Sol-Hel Reviews

TL;DR: The game is a lot of raw fun and had me hooked throughout its playtime, although it does lack a bit in polish. I noticed this game while looking for something else and clicking on it out of curiosity. When i noticed it was an srpg, as a (self-proclaimed) fire emblem veteran, I figured I'd give it a try, and I'm glad I did. The story is serviceable, but nothing special (although it did catch me off guard a few times); the art is minecraft for some reason and the music and sfx are fine but nothing particularly amazing. Those things don't matter too much, however: the gameplay is where a game should deliver, and boy does it deliver. The gameplay is simple, but effective. You get 4 units, each with 3 skills and a different weapon. Every unit has 3 action points; using a skill costs two, and you get one back every turn. After every level you get one skill point, which can be used to upgrade one skill of any of your units. Additionally, the weapon's counter each-other in a triangular fashion. You learn these mechanics in the first level, and that's what you get. There's no stat-ups, no map gimmicks, just 4 units and a horde of enemies, and that simplicity serves the game fantastically; what you see is what you get, and that is exactly how a pure strategy game should be. The gameplay loop itself is incredibly addicting. Levels are small, enemies (and allies) die fast and have little movement, and actions are quick, decisive and responsive. You start a level and before you realise it, you're already about to start another level. Combined with the simplicity of the mechanics, the whole thing experience feels smooth and clean. But don't let the mechanical simplicity distract you - there's plenty of strategy to be had in how you use your skills and where you put which units. On that note, in line with the author's request for constructive criticism, I do have a few things to note, mainly on the topic of balancing. Attack orders are rarely useful. While I like the idea, considering enemies die very quickly it's very uncommon for there to be an occasion where your units are standing next to enemies that are alive and should be attacked again. Additionally, the bonus counterattacks don't feel great, as you generally don't want to get hit in the first place, seeing as enemies also deal large amounts of damage and you cannot heal. In comparison, reposition orders allow you to cover large swaths of distances and do hit and runs with skills, while rest orders are basically a free atk & def buff for the whole team, as well as allowing constantly spamming skills. My suggestion would be to replace the additional counterattack upgrade with either refunding one tile of movement to your units (making it much easier to set your team up to utilise the second attack) or with your units counterattacking before the enemy to give it some niche utility for setting up defensive walls. Disarm is completely outclassed by Charge. With 2 skill points, Charge has the same aoe while stunning, instead of just stopping attacks. Not sure what can be done about this without nerfing Charge, which is in a fine place as far as I'm concerned. Maybe add some other form of utility to disarm? The spearman is severely underpowered compared to the other classes. The additional range is nice, but not enough to make up for his skills not being nearly as strong as the other classes (mainly due to not having the same potential for crowd control) as well as having a lower defense stat. Hammer and Sword can go off on their own, as they both have an aoe stun to control enemies, as well as ways to survive engagements - Sword has lots of mobility, while Hammer buffs himself enough to shrug off a few hits here and there. In comparison, Spear dies in a few hits (even in the neutral Spear vs Spear match-up), has a cc that doesn't stop enemies from attacking in their turn (meaning you HAVE to be at two range of the enemy, making your ranged utility much less useful, as well as basically disallowing you to use cc if they have spearman in the stacks, as they can simply attack back) OR when you're using the skill (meaning you cant use it on spearman, or in melee range, as they will attack back and kill you). Overwatch is also rarely useful, as you can only hit one enemy with it (whereas using pierce or snare lets you hit potentially 3/5 enemies) and has to be used with utmost care, as the spearman will die very quickly if people can get a hit out on him. He can place acid on people which is strong in theory, but in practice its much easier to simply kill someone in one turn with Hammer than to stall people out and let them die to acid. My suggestion would be: Replace the stillness upgrade for Overwatch with "allows spearman to counterattack first." This will give the spearman some very good utility in sniping out enemy spearman, by letting yours overwatch on the peak of their range and killing them with the two hits you can get off before they get their attack on you. This is super useful, as it's often hard to take out enemy spearman before they get their hits out on you. Replace +1 duration on Snare with "Enemies do not counterattack on initial use," or simply make it part of the base skill. Make acid steal health from affected enemies. This gives the spearman a niche no other character has, as health is a sparse resource in Sol-Hel. Additionally, it makes the spearman a game of tactically balancing the damage you take with the health you get back from stacking acid on people with your various skills, as well as making it more possible to set him up behind a tank in a chokepoint, as you won't get slowly whittled down by the cleave of enemy Hammers. Give player characters a distinct health bar colour, as it can be hard to tell where your characters are at a glance. Make selecting an enemy and attacking an enemy use different buttons. I had to reset a few levels because I was trying to check enemy movement ranges, contrasting them with an ally I had next to the enemy, but then accidentally attacked instead of selecting the enemy, as I had an ally directly next to them selected. Levels go fast, so it isn't a big issue, but it can still be very annoying.

I have enjoyed this game so far. Audio issues in other review have been fixed. Visually conveys the game information well and has a consistent style which looks fine. The battles really do require you to use your troops and abilities carefully, providing an enjoyable challenge level that is fair.

The dev obviously put a lot of work into this and reading his blurb in the description, I gotta say, I am rooting for you, man. I like the strategy, the voxel art style, even some of the dialogue but the audio for this game is really bad. The same song loops infinitely. It is your stock-standard "Medieval Tavern" track and it plays during battles, during cut scenes, everything. It gives the whole game this overwhelming sense of bleh. With some solid sound fixing, this could be an excellent game. Wait for a discount. https://youtu.be/cBkvxl5ROts