Tabletop Gods – PC Review

Review by Kieran Sutton

Ghost Fish Games have brought forward an offering to the gods of gaming! A beautifully crafted action strategy tower destruction simulator that will have you vowing virtual vengeance on anyone cunning enough to best your tactical tabletop turret defences. That’s enough alliteration for now but if you haven’t guessed this game is all about….

Story/Characters

You are a god. Which god? I don’t know (I imagined it as me with a bigger hat) but like all the best gods you are a power-hungry and don’t play well with others. Who are you fighting? The other power-hungry gods who take the form of spooky floating masks beholding above the battlefield. Not wanting to dirty up the heavens the gods decided that a reasonable method of finding out who should fill the god-king power vacuum is to throw thousands of mortal warriors at each other until all this god stuff makes sense. Thus a tabletop battle arena was made and the stage was set!

There are a couple
of teams, who each have a variety of units; predominantly the humans and
undead. Each team has their unique defences, powers and troops to deploy amidst
the chaos; and there will be chaos.

Audio/Visual

The visual style of
a cutesy combination of early warcraft and everyone’s favourite block punching
lego-box with a cartoon theme and blocky heads. Smooth animations, helpful hit
points and swiftly delivered cannon ball explosions all make simply sitting to
a nice evening of warfare an overall pleasant experience until, like Ghandi in
a game of Civilisation, someone takes it a little too far.

I loved the map design and found there are enough little details to keep the map looking neat and inviting for many a battle; however, I do wish there was a bit more variety in the arena. The soundtrack is great and switches from a serenely soft menu melody to something that somehow feels both heroic and industrial. If you’re anything like me drop down the commentator volume as he’ll feel the need to tell you that you don’t have enough mana every time you furiously attempt to drop down that shambling hulk that you so very much need on the battlefield.

Gameplay

There’s multiple game modes (if you can call them that) that
range from “Destroy that other guys towers”
and “destroy that other’s guy towers in
order” all the way to “Destroy that
other’s guy king (who’s hiding in a tower)”. The actual battles are divided
into three rounds, at the beginning of each one both players will have some
time to drop some towers or traps for the coming onslaught and then the fun
begins! Both maps seem to split almost like a MOBA, you’ve got lanes and towers
with your units acting as both minion and hero!

You can place troops in your highlighted territory and
neutral (tower destroyed) lands. Overtime your mana will regenerate and allow
you to deploy more troops; or more likely replenish the fallen knights who’ve
just discovered a hidden spike trap. Mana is also the resource used for your
spells and the rate at which both players earn it will increase as the game
goes on; if you lose a tower, you’ll also get a bunch of mana to retaliate in
kind. The experience is fairly brutal and can range from a thrilling decisive
victory to a soul crushing defeat with a tendency to death spiral as you lose
control of the map and find the enemy encroaching on every side.

Summary

This game is a perfect example of how simple strategy can be
tough to master. It would be great to see a little more diversity in the maps
and challenges but overall a huge amount of fun when your hordes are pushing
down on the last remaining lookouts. The multiplayer will be a highlight here and
if you truly want to feel like a deity looming down over the battle, play in
virtual reality and lead your lords or liches to victory.

Overall Score – 6/10

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