Dicefolk Review - Just One More Turn

Ever tried playing Yahtzee or Poker by yourself? You know when you draw cards or throw dice for both yourself and the opponent? Back in the day, when entertainment was you and a deck of cards, this was not an uncommon occurrence. I remember I always cheated when playing as the opponent. The problem with this is that the game loses most of its suspense, and therefore fun, when played like this.

Dicefolk takes this problem and turns it into the core game mechanic. Let me tell you up front that it does this successfully.

Evil Sorcerers and Saving the World

Through a beautifully hand drawn intro you find out that you are a member of the special tribe of people, Dicefolk, that can command creatures called chimeras. This also puts you in the position to be the only one that can stop the mad sorcerer Salem that is trying to eradicate humanity.

Dicefolk is a roguelite tactical game where you have two teams of up to three chimeras fighting each other. Both teams have three dice that hold various actions that the leader of each team can perform. The unique thing about Dicefolk is that you choose which actions and in what order they are performed for both teams, your own and the one you’re fighting. You’re basically dealt a battlefield with chimeras that all have unique abilities and then control the flow of the battle.

Attack Yourself

Your typical turn consists of you choosing the attack action from one of your dice to attack with your leader. You will then use the rotate action to put a tank chimera into the leader position. Now control the opponent’s team and attack your tank with their actions. There are no computer-controlled enemies. You control both sides. Once all dice actions are spent you start a new turn.

Tactical depth comes from facing dozens of different chimeras with each having unique abilities that trigger on spawn or on rotation or during any of the other dice actions. Further complexity is introduced as you can get new dice from the shops and can apply new actions to dice faces. You can further improve your chimeras by equipping them with artifacts that will provide them with stat boosts or new abilities. The final thing you’ll have to decide about is which chimeras you’ll recruit to your team. During the course of a single game you’ll be able to recruit up to four new chimeras and choosing the right synergies within the team and artifacts you have is crucial for victory.

Not to Be Confused With Salem’s Lot

The game is won by reaching Salem’s door with each of the four chimera tribes – warrior, storm, wrath, and pain. Once you win with each of these, you’ll get an extra stage where you fight Salem himself and unlock the chaos tribe. If you’re victorious, you’ll unlock Trial mode where you get additional modifiers to the game that make it more challenging. Motivation for continuing to play is trying to unlock all chimeras for each tribe and attempting to conquer all Trials challenges, which is no easy task.

I planned to play just a few hours the first time I started the game. It turned into a six-hour marathon session where I didn’t stop until I faced Salem for the first time. Simple to understand mechanics had me hooked and I had to finish ‘just one more turn’ to see where things were heading. I was very satisfied figuring out that rotating chimeras in the team can be an effective attack strategy or that getting the perfect combo of activation-based items can be a game changer.

No Surprises

I was also a little disappointed that defeating Salem came so quickly. Although there’s loads of complexity in the game I felt it was so very well streamlined and pretty well balanced that it wasn’t too difficult. Controlling both sides eliminates a lot of RNG. If you carefully keep track of chimera abilities on both sides and which chimera dishes out and receives damage, things play smooth.

The first time I started losing was somewhere around Trials level 3. This means that the initial game ending can be reached in 5 to 10 hours, and I can’t imagine that unlocking everything will take more than 40 hours.

Also, although the game is marketed and mentioned as having a monster catching mechanic this has no similarity to the likes of Pokémon. In the course of the game you’ll recruit, through shrines or via a shop, three new chimeras and that is all. There is no catching involved.

It is also worth mentioning that the graphics in the game are mostly hand drawn and that they look OK. There are no stylistic surprises or anything special to write home about except the very short hand drawn animations when you start and win the game. In any case, if you’re playing these types of games for the graphics, you’re doing it wrong.

The X-Factor

Roguelite tactical games are dime a dozen. Among them a few stood out with their original concept. Monster Train, Slay the Spire, Inscryption and Griftlands all introduced something new and became fan favorites. Dicefolk, with its simple premise and making the fighting yourself the central mechanic does offer something new. Still, I felt it hard to shake the feeling that it was very similar to Slay the Spire. This is probably caused by the similarities in the way you reach the end boss more than anything else. It was also a tad bit short because I remember spending hundreds of hours in Monster Train and Slay the Spire.

Dicefolk offers quick and easy fun that eliminates a lot of RNG and gives the player more control. It will last you for dozens of hours and fans of the genre will have something satisfying to sink their teeth into. I found it a bit easy, but I did get into the “please one more turn mom” mode, which is all one can ask for.