Invokyr

I wanted to wait until I'd finished a game or two before reviewing Invokyr and tested it with a few different group sizes. TLDR: If you're playing with friends, enjoy co-op horror or like the idea of a Jumanji-inspired game, this is a no-brainer. Invokyr is a co-op game for up to six players. It's not one of the tags, but the game is basically a Roguelike in that if you can lose and be forced to start back at the beginning. At the time of this review, there is no overarching progression, so each run is its own thing. I don't think this is a bad thing, but it's worth mentioning for those that might. The basic gameplay loop is you must roll a dice to move a piece around a Jumanji style board game to get to the centre. Those boards come in a few different flavors, like Ancient Egyptian, and Jungle. Each environment presents its own challenges, including scary mummies that roam the halls, and a hunter who looks suspiciously like Van Pelt from the Jumanji movie. You must venture into these environments to collect idols after each die roll. Collecting three will unlock another dice, so you can roll again. There are also mini-games scattered among these collectathons so you never know what to expect. Invokyr doesn't explain too much to the player, so expect your first few games to feel a bit confusing. Still, the gameplay loop IS quite simple once you're familiar with it, and it won't take too long to get to that point. Graphics and audio are fine, and one thing that stands out is the attention to detail. There's plenty of little additions that make the game feel high quality. Player voices going high pitched if they shrink, for example, is a nice touch, and you can use some items in clever ways if you think outside the box. As for downsides, some deaths in Invokyr can feel a bit cheap, though that feeling is lessened playing with a larger group. You will also run into repeat scenarios after a few games, though Idols are always in random locations, and there's still some variation. As I mentioned earlier, there is no meta progression, and that's something I'd like to see added in EA. I've read a few negative reviews moaning about the difficulty, and I gotta say, you know the industry is in a sorry state when players hate challenge so much it ruined their experience enough to moan about it. Yes, Invokyr can be tough, but my best rounds where when we were struggling, and a couple of mistakes put the whole round in jeopardy. If losing a game won't make you throw a temper tantrum and spit your dummy out, there's a lot of fun to be had with Invokyr. It does have some rough edges, but the good absolutely outweighs the bad and I believe the game will really become something special if Ludogram stick to their roadmap.

Es macht schon sehr viel Spaß. Im Vergleich zur Demo gibt's neue Monster, Götzen und Würfel zu entdecken. Einige herausfordernder als andere. Eine tolle Varianz die das Spielerlebnis abwechslungsreich machen. Kleine Challenges und die Spielbrett Hausregeln halten es auch auf längere Sicht für mich durchaus interessant. Der Shop bringt eine schöne Vielfalt an hilfreichen Gegenständen mit sich. (Und wenn es nur für die Jamsession mit der neuen Gitarre im Spielraum ist ;) Persönliche Wünsche auf lange Sicht wären auf jeden Fall weitere Minispiele und Hausregeln sowie nach und nach weitere Monster oder Monsterstufen umso weiter man kommt. Auch würde ich mich hier über Saisonale Events freuen die z.B. vorübergehende Monster mit unterschiedlichen Mechaniken oder thematisch passenden Brettspielen, Minispielen oder Kartenhausregeln ins Spiel bringen. Ebenfalls wäre eine Lobbyaktivität noch cool. Während man auf andere wartet vielleicht kleine Minispiele oder bekannte Kartenspiele um sich die Zeit zu vertreiben falls jemand "gleich" (wieder) da ist. Weil sind wir mal ehrlich diese Person gibt es in den allermeisten Gruppen. O.o Kleiner Wunsch allerdings eher für den Geck und das Ambiente wären auf jeden fall noch weitere Musikinstrumente und eine größere Songvarianz. Alles in allem ist das Spiel für mich aber eine dicke Empfehlung und ich bin gespannt darauf wie die Entwickler in Zukunft mit diesem Spiel verfahren um die Community neugierig und engagiert zu halten.