Deep, In the Forest Reviews

I'm not sure why this game has mixed reviews, but I think it's a great deck-building game for the price (especially on sale). The music is beautiful and calming, the inventory bag setup is unique (tetris-like), and art is adorable. I appreciate the random things the enemies say. Normal mode is a bit challenging, but reminiscent of other hardcore deck-building games I've played on Steam and Android. I'd love to see a mobile version of "Deep, In the Forest"! I'm only 4 hours in, and if I need to, I'll update my review. But so far, I love it.

It's a fun little game. It's not going to have as much deck-building depth/synergy as some other games like STS. However, it has a fun atmosphere and overall concept. Well-done for a 2 dev team. I wasn't a huge fan of the danger level mechanic in general, but there is an easy mode that does make the game more manageable for those that are struggling. Recommended to grab on sale if you like this kind of game.

Game is fun, the combo mechanic is unique and interesting. Get this game on sale and you won't regret it. Things to improve upon: Balance: a lot of cards are pretty bad and the bosses are way too strong. I cleared an entire region on normal and could still not survive more than 4 turns vs the boss. Exploration: I like the exploration but it would be nice if there were more rewards or events on the map. Things like card removal, card upgrades, relics, bag upgrades, etc.

It's hard, it's a little sparse, and it's maybe not supported any more, but Deep In The Forest isn't bad. Graphically, it looks very polished. The art is lovely and has its own strong sense of style. But the game is made by a tiny team, so don't expect something as expansive as Slay The Spire. Instead, Deep is a relatively small-deck, combo-focused deckbuilding game. Mana accumulates rapidly, and you can mulch a card each turn to increase your mana gain, so the restriction on most of your turns is hand size. Beyond that, Slay The Spire is a pretty close comparison. You try to dps your enemies down before your turn ends and they damage you, and you have an inventory into which you can load passives to help you in fights. Unlike Slay, Deep has hard progression. Your deck and your level carry over from run to run, and I suspect you may need to grind them both to get past the first boss. This also means you can maybe accidentally build a garbage deck and have to reset your campaign, as combo synergy is *really* important in deep. Deep has an open map, and allows backtracks, but it tries to dissuade players from leveling up too much by causing all enemy damage values to go up the longer you take. This...doesn't interact perfectly with the leveling up system, but I guess it makes hard mode more exciting. I'll update this review if gameplay changes significantly as I continue, but as-is it's kind of a good time-kill. I don't feel the "just one more run" effect I get from Spire, and that's kind of a good thing. I can grind a bit, lose, and go back to what I was working on before I decided to take a break, rather than dumping a whole afternoon into a game. Edit: You have to grind for like an hour out of the gate, but after that the game gets pretty flexible and fun. There's room to explore a few different strategies, and later enemies have fairly complex behaviors (do X after you play two cards, do Y after you attack twice, do Z after you heal,) but you'll need to unlock some cards and gain a few levels to get to the good bits. If you get this, push past the three hour mark. It's much more rewarding than I expected. 2nd Edit: There are some weaknesses in the writing. Typos and strange grammar in a few places. They don't interfere with understanding the game mechanically (for the most part,) but the dialog after each boss is supposed to feel significant and dramatic, and the writing sometimes spoils that effect.

The game isn't terrible, but it does feel amateurish and unpolished. The balance is off, the art quality is inconsistent, and typos are everywhere. It can be somewhat entertaining, but there are far superior games out there. I purchased the game on sale for a nominal price, and while I did have some fun, it's highly unlikely that I'll ever replay it. P.S. Despite its derivative nature, the game does offer some fun and innovative features, such as the jigsaw arrangement of inventory and expendables.

I had to give this game a couple chances but now that I've figured out the systems (like converting cards to energy, building combos, and remembering to use your inventory), which aren't that clear at first, I think this game is really smart. It's rough around the edges, but worth playing

Deep, In the Forest is a card collecting rogue like in the same vein as "Slay the Spire". It uses very similar mechanics as Slay the Spire but makes enough changes that it feels different. It is rare that I feel like I can rate a game after playing it for less than an hour, but from other reviews it seems early impressions hold. There is a good concept here, with some solid ideas and a really charming art style (update: the art style changed completely sometime after I refunded... it seems pretty ugly now actyally) but the balance just feels way off. In the dozen or so battles I had in the game I had 3 I could basically not win (note these were "normal" battles not hard or anything) about 8 that I could basically not lose and only 1 where I actually had to think and make some plays. I don't have much advice on how to balance this game but it is clear to me there is some more play testing that needs to be done, as it is VERY easy to get into situations where there are no meaningful decisions (either instant win or instant lose). This game still feels early access to me (as of May 2020), and unless you are willing to just accept that you are at the mercy of RNG I cannot recommend. Note even the reviews that like this game say they look forward to more updates after what seems like not much play. Unless there are some major updates or a lot of tweaks, steer clear.

I'm really not impressed with Deep, In the Forest in its current implementation and I recommend people wait for some serious revisions before purchasing. I'm choosing not to refund because I feel like there's some promise here, and I'd like the developer to keep working on it. The core mechanics feel clunky and non-intuitive. Combos could use some better UI cues. Optional combo effects and things like discard are visually jarring and pull you out of the flow. The whole discard for energy system isn't terrible but also isn't great, and aside from one tiny tutorial screen at the beginning it's SUPER easy to miss the mechanic entirely. The inventory system is bad. I hate having some card rewards get put straight in my deck while others require me to move an item from one inventory box to another. At least give us an option to take an item reward and put it straight into our active inventory. The game balance isn't all that great. I HATE that the starting deck comes with two economy cards that are basically wounds in any challenging fights. Speaking of challenging fights, the fog of war is a terrible design choice. It makes about as much sense as putting it in Slay the Spire would. It's super easy to put yourself on a suicidal course and not even realize it until 10+ minutes later. That's not fun. I feel like a lot of the balance issues, at least for early-game, could be resolved by adding a single extra card to your base hand draw.

Not a fan of the "Danger Level" game mechanic. The more you run around and fight enemies, the more enemies gain damage Also the longer fights go, the more the danger level increases. (and increase dmg) There are lots of other ways to limit encounters (and battle length), without this mechanic. There seem to be a ton of cards that are "trash cards". Not finding the game all that fun... I should have refunded.

Genre - "deck builder, turn-based combat, roguelite." Lasted 2.5 hours. Abandoned because: Every run feels the same. The game lacks character. Progression feels non-existent. You can change your opening hand of 12 cards, one card at a time. It just simply fails. Everything that makes Slay the Spire great is missing here. And, in honesty, it's just boring. No reason to continue.