Link Reviews

TL:DR; This game is so horribly imbalanced to the point, where it is insulting BS. Also, no resolution change. Review: A promise of something, that could be a fantastic game, a survival against the cold, harsh alien world. We definitely need games like that, incorporating resource management, skill progression and turn based combat. Unfortunately this game isn't it. I will skip graphics and audio part. Graphics is 800x600 and attempts to switch to full screen will make this game unplayable. Audio is stock, but doesn't annoy. The real problem with this game is gameplay. Apparently, this game was not play-tested, or if it was, it was playtested by someone with a wciked sense of cruelty. You see, this title is one, total RNG bullsh1t. There is no difficulty setting - each and every game will see you fukked right up in the back end of your gastric system. Of course, challenging games can be fun, but in 'Link' this isn't even challenging. Let me show you what I mean. The rescue mission, lowest difficulty. Survivor starts at the exact opposite end of the map. Your guys rush to them, only to run out of stamina (it regenerates 1 point of stamina per turn, so if you have 5 max, you need 5 turns to regenerate it to max). You move your survivor towards rescue party. What happens? Lowest mob moves towards your survivor and kills it with two hits. Amazing. Or perhaps survivor spawned with a sniper rifle, in which case it may be the only character to survive, whereas your rescue crew will be ganbanged by 3 spiders. Seriously, there is no difficulty progression. Base attacks, the very first one, will pitch your tiny group of soldiers against a horde of 8-12 aliens, many of which will be top tier units capable of killing your soldier with ONE hit. Honestly? What was supposed to be a challenging fun, was revealed to be frustrating RNG hell. What else? Generic loot, limited skill choice and upgrades (for example you can only research one of four techs per branch, characters are limited to like 5 skills). Constantly growing threat level, even if all you do is just farming for food. Constantly dropping heat and stamina levels, heat drops even when a soldier sleeps (wtf?). This crap is really not worth playing. I say this with a heavy heart because I had expectations for this title. Unfortunately, this one is not a game to be lightly tossed aside. It is a game to be thrown away with great force - and with regret.

Quick, clever, and exceptionally brutal, this is a roguelike done right. Its interface is a bit cumbersome, showing its rpgmaker roots, and I'm pretty sure I heard a sound bite straight out of Chrono Trigger in the prologue, but the mechanical crunch is just as good as Endless Dungeon - only on a shoestring budget. If you're determined to explore the rpgmaker ghetto, this is one of the games that makes it worth the trip. Be prepared to spend your first few runs not really knowing why you failed. Don't sweat it. The learning curve is deep. Once you've got a handle on it, you'll feel like a genius. In the meantime, there is rather a lot of frozen tundra to die in and only a single oil drum fire to huddle around, so be prepared for a bit of a bumpy ride.

Fun survival/rogue-like game. It is really challenging but you can tailor your first number of games on an easier setting. As you complete scenarios you'll earn points which will allow you to purchase new and interesting characters to bring with you on your future missions. This little game packs a big punch, and is not for the feint of heart. The price point is well worth it for me, and I encourage others to give this a chance if the theme/mechanics appeal to you.

So this is not a polished, deeply involved game. The dialogue in the tutorial is rough. The resolution isn't good. (Though the Alt-Enter trick to make it full screen helps considerably). The graphics are serviceable. It's a fun little survival roguelike, however. You pick three characters to start and pick three goals from among a list of easy and difficult tasks that comprise your winning condition. You then give your characters tasks each day to build up your base, gather resources, sleep, explore, etc. Win or lose, you get some points that you can use to unlock new characters to choose from in your next play through. There is quite a lot of variety in characters, skill upgrades, and equipment. Combat is straightforward and brutally fair. There's a real risk of dying all of the time, which keeps you engaged. Would I have wanted to pay $25 for this? No. Was it worth my five bucks? Definitely.

This is a good little turn based survival strategy game. Expect to lose the first couple of times while you get the hang of it. In the end there are a variety of strategies to employ, and you need to constantly manage life/heat/food/fuel/rest to keep your colony running. BE WARNED: The game runs in a very small resolution and is not resizeable. I got the game on sale for $1, and for the price the small resolution did not bother me. But you should know this before you purchase, as if this is a deal breaker for you then you should stay away. Small resolution was not a dealbreaker for me, and I enjoyed the gameplay. 6/10

Can I really slate a game that cost me only €3.99?!? Well, here I go... I sort of feel sorry for the dev here as I've read a comment of his where he stated that a change in graphics/resolution would require a whole re-write of the game engine. Well, he'd better get started on that re-write because without a change in the tiny resolution, sprites and UI he is simply wasting his time putting any more effort into this game: it won't sell. Graphics generally are not that important to me, but this looks like something that should be played on an Amiga 500 in 1994 with the old Philips Monitor, not a modern PC, where 1080p monitors are the norm...but perhaps the dev is actually coding this on an Amiga 500 with the old Philips monitor in 1994! In any case, the premise of the game is cool and I was digging the base building bit, which is reminiscent of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown base building mechanic: You build improvements in each square to provide resources for your guys etc... The tactical part of it is pretty ropey with zero difficulty curve. Perhaps I need to send all my guys out on the first mission? Generally, I just send one as it's the first mission, simply a scavenging hunt and that should be a breeze, right? Wrong. My soldier dude is no match for two little spiders, he can't kill a frickin' baby deer and he gets cold, weak and downright lazy after about 2 turns. Also, there seems to be no escape except to fight once an enemy is on the same square as your little dude. Not very tactical, is it? I want to like this game as I think there are some interesting ideas but it just comes off as too amateurish to warrant any more attention from me. Dear Dev, get a free version of Unity and realise your ambition for this game. There is definitely a good game in here and I'm sure there is a market for it, but it needs to have proper resolution scaling and some game balance.

This is an interesting little title. Link plays very much like a board game that varies based on 3 victory rules that you choose before starting a new game. Victory rules might include: -Killing a ringleader -Surving 15 rounds -Caching 20 units of fuel etc. This adds a lot of variability to the game once you understand the core mechanics as your strategy to achieving all of the three victory rules (and ensure rescue) will determine your strategy. Every game is a race against the clock. With each passing round your survivors will lose energy and heat and the increase threat of a base attack means that will have to be proactive with your strategy from the get-go. Do you hunker down, reasearch weapon tech and arm your survivors for a full on base attack? Or do you brave the surface of the alien planet to hunt down the native inhabitants in order to put off the inevitabilty of an invasion for a few more rounds? This is an early access game and as such still has many bugs and glitches that crop up from time to time. For the most part it has not been too devastating or game breaking. Further, this game is very very difficult for the first five or ten rounds until you start to become more efficient with your round managament. In about 15 games I may win 4 or 5, depending on victory rules of course. Further, won games grant you requistion points used to buy heros that have their own special abilities that bring a further layer of variability to your initial strategy. Heros may be robotics experts, commandos, leaders, rangers or mechanics- all with a unqiue skill set to offer. There are many other features included like rescue missions, resource scavenging, reasearch and technology etc- more than I am willing to list for the sake of this mere thumbs up. All in all I reccomend Link. It is a relaxing, albeit challenging little game with lots of replayability for the price.

From playing the Tutorial and one playthrough: Link is a fairly challenging turn-based strategy game. Balancing risk and reward, the game keeps you on a knife's edge. Do you send your tired survivors out to look for food, or rest them up, but risk starvation? Do you spend time sitting in the library gathering research points, or spend precious materials to build a pistol? Do you try for that last cache of supplies on the map, risking frostbite? Each character in your crew can be used for one action a day. These vary from building new rooms or clearing away supplies, to crafting new tools or exploring outside of the ruined ship. Exploration outside moves you to a combat map were you explore for supplies and either evade or confront the native people who are intent on overwhelming your party. Characters gain experience and learn new skills, so losing a crew member is always a fearful possibility. The game graphics are mainly static backgrounds and tokens that you drag across the screen. It plays much like a boardgame, and has some depth too the decisions you make. Fairly enjoyable experience for the cost, and the replayability is decent: successfully accomplishing your objectives (which you get to pick at the start of the game), gives you requisition points to unlock new crew members to start new games with.

I like a lot this turn-based strategy game. Each turn, you choose an action for each crew member, you can: create a room in the base or craft something (weapon, armor), or help a character with low stats to stay alive, giving him (her) food, heat or health in the appropriate room, or pick a mission and send one or more characters outside to find resources (there are also other types of missions). During a mission, the characters explore a map and fight enemies in turn-based combat. It's cold, so they can't stay outside for too long. You have to manage the characters and the scarce resources, with the lurking menace of a base invasion that will happen in a determined number of turns. There are various strategies to try and things to learn, with rooms that can be upgraded and the characters who gain useful skills with experience. I like the retro pixel graphics. The interface reminds in some aspects a board game: in the base, to do an action, you slide a character token on a room and then make a choice in a menu. I appreciate this style and all works well so far. The tutorial teaches well the basics. In normal mode, you pick three goals (with various difficulty levels) and you succeed when you reach them. A successful run gives points to unlock more characters. So far, I played a few runs and I reached the easier goals. I will play more.

TL;DR It's a cheaper small 'This War of Mine' with potentially deeper combat which in reality is not very interesting. I'll start with a deal breaker - it's unplayable due to screen resolution. Plays in tiny window and when scaling to full screen you have issues with mouse sensitivity. When it's fixed, it may become a nice game for a day or two. Base building mechanics - each turn you assign people to build new facilities and sustain life, heal etc. Tactics part - it's a simple TBS where you use explore map and use some abilities, and basically it's a risk assessment game as you may end up losing all your crew on an easy scavenging mission. Plays way too slow, it's not cool to go all the way back to starting square.