Hero Generations: ReGen Reviews

There are a few quirks but overall this is a fantastic game. They sent me ReGen for free since I own the original, which was nice of the developers. The new version works a lot better but didn't change anything important. A very frustrating but enjoyable game, as each character has a limited "lifespan" and you MUST mate before their time runs out or you lose the game (and all your progress). Plus it essentially has a timer to erase anything you leave behind, given enough time. I would call it rogue-like.

A cute little, simplistic 4X game. I really like the risk/reward system where each space you move consumes a year of your hero's life. The older your hero is, the fewer trait cards can be inherited by the next generation; if you push your hero too far, he/she will die of old age, and it's game over. You can build up towns, receiving bonuses for building all of one type. Building types will also influence the kind of traits mates will have in a given town--and of course, you're looking for the best traits to pass down. The idea being you will improve each generation, which culminates in an hero who will have the best chances of defeating the big baddie, who appears after 15 generations. Are there things that could be improved? Of course. I would love a sandbox mode where I could just explore all the different traits (and there's a lot), without having to worry about the big baddie. I also hate the random robot invasion; at first I thought it was cool, but after wasting a really good hero fighting back the robots, they continued spawning. Robot invasion seems to be poorly balanced, and perhaps should be in a mode all in itself. If you're wondering about the negative reviews, it's because this game had a previous version built in Flash--which you will note, is a very limiting game engine. People who bought the previous version wanted this version (built with Unity) for free, thinking this was an upgrade and not a complete rebuilding of the game. Those who purchased the previous version did receive a coupon with a steep discount, but obviously that wasn't good enough. Granted, the devs did make a mistake by using Flash engine first, but I'm sure it was a mistake that has already cost them a lot. They certainly don't deserve all the hate they've received.

In my opinion this is a sequel to the original hero generations. Allot more going on, much more fun. The upgrade is definitely worth $5 with the coupon (if you own the first game). and the game itself is worth $15 for sure. i definitely recommend it. i can tell they added allot after just 3 hours of game play and im sure there is more to come.

It is mind breaking how such a good idea with strong potential, could have been implemented so badly. From fight chances to world map layout, the RNG will mess you up at every turn. And the rest of the game is tedious and grindy. I hoped ReGen does at least something right, but no, it's the core mechanics and most of the design that are broken.

This game is an odd bird to be sure. Beyond simply being a clever Roguelite/Empire Builder/Puzzler, this game's central mechanic, living out several generations of the same dynasty line, means often right when you've finally got a winning hero kicking butt, you'll find yourself suddenly needing to make a mad dash to the nearest town to produce an heir, which means scrapping whatever quests you might have been in the middle of to restart with a new hero that might have complete crap stats and in no way can take up daddy/mommy's footsteps. That being said, there is something oddly compelling that will keep you coming back for more punishment, I promise.

This is Hero Generations reworked. (Received 57% off coupon. Playing on a Mac.) The game is responsive and looks great. Graphics feel improved. Help is more readily available. The tutorial really leads you into a full fledged game and works out the mechanics well. Play is entirely mouse driven. Click and right click. Click the destination and you go. Click attack and it's done. (Attack has no strategy and is RNG based and based on attack strength. Quick though.) There's a technology tree though it's a simple one. Cities have their own upgrade paths as well. It's based on quantity and types of buildings. This game was clearly worth the approximately $6 I paid. The game auto saves after each move. It allows you to quit after any more with no risk. There's not undo or rewind though back to a save. It's just so you can quickly jump in/out. Good lunch time game or anytime you just have a few minutes to play. I'll warn you though, it's tough not to take one more move.

This game has a really interesting concept and it's executed enough to be a fully finished game, albeit a rather shallow one. The roguelike elements in combination with the non-strategic combat that is literally determined by the RNG makes interacting boring, and the town development aspect is limited to putting in tiles that produce a direct, numbers-based bonus. Nothing about this game really transcends the feeling that I'm moving different numbers around. Behind the admittedly cute art is something that has all the appeal of setting up a database in Microsoft Access.

This is an interesting and enjoyable rougelike game that features town building, RNG based combat, and map exploration to provide a good strategic jog of the brain, but once the initial experience is over, everything starts to seem repetitive and lacking in true depth. Your first couple of playthroughs will probably seem frustrating, but you'll slowly figure out what you need to do. Once you achieve your basic objectives like killing each area's bosses, the only real goal is to see how you can get the most fame in one generation (max. 150 turns). This is generally accomplished by spending a few generations farming gold and slowly using that gold to build the exact buildings and cities you want (probably want a training center area with tons of barracks so you can walk around and become Godly in a minmal amount of turns), connecting the 6 sub-areas with train stations so you don't waste turns on moving aruond the board, securing the two pieces of equipment you want, waiting until you have a hero that is born with an ideal set of bonus cards/perks (e.g., golden child and vampire), and finally taking that character around and clearing as many quest objectives in one sweep as you can and hoping that you don't roll 1s in combat. It's not a horrible game, just not one I'm likely play again after I log 10 hours and uninstall it.

Do NOT buy this crap. Do NOT spend your money to support this unethical and incapable developer who uses shady and illegal business practices to fool players into buying another trash infested with bugs. Let me tell you all the fishy and irresponsible practices from this despicable developer called Heart Shaped Games: 1. In April 2015, Heart Shaped Games released a crappy game called Hero Generations which was infested with game-breaking bugs and shallow gameplay mechanics. The result? Tons of negative reviews from players on Steam (about 40% of all reviews are NEGATIVE). Any responsible developer should release free updates to fix the bugs and to improve the gameplay mechanics, correct? Unfortunately, this shameless developer Heart Shaped Games chose to ABANDON the old game and now releases a more polished version with a PRICE TAG. In other words, every player of the old game was ripped off by buying an unfinished and buggy product that will never be improved by the developer. If they want to play the polished version that should be provided FOR FREE, they have to pay money AGAIN. Do NOT give your money to this greedy and irresponsible developer who released a broken game in 2015 and who is now trying to grab more cash with an updated version that should be available for free to the existing players. 2. False marketing: If you watch the trailers of this updated version, you should notice that 2 favorable review comments are showcased. One was made by Jon Shafer (lead designer of Civ 5) and the other was from Adam Smith of Rock, Paper and Shotgun. However, these 2 comments were actually made for the *OLD* version of Hero Generations (i.e., the ABANDONED game). The developer is now actually using some favorable / positive comments for the OLD game to promote this new version. This is just BLATANT FALSE (AND ILLEGAL) MARKETING / ADVERTISING from the developer to FOOL players into believing that this is a good game. What the developer does in the trailers is actually in complete violation of Marketing and Advertising Laws upheld by Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Steam should just delist this unethical developer from the store who uses false advertising in game promotion. 3. Forum Censorship: If you criticize Hero Generations Regen on the discussion forum, they delete your message and ban you. If you say anything negative about their business practices on the forum, they delete your message and ban you. Many players who own the old game and criticize the developer have been banned from the forum. There're so few messages on the Steam forum because most of the negative ones have already been deleted by the developer. Heart Shaped Games is just a bunch of scumbags who try to keep the forum clean by deleting all criticisms and unfavorable messages. 4. This revamped game is still buggy as hell. Let me give you a hilarious example: I've successfully unlocked the following 5 achievements simply by entering and quitting the tutorial in windowed mode: 1) Kill the End Boss; 2) 50 Generations; 3) 30 Generations; 4) 20 Generations; and 5) World Traveler. Heart Shaped Games is an epic fail developer who has released another stinky piece of trash infested with game-breaking bugs. (Update: 94.9% owners of this crappy game have already unlocked the above-mentioned achievements. This developer is a joke.) Do NOT buy this game. Do NOT support this irresponsible and unethical developer called Heart Shaped Games who is trying to grab more cash again with a buggy product and false advertising. Don't forget this despicable developer bans any player who criticizes the game and their shady business practices on the forum. Such a shameless developer deserves going bankrupt, seriously. And I really need to thank Steam for its refund policy that is aimed at punishing abhorrent developers like Heart Shaped Games.

Setting aside all the controversy about the developer and their business practices, I still really can't say I recommend this game. It's a fun little game at first, but quickly becomes repetitive and boring, and I can't escape the feeling while playing it that nothing I'm doing is even going to matter, short run or long run. When you first start playing, you're given a little tutorial and then set loose in the world. Obviously the first thing you're going to try is to either raid some monster lairs, explore the world, or build up a city. But all three of these options have their problems, and none of them have any lasting effect. You can explore the world all you want, but it will only affect the current generation. When the new generation starts? The map fog closes in again, and you have to explore it all over again. Building a city seems like it would have long-lasting effects... but in early generations most of the buildings are locked and can't be built. Additionally, buildings only stay for a certain, limited number of turns, and need constant repairing by the player using an equippable item. In order to avoid having to constantly spend your lifetime repairing the lifetime of these structures, you have to build a certain building that remains locked until generation 9. So there's very little point to building anything expensive before that. So if building up cities and exploring the map have no lasting effect, what about raiding monster lairs and such? Still nope. You can destroy monster dens, but they'll regenerate. So you'll always have monster spawners spewing monsters all over the countryside, no matter how much you go around clearing them. This game seemed good in concept, but is very poor in execution. You spend your first nine generations unable to leave a lasting impression on the world, and the ninth generation and after are only able to leave a lasting mark because they finally get access to the building which prevents town structures from decaying. You can finally go around, building up cities, improving the landscape... except not, because when you hit generation 16 a certain monster can go around spoiling your hard work. So if exploring, clearing monster lairs, and building up cities don't leave any lasting impression on the world, does your character at -least- get stronger over the generations? Yes? Well... no. Not really. Each generation, you get this mix-and-match board to pick cards off of. Any traits you have, any traits your mate has, and some random traits from the building you're settling at for the generation, are added to the board and can be randomly picked. Strength, damage, lifetime, and wealth cards are all randomly filled in on the rest of the board, and the cards you pick affect you for the current generation ONLY. The next generation, you start again with a basic, weak character and are at the mercy of the board again to determine your strengths. So no, you don't get any stronger over the generations, you just have more random crap added to the board for you to randomly pick. The game isn't without its good points, but they're overshadowed by the feeling of pointlessness you get out of trying to play the game. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll be generous and give it a 6. It's good enough to check out and play for maybe a few hours, but not enough to sink any decent amount of time into. I'd only be able to recommend the game for the current price if the game goes on sale for around 66% off.