Honest Review and Comparison – Royal Booty Quest Review

This game is a near absolute clone of Slay the Spire, a game I heavily enjoy, but for mobile. That being said, I truly appreciate the work you’ve put into this game and I already love it. Of course with it being an unfinished project, however, there are many issues with various aspects of the game. Before delving too deep into my opinion, just wanted to say the gameplay is fantastic. Perfect usage of the touchscreen with some very necessary options to customize it to a player’s preference (sizes of cards, in particular) but also sound controls. And to get this out of the way early, playing this game at work or in public is a little sketchy as all of the main characters are skimpily dressed females. This is a recurring theme amongst many RPGs, but something that does not appeal to everyone and will turn some gamers away. I’d rather see unique characters varying from regular hominid people to monsters, robotics, or other types of beings. Going along with this, creating a small bit of lore for each character would be very pleasing to see, though not necessary. Next up, the text. Text throughout the game from the general UI to Menus to Combat have some errors with either spelling, grammar, or are still in code form. I wish I took screenshots or remembered exactly some points in the game that this was prevalent, but just completing the campaign with 2 characters (one character on my Android phone, one on this iPhone) was enough for me to see it PLENTY of times. UI and Icons. When there are many cards in the hand (not sure if there is a limit?), there is no way to scroll and see what cards are available to the far right and left. The player must play cards from the midrange to even see what other cards they drew, let alone use them. Some icons for debuffs/buffs/relics either don’t work, are the same, or don’t make sense when paired with the actual effect. Some more diverse icons would go a long way for something so small. Also, there needs to be some sort of index that’s simply laid out and easy to read that displays what each icon and relic means/does. Though I haven’t tried the character, I’m still not certain what BF means for the blue-skinned, blindfolded heroine. Random encounters. I get that the “Present” icon represents a possible reward, but something more relevant to the world you’ve created would be more fitting. Along with this, there aren’t enough diverse random encounters. I’ve gotten the same 3 choice encounters quite a few times in my playthroughs. Otherwise, most presents are just another fight. I love the excitement of getting to the random encounter zones of Slay the Spire (StS) and not knowing what I am getting into, and even after multiple playthroughs on StS, I still discover random encounters I’ve never seen before. Lastly, I understand that StS revolves around the same gameplay with exciting new paths every playthrough, but the one thing that makes it all worth replaying is that there are goals. Unlocking new cards, relics, characters, maybe another act or even extra bits of lore per playthrough (or combination of clearing the game with specific heroes) makes finishing it rewarding and makes you want to play it again to see what else can be unlocked. Further, there are ascension levels to increase the challenge for those players that feel the game isn’t as challenging to them anymore. And on that topic, this game seems a bit easier. I understand that they are not the same game, but are of the same genre. Still, some powerful relics should either be more difficult to obtain, very rare early on, or have the player sacrifice something to use them earlier on. Maybe having a ranking for relics where each group have their own drop rates or requirements to find/utilize. Verdict: This game has an insane amount of potential as a mobile platform standard for the card-based rogue-like genre that I would even pay for, given if the amount of work was put into the game to make it worth the buck (I paid $15 for StS, so playing this free seems literally like a steal). In it’s current state, it has had so much work done no doubt, but I would still consider it in alpha stage as it still needs much work. It is a 5/5 game masked as a 3/5 due to all of the bugs and unfinished aspects. Please keep up your amazing work! I will not be deleting this game for a while, and I am FAR from a mobile gamer. Thank you.
Review by AxulAce on Royal Booty Quest.