Angleterre victorienne, méchas, grilles de match-3, mécaniques de rogue-like. Hmm bizarre, vous avez dit bizarre ?
Mais c'est souvent des mélanges incongrus que naissent les jeux les plus accrocheurs. Et Ironcast fait partie de ces jeux qui occupent une partie de notre esprit jusqu'à ce que le satané boss de fin soit mort en enterré.

Le pitch est simple mais amusant. Anglais et Français se livrent une guerre sans merci vers la fin du XIXème et utilisent une ressource spéciale qui leur permet d'avoir des armes avancées pour l'époque. Ces fameux méchas sont donc l'alpha et l'oméga de cette guerre et vous incarnez plus ou moins un pilote de mécha émérite, chargé de défendre Londres d'une menace majeure.

Tout cela s'articule au travers de missions générées aléatoirement (hormis les boss) et fournissant en cas de succès de l'xp, de l'or et des points de guerre. Dans l'ordre ces ressources vous permettent de débloquer des pouvoirs actifs/passifs, de convertir des plans obtenus lors des missions en armes et défenses pour rendre votre mécha inarrêtable, et d'affaiblir le prochain boss. Ne vous enflammez pas, des boss il n'y en a que 2 . Et les missions aléatoires (type attaques, survie, collecte d'objets...) ne sont là que pour vous préparer à ces affrontements majeurs.

Une fois que vous avez sélectionné une mission sur la carte (il y a toujours 3 choix par défaut), vous affrontez des méchas adverses au tour par tour. C'est là que le match 3 intervient. En effet, en combinant les bonnes gems sur la grille, vous remplissez vos jauges d'énergie, de réparation, de refroidissement et de munitions. Il n'y a plus qu'à dépenser ces points pour activer vos boucliers, vous déplacer (permet d'éviter des tirs ennemis) et ouvrir le feu. A chaque tour, vous pouvez effectuer 3 combinaisons donc il y a souvent des choix à faire. Notez que plus vous êtes doué à ce mini-jeu, plus vous obtenez d'xp supplémentaire à la fin des missions. Donc il faut faire les durer ces scénarios au maximum pour monter vite en niveau.

Quant au rogue-like, c'est simplement qu'il y a beaucoup d'aléatoire dans le jeu : les missions, les ennemis, les plans trouvés, les objets rares disponibles, les capacités obtenus en montant de niveau... mille et une façons d'avoir un tirage horrible qui vous flingue une run en 2 minutes.

Oui c'est cruel Ironcast, mais ce n'est pas non plus sadique. Car en sus des niveaux liés à une run, vous gagnez des niveaux de façon générale lorsque vous terminez une campagne (en gagnant ou en mourant). Donc on nous fouette mais on nous récompense un peu :)

J'admets malgré tout que le plaisir numéro un est d'enfin baffer le boss de fin et qu'une fois fait, j'ai peur de ne plus avoir envie de relancer le jeu. C'est donc intense mais relativement bref. Mais le positionnement prix semble juste :)

Ah par contre, préparez-vous à ce que vos amis vous tapent sur l'épaule en vous disant "ah tu vois, toi aussi t'aimes candy crush". Je pense qu'il fallait vous le dire, car sans préparation vous risquez de ne pas trouver la réplique qui sauvera votre réputation pour les 10 prochaines années.

Allez une petite vidéo sur le sujet !

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=420625572

Excellent match-3 game with FTL tendencies and a lore setting that supports the game genre. Well worth the full cost even for just one completion and has even more in replay value. Tutorial explains everything needed, completely mousedriven and will most likely run on a PC made from cardboard and mousetraps. Definetaly one of the best "small games" to come out this year.

Takes gem matching to the next level, by making the different colours represent different resources which power the shields, engines, weapon, coolant, and repair of your gloriously archaic Mech (the titular Ironcasts). Battles are a balancing act - do I try for a quick finish attack, or go for endurance, gaining more experience but risking wasting resources on after-battle repairs?

The permadeath aspect is pretty well done - there are global unlocks which mean you'll take something away from even a crushing defeat; some of these are incremental (+15 starting health), and some have a larger effect by giving the option of choosing a different pilot (from a pleasingly PC selection), or Ironcast. These different starting combinations go a long way towards lessening any frustration around replaying early battles in every game.

The balancing act continues with the mission choices - Hard missions represent increased risk, but proffer tantalising additional rewards...but lose them and the game is over.

In short, the game offers me enough player agency to feel that my losses could have been avoided if I'd made better decisions. And that's the essence of its "just one more turn/try" core.

Not an epic game, but one I think I'll keep coming back to. A definite Kickstarter success.

Matching games are a dime a dozen these days and the genre mash-ups have seen a meteoric surge thanks to the popularity of Puzzle Quest. If you've stumbled onto a mobile device's app store recently then chances are you've seen a dozen or so examples in just the last week. Even the supposed last bastion of "hardcore" gaming that is PC has been infiltrated by an impressive brigade of match 3s, chain-linkers and gem puzzlers. So with Ironcast adding to those numbers on Steam, should we really care?

Oh Hell yes.

Puzzle Quest sparked imaginations due to its blending RPG features into a familiar formula. Ironcast does something similar by taking the core aspects of multitasking strategy titles like FTL and distilling them into components that suit a more casual, yet still complex model. You're not going to be making split-second decisions that decide the fate of the lives depending on you a la XCOM but that's not to say that the depth afforded by these elements isn't going to challenge you at every turn. Ironcast is more than tough, at times it can feel downright unfair. You're a one woman army with the odds against you from the very beginning and each encounter is finely tuned to make that apparent.

You are Aeres Powell, an Ironcast pilot fighting for the British Empire in an alternate Steampunk timeline where France has declared war and battles are fought with enormous mechanised monstrosities. The traditional stiff upper lip manner of speech and premise that France hasn't yet surrendered may suggest a comedic tone but the story is a well-written and convincing account of war-torn Victorian England. Those seeking lore to flavour the gameplay will find a moderately gritty tale that will make you care when you hear the consequences of a bad decision or mission failure.

You might think I've left discussing the gameplay this late due to its simplicity when the truth is that I'm unsure how to simplify it enough to fit this review. You can make three matches in a turn, collecting one of four different matters; ammo, coolant, energy and repair nodes. Each adds to a stockpile that can be used for a variety of actions that do not consume a turn. So far, so simple you might think. This is when the aforementioned strategy elements kick in. Each material can be used to power certain parts of your mech: your two weapons, your shields and your locomotive drives. Charging each system requires a combination of two resources so while you can potentially make an unlimited number of maneuvers in a turn, you'll quickly deplete your reserves leaving you entirely defenceless if you're reckless.

With that previous paragraph covering roughly a third of what you need to know to succeed, it's safe to say there's a wealth of tactics and knowledge to be gleaned from the competent tutorials and trials by fire. Balancing the demands of your mech with the need to manipulate the play-field is stressful enough without considering the advanced factors like evasion, over-heating, link nodes, overdrive and targeting specific body parts. On top of all of this, you have a total of twelve slots for augmentations and a wealth of equipment so customisation is key to winning the toughest missions. I've finished battles to find myself reclining into my seat physically exhausted, not realising how tense I'd become over the course of particularly tough battles. Becoming so involved and immersed is something I'd never thought possible in a game of this genre.

It is unrelentingly tough at times and you're not expected to be able to win first time round. Like Majora's Mask's looming moon, there's an enormous boss approaching headquarters that marks the deadline of each playthrough. All missions cost one day and with only 9 to spare you must choose the most rewarding path through the offerings. Certain missions will see you engaged in out and out combat whilst others require surviving a set number of turns, recovering cargo, or disabling enemies without killing them. Gathering scrap, war assets, blueprints, experience, and augmentations is vital to success but even though death is permanent, it is not a setback. Your score is added to a Global Unlock tally that rewards you with many permanent perks, pilots, and vehicles which not only boost your chances but make replaying an absolute pleasure.

Visually, both sides of this genre combination are often underwhelming. The art style involved here is really quite appealing with the character portraits and general tone evoking a convincing steampunk era. The animations of the mechs, from the arcs of energy weapons to flames billowing out of weakened components are a cool touch but it's understated throughout. The simplicity does get a little repetitive after extended playtime but your focus will rarely linger on the imagery for long periods.

I've said it before and it's worth reiterating, Ironcast is unforgiving. It's also inventive, smart, rewarding, and satisfying to the degree that all other games have fallen to the wayside since I started. This review was ready for writing at the 6 hour mark so all extra hours since have been pure indulgence and addiction. In a genre so devoid of even attempting to innovate, Ironcast is a masterpiece and quite easily one of my favourites games of this year.

The description says it's Puzzlequest meets FTL in a Steampunk setting and that pretty much nails it. It's a lot more involved than your usual match 3 game with several things to think about during each turn. Do you aim specifically for their shields to lower their defences or maybe try to knock out one of their weapons to lessen the damage they mete out? You're running out of coolant and only have enough left to either fire a shot off with one of your weapons or to raise your shields. Not always an easy choice.

Visuals are nice - They've really got that Steampunk Victoriana thing done well. The various mechs and characters you can unlock are pretty well designed.

Be warned though, this isn't some casual Match 3 game that you can play on autopilot. It demands you pay attention to what you're doing as the difficulty can start to ramp up. You never have quite enough money to buy the upgrades you want so are always scrambling for enough cash to pay for repairs and buy that new cannon that's available. There's a fair amount of challenge involved. Not bad thing in my book but like I say, just be aware it's not some casual bejewelled type of game.

I've put ten hours in over two days so definitely has that "one more turn" addictiveness for me.

An interesting blend of roguelike, rpg, tactical turn based combat and match three. Also a refreshing steampunk style that is a welcome change from the normal apocolyptic zombie infested wasteland. The art style is interesting and fits the game well. Surprisingly deep with the amount of combinations of equipment you can find and use on your mech. Overall worth a shot if you like roguelikes and/or want a break from fast paced combat or zombies.

Bejeweled, steampunk, mechs, killing frenchmen. 10/10

I've been trying to figure out what bugs me about this game. In theory, it should be perfect for me. Permadeath, resource management, strategic match-three gameplay, steam-punk aesthetic: it all sounds tailor-made for me. And yet, I don't enjoy it nearly as much as I'd hoped.

The game apes FTL: Faster than Light a fair bit too, but misses a few key design decisions. FTL has a limited timeframe to build up your vessel to handle the end-boss just like this does, but taking risks with your time management can yield great rewards there. Here, there's no risks to take with your turn timer, the strategy only comes through during the actual games, in between those there's little to no reward for good play.

The other big gripe I have is the meta-progress. The end-boss is horrifically overpowered (again, just like in FTL), but in FTL, you get better at the game the more you play it, until you beat the boss. In this game, the boss will pound you into a pulp until you've leveled up your "meta level" enough to stand a chance. That isn't fun. t first, I really liked this desgin choice: when a run goes awry on the last boss in FTL, you feel like you've thrown away 2 hours of your life with nothing to show for it and Ironcast remedies that with its meta-progression. At the very least, you've made subsequent runs easier. But these meta-levels feel like requirements to have a chance against the boss. I doubt the boss is killable on your first playthrough, you have to grind out some levels to make it a fair fight and that is just annoying as sin.


TL:DR Get FTL instead, unless you're really dead set on seeing what these folks did to the match-3 genre. It's not a bad game, as such, but slips on a few crucial points that result in a frustrating game. And that's dispite all its charm, which it has in spades.

Oh man where to begin...

It's like... Bejeweled went to an orgy with a bunch of steampunk games and doesn't know who the father is.

Good storyline
Good gameplay
Good replayabilty
Good art
Good music

10/10 Would buy for 11 people again

Excellent matching game, but very short. Very basic random elements change the difficulty each time around, but there are very few goals (or achievements) that hinge on using specific combinations of characters, Ironcasts, or equipment. Similar in vein to Puzzle Quest, Gyromancer, or HuniePop - if you like that particular vein of game, then Ironcast is a good investment. Have fun!

I beat the game in one sitting. By that, I mean I stayed awake until I beat it so I could find out what happened after killing the end boss. This game is amazing.

One problem, I want more. The setting and story are so immersive, I just want more of it.

Fist off, a warning: the campaign itself is short, took me just over 3 hours to complete the campaign start to end.

However, the game has a good amount of replayability, especially if you like the matching puzzle games. In each new game I found myself building a different type of mech and trying out different strategies . . . and sometimes failing horribly. (Very much like FTL in that regard, if you've played that one).

A nice game to waste time with some light/moderate tactics. Also, very easy to pick up where you left off.

I just wish there was more in the game . . . more of everything in general.

General More
/salute

This is a great game :) Have not had so much frustration in any game. good frustration though. anyway, the game crashes a lot when i play. this crash happens when my workshop background changed to black and the next mission it turns white. then it crashes, with the message: Too many Heap sections.
so yeah. i have a heap of fun, and they were like.. TOO MUCH HEAPS! so yeah.. im choosing to think its that
10/10 still playing it.

Puzzle quest meets FTL, with global umlocks. I have been enjoying this games as it also add a lot more strategy to the match three mechanic by making juggle resources, that damn coolant lol. A very enjoyable game i would recomned to anyone who likes rouglike and puzzle quest.

TL;DR Just one more Battle

I got this two days before release (from kickstarting it), and intended to check it out for an hour. I have played whenever I could since then. The only complaint I have is it feels like the AI is delibrately dumb. Numerous time's I've seen it blasting away at my drive when my shields are at full, or trying to take down the weapon that cannot penetrate it's shield.

The game oozes style and polish. The setting is great, The story is very basic, and the characters are just... perfect. The resources are always scarce, and every battle (except the first) can plausably do you in.

The battles are short enough that you can have a satisfying play session in under 15 minutes, but man is it hard to stop.

What exactly this curious little game is is already explained up there in the description, so I'm not going to bother with that. It is what it says it is and it's fun! The graphics are very intriguing, the plot and general gameplay is interesting and fun. The music started to annoy me after a while, but was fun for the first hour. So all in all I recommend it to everyone who likes the ingridients this is made out of.
My only real problem with the game is that it doesn't mix things up all that much. On my first try I failed after around 30 minutes, but I had fun. On my second try, I beat the game after around 4 hours and I had lots of fun and some very tense moments. On my third try, I used a newly unlocked officer, a newly unlocked Ironcast, and I didn't really have all that much fun anymore. Even though I had unlocked a bunch of stuff with all the exp from my second try, it just felt like I was doing more of the same and there was nothing interesting waiting anymore, my new officer for example was only the different picture and one different ability. In the game's defense: I get bored of games that have nothing new to offer anymore quicker than most people. So you might get more hours out of this than I did. But where a game like Risk of Rain or FTL or BoI have tons of random abilities and encounters and classes that are very different from each other, here every playthrough feels too much like the ones before it, since barely anything changes.

tl;dr: Generally recommending the game, it's quite beautiful and fun, but there is not enough stuff mixing up your playthroughs, so you might not keep hitting that retry button as much as you would in other rogue-lites.

A turn based roguelite in which you use Match 3 mechanics to acquire powerups which you then use to blow up enemies. Great stuff.

I got this game day of launch as a result of Totalbiscuit's livestream. From what I've played thus-far it's a lot of fun.
PROS
Interesting story.
Balanced Gameplay (IMO)
Replayability stacked to the sky.

CONS
A little short narratively.

The one Con I can find is more of a personal nitpick. Also It's mitigated by replayability a bit and I've only played with one pilot so I don't know if the story continues with others.

Can't say I can recomend the game for the full price, mostly due to the lenght.
Managed to blaze through in probably less than 4 hours (I believe it took around 5 tries? I can't be sure as I wasn't counting).
Only If you can get it for less than 5 bucks and just love match-3 games would I consider it worth of a recomendation.
The unlocks like one ramaining pilot just don't seem interesting enough for me to play just for the sake of unlocking.
It's not a bad game overall though. Just not worth what the developers ask for it in my opinion.

I played this game at Pax East 2015 was impressed that it was a day 1 purchase for me.

I bought it day 1 and got to see all the extra features that I did not get to try at the convention was really impressed.

Gameplay: I can see the similiarites from FTL and from a typical match 3 gem game. You have two weapons and two defensive moves that can be used every round. Both kind of devices use different resources (minus coolant as that is used for both) you also get to do 3 matches on the gem board to gather resources for said skills. Do you match some ammo gems and shot a few rounds and then use the next two matches to get more? Or do you go for a more balanced approach and try to keep your defenses at their top tier every turn.

Once you get the basics down they introduce active and passive abilities, special gems to match and also the ability to target specific parts of the enenmy.

After every mission you go back to your hanger where you spend salvage to repair or upgrade your mech.

Graphics: Not sure how to describe them, but they do the job. Simple but perfect for what this game is.

Music: Love it.

Story: Simple but enjoyable. You get to make choices for the missions which adds to the rogue-lite feel of it. An enemy cargo ship oftered their cargo to spare their life. I agreed and I got the choice to still turn on them and kill their ship for salvage. Simple choice system but really enjoyable.

Final Thoughts: Great game, if you enjoyed Puzzlequest or games like that it is a must buy. The staff is also very friendly speaking with them directly at Pax and also on the forums.

9/10