Ironcast Reviews

GG

Buying this was a mistake. It's boring, and just doesn't feel all that much fun to play.

Innovative matching steam mech action with a few rough edges: Make huge matches, but no cascades. Equip and upgrade your mechanized walker in a steampunk themed scramble for resources in a soot-laden England cityscape. Looming boss encounters and subsystem targeting reminiscent of FTL offset some annoying optimization issues and perhaps too much randomness in equipment unlocks. Overall, this is a solid matching game with a vibrant setting only held back by minor performance issues and a meta game that could have benefited from a more personal touch.

Tl;dr 20 hours well spent. I enjoyed playing the game and felt satisfied by the story's ending. PROS: - A very enjoyable gameplay loop (especially if you enjoy hurling profanities at the screen because RNG has humped you yet again). - Very enjoyable if you like to figure out the systems and optimising your approach both on the strategic layer and during matches. - The setting is complemented with well-chosen music to create a great atmosphere. - The story is pretty good and I found the ending to be very satisfying. CONS: - If you hate RNG, don't bother with this game. All the rewards are random and it takes a decent amount of luck to end with a strong enough combo to defeat the game. - The third character (the second unlockable one) has a pretty worthless ability so she can only be chosen for the sake of a challenge or 100%ing the game. - due to a certain type of mission with very valuable rewards, I felt forced to choose the weapons which [spoiler] don't do splash damage to other systems. [/spoiler] - as far as I noticed, the choice of missions is the same every time, so replayability is fairly limited. - the game is not very well optimised. I kept experiencing frame rate drops after playing for a while which I could only fix by restarting the game at the next save point. My rig can run BG3 fairly smoothly so it should be able to handle a game with 2D graphics and match 3 mechanic.

I bought the game a long time ago and often find myself coming back to it. Sure, the RNG aspect can make things challenging, but there are ways to prepare for and work around it. Hint - select skills that can help you get out of situation when RNG makes you stuck, since RNG may have you killed even with best equipment. And having the best equipment isn’t essential in the beginning. However, if you manage to survive, you’ll have the opportunity to acquire it later turn or two before bosses. Careful planning is key.

One of the best "Match-Three-Plus" games out there, next to quality games like Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. There is a layer of tactical depth added by manipulating an energy-hungry mech, and another layer where you must use specific weapons and abilities at key moments to tackle other mecha and trains. Use light machine guns on unshielded opponents, heavy weapons to penetrate shields, etc. Then there is a management minigame between matches, where you need to balance your money between longtime savings, building up a workforce (which makes the next Boss Battle easier), repairing, and buying upgrades. Minor issues: I did run into some bugs, where in one battle the game got stuck in a cutscene and I had to restart my entire run. Also, the game is RNG-heavy, where your run may be doomed for no other reason than you didn't get the right Blueprints in order to purchase decent weapons, shields or upgrades. More loot variety and a New Game + would be nice as well.