Don’t Go Back!
One Way Heroics is a small game I bought on Steam one day. I remember the game being cheap, so I figured I give it a try. I ended up loving the game, and I play it somewhat often. I am going to review the game and express my thoughts on it.
One Way Heroics Review Information
I think the game is neat, and I want more people to know about it. I reviewed the game by playing the Steam version. I have played One Way Heroics for 81 hours on Steam.
I should also note I am playing the game with the One Way Heroics Plus mod.
Gameplay Review
What Kind of Game Is One Way Heroics?
One Way Heroics is a rogue-lite/rogue-like game. You need to move to the right of the screen and survive as you fight enemies and discover various things. You gain levels and grow stronger the more enemies you fight.
If you don’t progress to the right of the screen, you will be covered in darkness and lose. You can never go back to previously visited areas. When you lose, you have to start over from the beginning. But you can save the game sometimes, and there are things you can unlock as you play
The Forced Movement Mechanic Is Interesting
When I first started the game, I thought being forced into moving one way would get old or become a hassle. But this mechanic works out very well. It forces you to consider how much time you have to visit areas. The only way to visit new towns is to progress forward. You can’t backtrack to anything. Sometimes you have to skip areas if you can’t get to the entrance or exit in time.
When I first started, I often got swallowed by the darkness while getting stuck trying to destroy a wall or trying to climb mountains. You quickly learn what you have enough time to do. Or you learn ways to get around movement limitations.
The game gives you an ability to stop time for a while every run. You can also use this ability so many times, but it can get you out of tough or stuck spots. I tend to just use it at the end, though.
The Turn-Based Gameplay Is Fun
Although you must go to the right of the screen, everything in the game is turn-based. Nothing happens until you move your character or do something. So you have a lot of time to think about your next action and plan what you want to do.
I like this mechanic as it allows you to plan what skills, items, and actions you want to do next, and the game feels very fair for the most part.
The Classes Are Fun
The classes you can play in the game are fun. The classes are unique and have completely different playstyles. There are enough options that the game does not become stale. You have to complete extra quests to unlock some of the classes. These quests give you a different ending and win condition than you normally have.
The Game Has Good Difficulty Options
I like the difficulty options in the game. You can make the game so easy you almost always win, or so hard you might not win at all! There is a feature that lets you save powerful or good items to use in future runs as well. This feature can make winning a lot easier. You can also disable this with a difficultly modifier.
The game feels balanced very well. I rarely feel like I lost because of bad luck. The game does get harder as you move along, though. So some planning is needed to get far.
At the end of each run, win or lose, you get a score and a report of how you did. Playing the game harder gets you more points, and doing things to make the game easier usually means you will have fewer points.
There Are Different Ways to Win the Game
The first way to beat the game is to do what you are told. Defeat the demon lord. This person will appear so often to try to burn to you ashes. It is a hard fight meant to test how strong you are. Often, in the early game, you have to run away.
But there are other ways to win the game as well. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say it will make you reconsider the story and what you are fighting. Nothing too deep, but still interesting.
I like the options. Even if, most of the time, I end the game with the default ending anyway.
There are people you can recruit as party members sometimes when playing the game. Bringing these people along slightly changes the endings you get as well.
Online Connectivity
At the start of the game, you can pick certain seeds or dimensions to play in. Some dimensions last a while, and you can replay them. You can type in dimension or seed names at any time as well.
While playing the game, you can see the progress of other players in the same dimension as you. The game also lets you leave a small message when you lose or win, and everyone can see it. These messages are often very silly, and I love them.
I see people somewhat often. Usually only one or two people, but people still play the game. For a ten-year-old game, it still has an active player base, even if it is small.
Presentation Review
Do I Think the Game Looks Good?
The game looks good enough. The artwork is simple, and the more detailed artwork reminds me of anime. The overworld sprites look good enough. Just don’t expect to be wowed by the graphics of this game.
There are very odd text choices here and there. Sometimes, it looks like something that Google Translate would provide. I suppose since the creator is Japanese, that makes sense. There is nothing too hard to understand, so I am forgiving of it.
Do I Think the Game Sounds Good?
The sounds in the game are very nice. I have nothing bad to say. I like some of the music in the game as it fits the theme well. The music or audio is not so good that I want to overly praise it, but not so bad that I have anything to say.
Is One Way Heroics a Good Value?
The game costs me $3.50 (USD), and the game and the plus edition bundle cost about $9 (USD). Now, I am not going to judge anyone based on their finances. But I like to think that if you own and buy games on Steam, less than $10 (USD) is a good price for such a game.
I highly recommend buying One Way Heroics Plus. The DLC costs more money than the base game. But I just consider both package deals. I can’t say how the game is like without this DLC, as I only played the game with the DLC installed.
Do I Recommend Buying One Way Heroics?
The game is cheap and quite fun. Unless you don’t like turn-based games or how the game works, I would recommend it. It is not often that you can get such a fun game for less than $10.
How Often Do I Play One Way Heroics?
Recently, I have started to play the game more often, as it is a great game for shorter breaks.