Slick presentation, easy controls, deep gameplay, and a fun sense of humor.

Lots of fun and a few laughs plus some tough gut wrenching decisions waits you at every turn with this Cartoony Turned-Based Tactical Stratety game.

Lovely and fun game. Not hard but not even boring. Reccomended if you like the genre.

The heartfelt struggle of one man, trying to reach out to the world and only finding rejection. Falling deeper and deeper into depression.

Oh wait that is just Jesse trying to get us to play this game, my bad.

A really amazing turn-based strategy game that removed the grid/hex system to be more dynamic and fluid! The campaign along is well worth the full price! I can't recommend it enough to Turn-based strategy fans!!

Pros:
+great gameplay mechanics +the story and dialogues are very funny +great visual +controller support
+multiplayer and challenges

Cons:
- occasionally, the manual will disappear upon taking a screenshot; a restart can fix the problem

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After playing through the full (post early access) release, the verdict is in and I can confidently say that Skulls of the Shogun is a winner. This quirky turn-based strategy game seems simple at first, but there are actually some surprisingly deep levels of nuance and complexity beneath the surface. You play as a Japanese swordsman General who is trying to reclaim his stolen identity in the afterlife. The art style is very unique and really well done. The cast of characters and story are also very cool. The dialogue, in particular, is a highlight. I wasn't expecting much from that aspect of a seemingly simple strategy game, but I was pleasantly surprised at how funny and entertaining it was.

So the aesthetic portions of the game are definitely good, but what of the actual gameplay, you ask? In short, it's pretty damn good. Gameplay is turn based, but on each turn you have 5 "orders" that can be performed. Your team is comprised of various types of units (warriors, cavalry, archers), each of which has their own strengths and weaknesses. Instead of moving on tiles like other strategy games, the actions in this game are more free-roaming. Units are able to move anywhere they want, within a certain radius, and are also able to continue moving after performing an action, which adds to the level of strategy involved. One of your main goals is to eat the skulls of defeated opponents, which restores health. However, if a unit is able to eat 3 skulls, they transform into a Demon, which enables them to perform 2 actions per turn, which is a huge advantage. Gameplay becomes a delicate balancing act of attacking, positioning and staying alive long enough to power up.

Outside of these main elements, there are a number of other nuances (summoning monks with special powers, forming spirit walls, environmental hazards, deciding when to bring your general into battle, and more) that add many layers of complexity to the basic strategy. Every level seems to provide some new elements to learn or deal with, and this keeps the main campaign fresh from start to finish. There's no padding at all. The main campaign lasts several hours (more if you play on a higher difficulty or attempt to complete the set of special goals for each level) and is worth the price of admission alone. In addition, the game also features online, local and asynchronous multiplayer matches. So there is plenty of content here for both casual and competitive types.

All in all, this game is solid and brings some really cool twists to the turn-based strategy genre. If you are into that type of thing, pick this one up. And if not, well, this could be the game that makes you a fan. Check it out.

Skulls of Shogun is a surprisingly great game of 2013 for me. With the rise in popularity of Turn Based Strategy (TBS) games, It can be difficult for Skulls of Shogun to stood out among the other quality TBS games such as XCOM, Civilization V, and so on.

Still, with its quirky art style and fairly witty humor that is set in Samurai's afterlife, Skulls of Shogun features a well designed and carefully balanced mechanics, I find Skulls of Shogun to be very enjoyable game to play. At the same time, the game tries to introduce a gridless movement system where your unit's movement range is denoted by a white circle with a fixed radius, I find this innovation to a decent change that works well to be an alternative to the typical grid system found in a lot of TBS games. Combining with the cross platform compatibility with iOS, one could even play this game on the go. While Skulls of Shogun looks like a mobile port, it felt more like a PC game with reasonable amount of depth despite having a rather small unit roster. Each unit has its own unique role that can be useful in the right hands. Personally, I find the PC version's UI to be pretty decent and mouse friendly while it is equally playable on a touch screen.

If you like Turn Based Strategy, give Skulls of Shogun a go if you have the chance. You could find yourself putting a couple of hours into this indie gem.

Skulls of the Shogun is a turn based strategy game with a surprising amount of tactical depth. Units are varied - samurai, cavalry, archers and four types of magic using monks - all with different strengths and weaknesses. Positioning of units is important, because they can counter attack in certain situations, and can also be knocked off ledges for an instant kill. Eating the skulls of dead enemies regains health and increases max health, while controlling rice gardens and shrines lets you summon extra units. The game is challenging, because on most levels you are outnumbered and surrounded, but at the same time well balanced, because each side can only move 5 units per turn. However, any unit that eats three skulls unlocks an extra attack per turn. The game has a wacky sense of humour, particularly with its amusing text only dialogue and animation style. The singleplayer campaign is quite long and very stable. Definitely worth checking out.

Unfortunately, little do the bulk of TBS addicts know about this rare gem bringing a nice change of pace. Many consider it as a spiritual successor of Advance Wars, and it is in many ways yet by being a truly unique experience in the even rarer ''cartoony TBS'' sub genre. Don't get it wrong: despite its ( marvelous ) cartoony construct & hilarious dialogues ( really ), Skulls of the Shogun also shines via a lenghty campaign of well drawn maps.

Overall strategy and multiple tactics may seem basic, but ways to win versus enemies ( AI or multiplayer ) require the full attention of veteran players as well. It's not perfect on crowded bottlenecks when trying to command orders, some little glitch here and there, though nothing to alter an otherwise joyful turn based combat.

Pros: vivid cartoony construct and turn based combat mixed pretty well; lenghty campaign and multiplayer modes; hilarious dialogues; great audio track.

Cons: ordering units when crowded like sardines; some questionable unit range versus obstacle placement.

Bottom line: Highly recommended. ''OSHUDA''

Skulls of the Shogun is another indie turn based tactics game. This is a fun game to play because the levels are short and packed with action and tough decision making. It’s also easy to learn and play because there is no hex counting, no charts, and no tables. It has special objectives for completionists including a time attack trial and a developer commentary for all 20 levels.

I like this game because individual levels are short. The long levels can be 30 minutes but you can easily finish most within 15. Skulls doesn’t waste time with load outs or gear management. The only thing you need to manage is your troops and your rice (a currency to buy units). You manage your units with five orders each turn. Activating a unit takes an order. Most decisions are simple yet tough. Do you deal damage? Do you take crucial economy or troop producing buildings? Do you eat skulls to upgrade your troops? Do you provide other units protection from knock back?

Many turn based tactics games rely on special attack and armor types. In Skulls you won’t need to memorize the latest version of rock-paper-scissors. Attacks are easy to understand. Units deal damage and armor subtracts it. No long time investments studying maximum efficiency. Though it is a tactics game and so if hyper efficient decision making is what you like then you’ll be glad to know that each level is scored, even including leaderboards. Each level also has alternate secondary objectives such as winning without losing any units.

On the negative side I think knock back while intuitive often felt a bit fuzzy. An attack that I thought for sure would knock an opponent over an edge just barely hangs on and vice versa. Also while it’s fun that individual levels are short it would have been nice to have more than 20 levels to play through. Because it’s possible to play through the game in less than ten hours that means Skulls relies a lot on it’s great replayability.

Due to it's campaign length I think the $14.99 asking price might be a bit much but this is definitely a great purchase at $10.

Craving another turn-based strategy game? Don't mind tongue-in-cheek undead shogun fighting each other? Then Skulls of the Shogun is for you.
A comical, cartoony turn-based strategy game with surprising depth and strategy, not to mention quite a bit of humour. Satisfying kills follow the required strategic thinking.
Nice!

Simple and fun strategy game. The humor can be a little hit and miss, but all in all I had a really good time while playing it. It outstays it's welcome just a tiny, little bit towards the end, because the strategy elements are really simple and gets somewhat repetitive because of that, but the game is saved by its best humor bits and the relatively short time you have to set aside to beat it. Definitely worth the asking price. Recommended.

This game is FUN and so funny,
the story is ok for the Indie Turn-Base strategy game.
The graphic look good.
The music is also nice to listen and enjoy with it.
The gameplay are fast and simple with good tactics.

I can recommend this game to anyone.
Both TB Strategy and new comer.

This is one of the most enjoyable turn-based strategy games I've ever played. It's colorful, charasmatc, has a great sense of humor, beautiful art, and most importantly, has just the right amount of depth where it's not too complicated nor too simple. This is a great game for people who are new to the genre, as the game does a really good job of teaching you how all the units, resources, and systems work, yet it still gives you the freedom to figure out things on your own, and get that deep feeling of satisfaction that the genre is well known for.

The game works equally well with a gamepad and mouse/keyboard, and the campaign took me a good 18 hours to get through. There is also online and local multiplayer which I haven't dabbled with yet. Overall, this is one of the more underrated games I've played this year. A great turn-based strategy game for noobs and vets alike.

Set in ancient japan the skulls of the shogun beckons the player to take hold of a shogun backstabbed by one of his subordinates during a battle aiming to seek revenge after being reincarnated in the afterlife. The gameplay consists of a relatively simple but unique turned-based combat system where the player and the AI each take turns commanding their units in a round to either move, attack, or perform other actions until they run out of moves (5 per side). The player wins if he/she can kill all of enemy units or the enemy general, but must protect his/her own general in the process. Three types of basic units are available from start including infantry, cavalry, and archer where they can be utilised to work together for maximum effect in a scenario. Multiple strategies come into play during each scenario which is unique in their own way such as preventing enemy units from counterattacking when they are being attacked, or positioning one's units properly before the end of a round to minimise the damage received during AI's turn--can be accomplished by either running out of enemy's movement range or hide in a bush which can grant a 20% chance for an attack to miss. The gameplay can become stale were it not for golden skulls challenges and the succinct degree of humour present in the game which, surprisingly, can be quite amusing and definitely goes a long way in making the gameplay experience more satisfying. There are also xp for levelling up and emblems you receive at end of each scenario depending on your performance but otherwise they do not have a direct impact on your gameplay, if at all, whether you are level 1 or 10 you do not possess any distinct advantage whatsoever aside from having bestowed a different title each level. The emblems are purely for asthetic purposes to show off your dedication or time committed to the game, notwithstanding the amount of repetitive grinding just to be able to collect all the rare/very rare emblems either through gameplay or combining them to hopefully obtain the ones you want and then upgrading all or most of them to Gold rank.

There is a multiplayer component in addition to the single-player campaign as well. However, the matchmaking lobby is usually empty majority of times and hence one would have to encompass a gross amount of patience in order to possibly find a mattch courtesy of the ability of the game to continuously search for opponents in the background whilst you wreak havoc in traditional campaign mode or casually browse through the leaderboards and emblems you have amassed. Despite the near non-existence of an online community, I find the single-player campaign infinitely enjoyable on its own and that alone is enough to make this game remarkably innovative and is a refreshing change from the traditional, stagnant TBS mechanisms

Funny and deep, Skulls of the Shogun is a deceptively shallow take on turn-based tactics. It's has a lot to offer for new players and veterans alike.

Fantastic game, and at a good price as well!
It disguises as a very simple game with only 3 basic unit types, but within there is a deep pool of strategy to master. There are 4 different "monk" units on top of the 3 basic units, and your general. The monks all have different and unique abilities, most of them cannot directly attack enemies, but instead use spells. Due to the circular movement instead of hexagon based it also offers heavy use of skilled positioning.

The single player campaign is challenging and fun, and will take you at the very least 10 hours but probably more like 15-20. The dialogue is pretty funny and the missions are well crafted.

The multiplayer is incredibly fun and will last you for a long time, the only unfortunate thing with this game is that the multiplayer is very deserted, but if you actually get a game going it's good fun. You should try to get some friends who also own this game and play multiplayer with them, seeing as getting strangers is difficult. There are a lot of different multiplayer maps, although some are slightly unbalanced they are overall really good.

The game also offers a lot of replayability on single player levels. There are three "golden skulls" on each level that you can acquire by fulfilling certain conditions (example: Win without attacking with any other unit than your general), these conditions are different for every map, the example I used is only present on one level.

I also feel like I should point out that the art style is really unique and cool, and I like the sound assets as well.

I can't really discredit the game for a deserted multiplayer, so I will personally rate it 9/10 (because the 10/10 game doesn't exist yet)

For a large list of what the game contains in mechanics and gameplay, see my thread here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/228960/discussions/0/864972399789762136/

Definetly recommended.

Pros:
- Funny
- Challenging
- Original gameplay. Not a typical 'grid'-like turn based game.
- Originel setting. You're a dead shogun samurai.
- Nicelly balanced units & actions: sometimes you have to choose between eating a skull to heal, haunting a shrine to summon extra units or just try to whack an enemy unit over a ledge. So lots of possibilities & different outcomes to each game.

Cons:
- None, really. Besides that one level seems ridiculously hard. But there's always the possibility to lower the difficulty to 'casual'

It's incredibly frustrating that the multiplayer isn't as active as it should be, but the single player campaign is fun and challenging, with plenty of replayability.