On first glance, one wouldn’t expect much from Loop Hero‘s simple design and map layout. However, this roguelike’s gameplay requires strategy and quick thinking skills that could rival the best chess match. In Loop Hero, players are in charge of rebuilding a reality thrown into the abyss by looping through a combination of memories and monsters as they collect resources to rebuild. The gameplay of this pixelated adventure is a combination of inventory management, tower defense, and deck-building. Each mechanic is a unique take on its respective genre that adds up to an addicting game that some will be happy to grind through. The tower-defense mechanics, however, are especially unique in their execution.
When players leave their camp to go on and Expedition, they’ll enter a looped track that might look familiar to those who’ve played a harder Bloons map. While the hero loops the map, players are in charge of placing cards from a pre-organized deck on the ground. Players get cards when the hero fights enemies that appear on the map, via the cards the player already placed, or otherwise. To make sure the hero can continue to fight, players will have to equip a constantly revolving inventory of items. This loot comes from killed monsters, treasure chests, and having the hero pick up quests.
What is most interesting about Loop Hero‘s take on the Tower Defense mechanic is that the player is not defending themselves at all. There are a few cards, including some unlockables, that can add some extra buffs. However, the vast majority provide obstacles for the hero in the form of new monsters and terrain that make the next loop around more difficult. This includes a Vampire Mansion card that spawns the bloodsuckers, or a Grove card that gives the player wood but has the chance of spawning a beast. There are also mechanics that trigger when a certain number of cards are placed, such as a Harpy spawning from too many Mountain cards.
In order to reach the end of a chapter players will need to remember enough of the world, by placing cards, to get the attention of the boss. For each card they place, the boss meter goes up a little. When it fills up, the chapter boss will spawn where the players camp was, only giving them until the end of the loop to prepare for the boss fight. In more than one way, Loop Hero fans are playing against themselves.
There are cards that do provide some benefit to the player, such as each Meadow card on the map healing the player at the start of each day and rocks and Mountains extending the hero’s health bar. The latter can be stacked by placing rocks and mountains next to each other, but this benefit comes with a caveat. If players place nine Rock or Mountain cards next to each other in a 3×3 grid, it will make Mountain Peak form that can spawn Harpies. Even if players don’t spawn any larger mountains, a goblin camp will spawn with each ten Mountain/Rock cards on the map. Another example of this mechanic is when the player places two Village cards, which provide health and a quest, a bandit camp will spawn. Even the good choices in this game have negative consequences.
Loop Hero is so popular that it’s sold over half a million units in one week. Loop Hero is one of those games where it’s a constant cycle of dying and trying again until they get lucky enough to break through.
Loop Hero is available now on PC, Mac, and Linux.
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