Goblin Stone

Goblin Stone makes a wonderful first impression with playful and charming presentation, but that charm spell soon dissipates, revealing a sometimes stodgy, grindy, and unsatisfying tactics game with diminishing returns.

Goblin Stone is a delightful romp through goblin lore. By placing the power in the hands of these mighty green goblins, there has never been more of a reason to try a new turn-based RPG. Orc Chop Games has made something special here.

So if that kind of management and absurdity sounds appealing–and I did enjoy frowning at my goblin roster and trying to min-max stats in my goblin eugenics program–then hiding beneath the cutesy storybook exterior is the fiendish heart of a pretty good roguelike. There was also a major patch as I was finishing up, so you can see what kinda fixes they made here, which gives you an idea of the kind of support they’re doing.

Fighting as the underdogs is always a tough proposition, and Goblin Stone straps you in for a long-term pursuit. But the strategy pulls you in for hours of fun if you like it.

The game is, on some level, Darkest Dungeon with lower stakes and featuring a group of weird little dudes instead of psychological torture. But they’re fun weird little dudes and you get invested in playing with them. If the basic gameplay loop sounds like fun, yeah, you’ll have to force past some occasional graphical weirdness and some interfaces that aren’t ideal, but there is a legitimately fun and compelling game on the other side. So while it doesn’t really nail the landing for f...

There is a fundamentally good, core Darkest Dungeon-like experience somewhere underneath this rushed, languid, and poorly executed turn-based rogue-lite.