These days, you can’t open Steam without accidentally installing yet another rogue-like deck-builder. So what makes Beneath Oresa demo stand out among so many other aspiring Slay The Spires?
Beneath Oresa is set in a sci-fi post-apocalyptic work with some possible hints of magic. The demo doesn’t do much to explain the setting (or the gameplay mechanics), but hey, it sounds cool.As you go under the presumably mysterious megalopolis of Oresa, you’ll face mutants, cults, and worse beings. On more practical terms, you’ll follow the fairly-linear path as outlined at the bottom of the screen. Curiously enough, there are quite a few transition animations.Hector, the Beneath Oresa demo character, has the counter-strike mechanic. When he fills the fury gouge, he’ll counterattack for however much damage he collected in another pool. I barely ever managed to get it off once, maybe I’m just bad at playing cards.The rest of the card mechanics are fairly simple: you have your energy pool, your cards cost some to play, your turn ends when you run out. Simple. The Steam page also talks about positioning being important and you certainly see enemies move around to attack you, but since you freely move between enemies by just making attacks, it’s not obvious, and I still don’t know how it affects enemy attacks.As in every game of this genre, you find downtime moments between fights, and they offer you respite and upgrades. Antiquariums are various perks and traits that you unlock just as if you were playing Slay the Spire or Monster Train. You can also heal, upgrade (or remove) cards, and increase (or decrease, as a tradeoff for better rewards) your bond with your companion.As far as I understand, each playable character also exists as a companion. In Beneath Oresa demo, there was only one. Companions don’t fight with you, but they provide bonuses based on your bond level. Of course, increasing bond depends on the blessings of Downtime RNG Gods, so you may not get that far in the end.As an absolute sucker for Deep Lore, I’d say I’ll play Beneath Oresa happily once it comes out in full. It just looks neat, and all the animations between the actual battles (as well as in them) show a lot of love put into the game. Hope it bears fruit.
