Abalon

About

"Abalon is a single-player, open world fantasy game with exceptional mechanics and good graphics, blending real-time exploration and turn-based combat inspired by tabletop classics like Hero Quest and Magic: The Gathering. Embark on perilous quests, discover secrets, and engage in tactical battles with unit positioning, cards, and the roll of a D20, meeting unique characters, solving mysteries, and encountering mutated rabbits and goblin parties."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 496 reviews

gameplay42 positive mentions

grinding12 negative mentions

The game offers a great blend of tabletop adventure, D&D encounters, and Magic the Gathering mechanics, providing loads of variation and strategy.
The developer is highly responsive to community feedback, regularly updating the game and addressing bugs, which enhances the overall experience.
The tactical combat system is engaging, allowing players to create unique strategies with a variety of summoners, cards, and companions.

The graphics feel more like a mobile game, which may detract from the overall experience for some players.
There are balance issues, particularly with certain summoners being underpowered, leading to frustration during early encounters.
The game can become repetitive over time, with some players feeling that the RNG elements can lead to unfair situations in battles.

gameplay
160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
70%
4%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a unique blend of tactical turn-based mechanics and deck-building elements, allowing for strategic depth and engaging combat centered around summoner classes and card interactions. While the game offers a satisfying and addictive gameplay loop, some players note that the initial learning curve can be steep due to unclear mechanics and a lack of comprehensive tutorials. Overall, the game is praised for its ongoing development, diverse character options, and the potential for extensive replayability, making it a compelling choice for fans of the genre.
- “Exploring the maps is fun, the battles are strategic, the card mechanics are refreshingly different, and mostly focus on summons.”
- “Fun and engaging strategic gameplay with a game loop that makes you want to play again and again to find new interesting card interactions.”
- “The choice of summoner adds a unique dimension to the gameplay, allowing players to delve into a rich tabletop world teeming with secrets.”
- “It's this type of uneven gameplay that keeps me from continuing to play or recommend it strongly.”
- “The mechanics, storytelling, map design, encounter design, and the art are all weak.”
- “The discard mechanic (which is pretty important) is never explained in the tutorial, but is mentioned in the lore that you might get if you're searching for it.”
graphics
66 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
68%
5%
The graphics of "Summoner's Fate" have received mixed feedback, with some players initially finding the cartoonish art style off-putting, while others appreciate its charm and unique top-down perspective. Many reviewers highlight the game's high graphical fidelity and clean pixel art, noting that the visuals grow on you over time and effectively convey gameplay information. Overall, while some may perceive the graphics as reminiscent of mobile games, the artistic design is praised for its quality and detail, contributing to an engaging gaming experience.
- “The art style and unique top-down perspective, while at first glance may seem off-putting with its cartoon-like quality, is clearly an artistic decision and is extremely well done.”
- “It's a game with surprisingly high quality graphical fidelity and a level of detail that you would never expect from an indie game.”
- “Gorgeous graphics, excellent tutorial, and compelling gameplay that makes you want to stay in for just one more battle!”
- “The only con would be the graphics - overall it feels more like a mobile game.”
- “The graphics were a turn-off for me years ago when I tried the demo of Summoner's Fate.”
- “It's not going to wow you with its story, and its graphics are the sort that grow on you rather than immediately enrapturing you, but the gameplay is tight, neat, and mentally stimulating.”
replayability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
50%
12%
The game boasts high replayability due to its extensive variety of unlockable characters, cards, and modes, as well as the randomness of maps and encounters that change with each playthrough. Players appreciate the flexibility in gameplay, allowing for different strategies and experiences with each session. Overall, the combination of diverse elements and modes ensures that players can enjoy the game repeatedly without it feeling stale.
- “Overall amazing game worth the price and has a lot of replayability with so many different characters, cards, and random dungeons.”
- “The flexibility of the system, as well as the sheer variation in characters and cards, makes this game incredibly replayable. Not to mention there's now different modes you can play, like survival or skirmish modes.”
- “Replayability is great, not only because you can select a different lead character, called the summoner, for each adventure, but there will be different cards (which become spells you cast for effects and to bring new allies to the board for your cause), different encounters, and different enemies.”
- “It's a good game but needs an 'oomph' feature to give it that replayability that roguelikes have.”
- “The flexibility of the system, as well as the sheer variation in characters and cards, makes this game incredibly re-playable (not to mention there's now different modes you can play, like survival or skirmish modes).”
- “In addition, an element of randomness is introduced as the map and encounters change during each adventure dive, so yeah...there is replayability.”
humor
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating its cleverness and integration into gameplay and storytelling. Many highlight the balance of humor, noting it enhances the experience without overwhelming it, while some suggest that additional comedic elements could further enrich the game. Overall, the humor contributes positively to the game's charm and enjoyment.
- “I love the humor, I love the gameplay, and I look forward to the next iteration of this game and hopefully the many more games you release.”
- “The game has some fun scripted encounters and a pleasant sense of humor.”
- “Already a decent variety of character classes to play, interesting tactical mechanics, a lot of fun cards, good sense of humor, and I enjoy how the lore system works in hints about what to expect further in the run.”
story
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
The game's story is not its primary focus, as it is a roguelike that emphasizes gameplay over narrative depth. While the storytelling and map design are considered weak, some players appreciate the humor and well-written lore pieces that enhance the experience. Overall, the story is described as light and not particularly captivating, but it complements the engaging gameplay mechanics.
- “I also like the artwork, and the slightly humorous without being overkill story.”
- “- Lore pieces are well written with seemingly little to no grammatical or spelling errors and all contribute to the story.”
- “The d20 dice for different aspects of the story.”
- “The mechanics, storytelling, map design, encounter design, and the art are all weak.”
- “This is a roguelike and not a story-driven game - you progress through stages, ultimately fighting the boss to move on to the next stage and get as far as you can.”
- “If comparing with other games, it's like Marvel Midnight Suns without the boring story, conversation, and base.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate that the game avoids the typical grindy experience often found in roguelites, maintaining strategic depth and variety in gameplay. However, some aspects, such as repetitive map layouts and the lengthy time required to unlock certain decks (around 20+ hours), can lead to a sense of tedium in world exploration and farming. Overall, while the game offers engaging mechanics, some players feel that certain elements could benefit from a reduction in grind.
- “While the map layout/events can eventually get repetitive and destroying crates is tedious as all hell, Abalon's gameplay loop and strategic depth makes this a must-play for me.”
- “Great variety of decks, cards, and heroes, but the world exploration gets a little tedious after a while.”
- “It takes a long time to unlock some of the decks in battle mode, which can be approximately 20+ hours of farming.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players praise its quality and fittingness, others find it forgettable. Overall, the sound design, including music and sound effects, is generally considered pleasant and enhances the gaming experience.
- “It's also worth mentioning that the music and overall sound quality of the game is very good.”
- “The animations are great, the card choices add depth, and the music is perfect.”
- “Both the graphics and music are pleasant; I like it.”
- “forgettable music”
- “forgettable music”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game is highly praised for its optimization, running smoothly even on low-end hardware without causing performance issues or excessive fan noise. Users report a consistently positive experience with no performance-related complaints.
- “The game runs smoothly and I have not had performance issues.”
- “I must praise the performance optimizations: the fan doesn't go on on my potato laptop.”
- “No performance issues.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be significantly enhanced by its immersive soundtrack, which effectively conveys the environment and emotional tone, creating a more engaging experience compared to other titles like Marvel's Midnight Suns. The absence of tedious storytelling and dialogue further allows players to connect more deeply with the game's atmosphere.
- “Each track makes you really feel the environment you're in, or sets an emotional tone that helps put you into the world.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect is viewed positively, with users emphasizing that the game offers good value for its price despite misleading advertisement graphics that resemble lower-quality mobile games. Overall, players feel the game is worth the investment due to its appealing pixel art and full game experience.
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a mixed bag; while some players report a smooth experience with minimal glitches, others note that it remains buggy due to its early access status. However, the developers are actively addressing these issues and are responsive to player feedback.
- “Very easy to get lost in this game, still buggy but it's early access and the dev is super responsive to the bugs and implementing fixes.”
- “The game works very well, I have yet to find any glitches or breaks.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is praised for its impressive design and engaging animations, which not only enhance the gameplay experience but also incorporate humorous cultural references that resonate with players.
- “Character design, cultural references, and animations are all not only great and oh so satisfying, but they also made me chuckle at times.”
- “Character design, cultural references, and animations are all not only great and oh so satisfying, but they also made me chuckle at times.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is characterized by a blend of turn-based tactics and deck-building elements, infused with a distinct Dungeons & Dragons flair, creating an immersive and engaging experience for players.
- “Combines turn-based tactics with deck-building elements and an atmospheric D&D flair.”