abilities as you. The more complex ones won’t be seen until later battles, though this does mean that enemies are very deadly. Thanks to that, this game is immensely difficult — or I'm terrible, but for my ego, I'll assume it's the former, not the latter — and you can’t rush, or you’ll end up making minor mistakes, which can cost you entire runs. Most of the difficulty does feel fair, but there are occasions where I felt simply unable to cope with a situation based on my kit at the time rather than as a consequence of my own mistakes. Multiple ranged enemies spawning at a distance while only having one ranged attack myself made for some seemingly unavoidable damage.

As you progress through runs, you’ll come across shops, often allowing you to upgrade your tiles. There’s a nice variety in these, from increasing damage and reducing cooldowns to some much more powerful effects, such as massively reducing the cooldown if you kill an enemy with the perfect amount of damage. Tiles have limited upgrade slots, however, so you need to be mindful of what you choose to enhance and when. You’re also able to purchase consumables, which have single-use effects within combat, such as healing or instantly reducing the cooldowns of your tiles. There are also skills, which provide passive benefits, that can take certain builds and abilities to an even greater level of power. It’s a well-balanced system, and upgrades provide fantastic choices and allow for a lot of player agency. With the right upgrades every ability (even the bad ones) can have a purpose, and make for incredibly strong and satisfying synergies (if I was smart enough to figure them out, that is).

As for meta-progression, it keeps the same simplicity as the rest of the game but still works to deepen parts of the game. Defeating bosses rewards you with skulls, which can then be spent on upgrading the shops, increasing the amount of items they offer, or unlocking new tiles and skills in between runs. Beyond this, you also unlock new characters upon completing certain tasks. Each character has a unique ability, along with a starting set of tiles. Beating the game for the first time earns the character a Stamp, which works towards unlocking new starting loadouts and it also unlocks Day 2. This works like the Ascension system from Slay the Spire, an incremental difficulty increase adding new enemies, bosses, and modifiers to increase the difficulty while also having further unlocks for progressing. As you beat Day 2, you’ll unlock Day 3, and it keeps going until Day 7.

The story is pretty bare-bones but isn’t the forefront of Shogun Showdown, so it’s not something I’m particularly upset about. Despite this, the presentation at large is utterly fantastic. All the character and enemy sprites are super charming and well-made, backgrounds are an utter delight to look at, and the music matches the tone of the game well.

For fans of roguelikes and strategy games, Shogun Showdown is an experience you shouldn’t miss out on. With a complex but satisfying gameplay system, a wealth of progression and an incredibly charming style, this is a roguelike which stands with the best.