Stoneshard Reviews

Really hard turn based game, not your usual easy happy go round RPG, every move is basically survive or die ( especially if you're in a dungeon ). My only complaint is the in-game time indicator, I can't really keep track of it. Otherwise, this game is fun, the combat is hard, feels like souls-like but turn based. If you like RPG/turn based/survival game, give this game a chance. 9/10

Stoneshard is a challenging game, but if you're looking for a slower, immersive RPG experience, it's truly a gem. The art style is beautiful, the quests are engaging, and the sense of freedom is incredible. I’m really excited to see what future updates bring. I hope they expand on in-game lifestyles, offering even more freedom of choice and variety in playstyles. Unique random encounters would also add a lot to the world’s richness and ofc character creation and maybe random ways to start the game so the player can forge their own path from the main story, Someway of making the start of a new save non-repetitive would be AMAZING because we are always trying new ways of playing and doing that mid-game is just a waste of time. If this game ever was non-turn-based with multiplayer, it would still be amazing especially how open the gameplay already is. Lastly, I think adding difficulty options could help make the game more accessible to a wider audience, because it really deserves more attention for the way it is.

This is a challenging game. I enjoy challenging games. Unfortunately, the save system is too frustrating for me. You need to rest in a bed or makeshift bedroll (which you need to buy and its a one-time use only) to save your progress. This means, that you can cross 3 screens before reaching a dungeon, die in the dungeon and be forced to repeat everything again. You need to repeat the 3 or more boring screens to reach the fun and hard part of the game which is the dungeon. Also, combat is made in such a way that you have to split the enemy group by "shouting", run away and attracting one or two enemies each time. So you will find groups of 4 enemies in the wild but its extremely punishing to try and face them together. This is time consuming. On top of this, you add a "chance-based" combat system. It all gets very frustrating pretty fast.

The game is hard. Especially without mods, you will feel like you lost your time due to what feels like unfair deaths. The best way to mitigate this is by learning the game with meta info (info from outside the game). The main lesson this game teaches through its gameplay is that confidence is an insidious killer: You will be killed because you thought you were safer than you actually were. That being said, the game is really good. Has really good mechanics and balancing, lots of builds, good degree of freedom. The fights are intense; you will have your very close wins and will face roll in a somewhat of a rollercoaster difficulty - which I personally find very close to the difficulty curve of souls games. I don't feel like it has great replayability yet, I only felt like playing twice on different updates, which did net me around 150 hours of gameplay total in ~2 years. I have hundreds of hours on Divinity 2, XCom games, Battle Brothers, The Last Spell and many turn and tactical based games. I still find it a great value for its price, and deem this game's experience as very unique.

I bought this game when it released into early access, beat the current content and loved it at the time. Every time i check back up on this game i think to myself sure the game has released by not and i can give it another go? no. it still has not released. not only has it not been released but there is a meager amount of content released for the time passed. And the roadmap for this year doesnt even have it coming out in 2025. This game may never see "full" release. To be clear i loved the game when i played it. but this dev is just either lazy or doesnt care that much about this project.

Stoneshard is a great game, no question. It has a bit of Battlebrothers and Witcher. It's hard and you will suffer in the beginning. The biggest criticism is the save system. You can save on many locations like empty houses, city's or using a bed roll. But you're wasting time always travel to a save spot. Maybe adding a auto save if you enter a new location for example.

This game is only fun with mods to either add quicksaving or to speed up walking. Dying and having to walk 6 map tiles taking a minute each tile is excruciatingly boring and frustrating. Otherwise the game is good.

Stoneshard is a gritty, turn-based RPG roguelike developed by Ink Stains Games that distinguishes itself through its punishing difficulty, strategic depth, and a dark, unforgiving fantasy world that hearkens back to the golden age of classic role-playing games. Still in Early Access, the game offers a potent glimpse into a grand, sprawling vision: an open-world RPG with deep mechanics, player freedom, and a genuinely oppressive atmosphere. While it’s not yet complete, what’s already in place is compelling, albeit rough around the edges. At its core, Stoneshard is a game about survival. Players are thrown into the medieval land of Aldor, a fractured and war-ravaged realm teeming with bandits, beasts, and worse. The prologue is a self-contained tutorial that quickly teaches players two things: how to play, and how easily they can die. After this, you're left with a single character—currently Verren the mercenary, though plans for a full character creation system are in the works—and sent out into the open world with minimal hand-holding. This sets the tone for the rest of the game: trial by fire, learning through failure, and adapting to a brutal, unforgiving world. One of the most distinguishing features of Stoneshard is its complex health and survival system. Unlike many RPGs, health is not a singular bar. You must manage multiple subsystems: pain levels, bleeding, limb damage, hunger, thirst, sanity, intoxication, and more. A single wound can escalate into a life-threatening condition if untreated. Healing is not instantaneous; it requires the right tools, careful planning, and time. This creates a palpable tension in every fight—players are not just trying to win, but to survive without incurring lasting injuries that might make the next encounter unwinnable. Inventory management, too, becomes an exercise in tactical planning: every potion, bandage, or splint you carry takes up space, forcing hard decisions about what to bring and what to leave behind. Combat in Stoneshard is turn-based and highly tactical. Every movement, ability, and item use costs action points, and positioning is critical. The game uses a grid-based system with vision mechanics that force you to scout carefully and retreat when necessary. Enemies are deadly and intelligent, often requiring kiting, cornering, or isolating to defeat. There’s a robust skill tree system, with each weapon type—swords, axes, maces, ranged weapons, magic—offering unique abilities that dramatically change combat styles. As of now, progression is tied to skill books found in the world rather than leveling, encouraging exploration and careful planning over grinding. The open-world structure of Stoneshard is ambitious. Villages, dungeons, and wilderness areas are all explorable, with quests scattered throughout. There's a real sense of being a mercenary for hire—you take contracts from town notice boards, venture into the unknown, and reap rewards if you return alive. The economy is tight; gear upgrades and supplies are expensive, and money doesn't come easy. This reinforces the sense of hardship and progress—every good piece of gear feels earned, not given. Graphically, Stoneshard embraces a pixel-art aesthetic that is both detailed and evocative. The environments are moody and oppressive, with forests cloaked in fog, ancient ruins buried in shadow, and blood-soaked battlegrounds hinting at the world’s violent past. The soundtrack complements this atmosphere perfectly, with melancholic strings and ambient sounds that evoke loneliness and danger. The visual and audio design work together to create a grim, immersive setting that is both beautiful and bleak. However, being in Early Access, Stoneshard is not without its flaws. The current lack of mid- to late-game content, limited character choice, and a sometimes-unforgiving save system can frustrate players expecting a more finished experience. There's also a significant learning curve, and many systems—such as injury treatment or curse management—are poorly explained. Bugs and balance issues are still being worked out, and updates have been frequent but sometimes slow, leading to player concerns about development pace and priorities. That said, the developers have shown commitment to their roadmap, and major systems—like faction reputation, full character creation, and carriage-based fast travel—are planned or in progress. Ultimately, Stoneshard is not a game for everyone. It demands patience, perseverance, and a taste for masochistic challenge. It rewards careful planning, smart play, and a willingness to learn through failure. For fans of traditional roguelikes, tactical RPGs, and gritty survival sims, it’s an engrossing and refreshingly difficult experience. While still a work in progress, it already offers enough depth and atmosphere to warrant attention. If Ink Stains Games can deliver on the rest of their vision, Stoneshard has the potential to become a cult classic in the RPG genre. Rating: 7/10

I'll preface the review by saying this game is definitely not for everyone. It reminds me a lot of STALKER Anomaly/GAMMA in it's core loop - you prepare for an adventure in town by gathering your supplies, getting your inventory stocked and ready for the adventure, clearing your hunger/thirst, and then embarking. You are rewarded for taking your time, being spendthrift with what you put in your inventory, and being very methodical during combat. Every system is punishing, but largely fair, especially once you get through the admittedly brutal first few levels and your build comes online. There's a great variety in playstyles already in the game, and the different characters/weapons each have distinct flavor and feel. I'm solidly in the midgame and still feel like there's a long road ahead of me in terms of places to explore, bosses to fight, and sidequests to conquer. The new caravan system gives the game a huge sense of progression, and while some of the upgrades are a bit underwhelming, the role playing of slowly building up your mercenary band's resources as you tackle contracts and win favor of each town is quite rewarding and fun. The save system seems to turn many people off, but I don't think the rest of the game would really work without it. It really forces you to plan and makes failure more consequential. Overall, I could see myself sinking a ton more time into this even with the current level of content in the game. Can't wait to see how it evolves from here! I hope the developers continue to chase their vision on this one and don't let folks not in the target audience sway their approach too much - there's something *really* special here, if it's your cup of tea :)

I will change the review later, i really like Stoneshard. it's good game and i'm pretty sure i will enjoy it even more once i get into to the late game but holy fucking shit, this game save system is so ass. I don't mind renting at the inns or using beds to save. but my main issue is when I die; i'm forced to spawn at the last time where I saved at, and purchase items and walk to the mission area again. it's really tedious and puts me off to play the game. again I really like Stoneshard and it gave me nostalgia to the game "Kinghttron" but the save system is pretty bad and makes the game boring; i want to shed blood... NOT WALKING 2D SIMULATOR!!! 2 Aug 5:18 AM, another Edit: i deiced to make a final statement (until i actually play and finish the game) after i had an exchange in the comments with other steam users; specifically 2 users, that i won't write there names in this review: the main reasons i think it would be impolite and maybe they prefer to be anonymous. but i want to reply to there comments in this review to make it clear and both of them are have bad manners and one of them is satirical and won't get my points clear. and i will just read comments instead of replying to them. i don't wanna be a keyboard warrior. "darkest dungeon and stoneshard are two different games" -the context is for this is that i mentioned several games; one of them were the Darkest Dungeon series. i was giving an example of hard games that i love, showing that i like Stoneshard despite it's difficultly. i meant to be crystal clear that i don't care about game difficultly. however the user mistaken that i compared Darkest dungeon to Stoneshard on every aspect. 1-"position your caravan and use the beds at NPC points around whatever town you are assisting the game would suffer alot from just reloading at the start of the dungeon or engagement there would be very light consequence to failure" 2-"well maybe u can find a game that lets you one shot everything and if you somehow die u can just restart immediately from where you left off since ur so busy" both of those text are written by the same user. 1- this is actually quite frustrating to read "very light consequence to failure". so you wanna tell me, when i die: getting spawned at the entrance of the dungeon or the mission area. is very light and you actually get punished, and spawn where you last save at which is probably away from said area? i'm sorry, but this is just bad game design. 2- this feels like more of a ragebait and it's satirical. one-shooting everything isn't by itself bad. it either requires specific builds in order to that to happen. or you just kill lower level enemies if you are high level. i assume he meant by that: games that let you one-shot targets are for "noobs" or are "easy" games and no. EVERYONE time is important. we have jobs to do so we can eat and live. and that makes our free time tighter. so when an action and turn-based game, punish you if you die by sending you back to last area where you saved it, which is probably far away where is the mission or dungeon area at, and forces you walk to it by clicking on hundreds of tiles/blocks. then i'm sorry, Stoneshard is not fun in that aspect. a dear friend told me before "It's just a game in the end and games are made to be fun and send a massage sometime, if the game isn't fun then it missed an important goal." 29 Jul 4:34 PM, Edit: yes! please waste your steam points on me so i can have it, seriously. if you want to tell me i'm a clown, then type it in my review comments. don't waste your steam points on travail matters.