Epic Manager - Create Your Own Adventuring Agency
- December 12, 2016
- ManaVoid Entertainment
- 15h median play time
Get on SteamEpic Manager is a unique blend of RPG management simulation. Run your own adventuring agency, recruit heroes, send them on quests, and manage their equipment, skills, and personalities. Navigate the political landscape of rival agencies and make strategic decisions to outsmart them. Build your reputation, level up your agency, and become candide for the ultimate title of Epic Manager.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a fun concept with interesting mechanics and customization options.
- The art style and comedic vibe of the characters are enjoyable, adding charm to the gameplay.
- There is potential for depth in the management and RPG elements, making it engaging for players who enjoy strategy.
- The game suffers from significant balance issues and a lack of polish, leading to a frustrating experience.
- Many players report frequent crashes and bugs, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- The league system punishes players for doing well, creating a sense of unfairness and discouragement.
- story73 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around managing a hero agency in a fantasy world, where players recruit adventurers to complete quests and compete for fame against other guilds. While the initial premise is engaging, many players find the narrative lacking depth, as the focus shifts to quest management and resource allocation rather than a compelling storyline. The randomness of quests and encounters can lead to frustrating experiences, overshadowing the potential for a richer narrative experience.
“A game where you manage a hero agency in a fantasy world, and dispatch adventurers to complete quests and compete to become the top hero agency.”
“Each year your goal is to amass as much fame from quest completions as you can to beat everyone else in the league.”
“You have a story, a variety of enemies, and a boss that is not to be taken lightly when you come across one.”
“The other problem is the quest navigation and how to determine a quest's difficulty; it's not clear what enemies are considered 'elite' or 'normal'. The only way to judge a quest's difficulty is to accept the quest, then scout it, send your adventurer party to the quest, and look at the auto-resolve feature. Based on that win/loss ratio, you can determine your actual chances, which wastes time that you don't have.”
“This game forces you to use weak adventurers; keeping a good team on payroll will bankrupt you unless you get lucky and find the right quests at the right locations. The game is heavily reliant on RNG.”
“So far as I've seen, the quests are just single battles against opponents that I've been able to easily beat, but on the way there and back, getting ambushed by powerful creatures makes the quests boring, and getting there and back tedious.”
- gameplay26 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is marked by a mix of interesting mechanics and frustrating elements, with many players noting issues such as frequent crashes, tedious combat, and poorly balanced mechanics that can penalize successful strategies. While some appreciate the complexity and potential for depth, others find the experience dull, repetitive, and lacking polish, leading to a consensus that significant tuning and improvements are needed for a more enjoyable experience. Overall, the game offers a challenging strategy experience but suffers from execution flaws that detract from its potential.
“It has many interesting mechanics and customization options.”
“Tldr: the complexity really opens up as you learn the various mechanics making it a fun and challenging strategy game.”
“Awesome game, nice gameplay and easy to learn, hard to master.”
“In four hours of gameplay, the game crashed 8 times.”
“It's dull and uneventful gameplay, unfortunately.”
“Horrible gameplay, linear experience and worst combat implementation of a game I've seen in a long time.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their neatness and appealing, cartoony style, reminiscent of titles like Plants vs. Zombies. However, some players feel that while the visuals are attractive, they lack depth and polish, suggesting that improvements could enhance the overall experience. Despite these critiques, the aesthetics contribute positively to the game's fun and engaging atmosphere.
“The aesthetics of Epic Manager attracted me, even though I very rarely play management and strategy games.”
“The graphics are cartoony, but they work well in the game.”
“Combat is fun, and the graphics are nice on the eyes.”
“Don't let the graphics fool you, there's a lot going on in this game.”
“Good start but needs polishing/rebalancing plus a remake of better art and graphics.”
“The graphics are cartoony but they work well in the game.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Overall, the reviews indicate a mixed perception of replayability across different games. While titles like "Epic Manager" and those with diverse class combinations offer significant replay value, others, such as "Empire TV Tycoon" and certain quick games, struggle with limited replayability due to their design or lack of content. Some players appreciate the potential for increased replayability as developers add new features, but others find certain games too linear or punishing to encourage multiple playthroughs.
“With Ironmade mode and nice replayability, I really liked my journey in Epic Manager.”
“Depth happens on both the strategic and tactical level, and with various class combinations, there's a lot of replayability.”
“The class variations (and the addition of new prestige classes) provide a good deal of replayability even before it's feature complete.”
“Empire TV Tycoon is similarly addictive and impressive, but it still lacks replay value, which is gradually improving as the developers add content.”
“It definitely doesn't reach the level of a 4X or grand strategy game, and I see very little replay value in this game.”
“There's no replayability as it is do or die; if you fail to hit set targets after a certain number of turns, you lose the game and have to restart completely.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be slow, repetitive, and tedious, often detracting from the enjoyment of combat and questing. While some appreciate the quick progression that mitigates the feeling of grinding, many express frustration with the lack of depth and engaging mechanics, leading to a monotonous experience.
“But it is slow, grindy, and a bit repetitive.”
“Recettear gets a little too grindy too quickly.”
“So far as I've seen, the quests are just single battles against opponents that I've been able to easily beat, but on the way there and back, getting ambushed by powerful creatures makes the quests boring, and getting there and back tedious.”
- music6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with players appreciating the nice soundtrack overall but criticizing the repetitive combat track, which some find annoying. While the general music is deemed acceptable, there are calls for improvements, particularly in combat music, to enhance the overall experience.
“The soundtrack is nice, especially outside of combat.”
“I would love to see a second version or collector's edition DLC with better art, more quests, and improved music.”
“Art and music are rated 8/10; the artwork has a very Plants vs. Zombies feel.”
“The combat music has only one repetitive track.”
“The music is so annoying before the first hour is played.”
“I would love to see a second version or collector's edition DLC with better art, more quests, and better music.”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs, optimization problems, and balancing inconsistencies that detract from the overall experience. Players report frustrating glitches, such as character health anomalies and AI freezes, which hinder gameplay, especially in the mid to endgame phases.
“I enjoyed this game for a time, but it's horribly buggy and has a ton of balancing issues that make the mid to endgame a slog.”
“F for the optimization (losing mouse clicks, AI freezes on their turn, bugs, etc.).”
“Occasionally, glitches would cause one character to have around 4k HP or some other anomalous behavior - in a game where 600-700 HP is enough to carry oneself at endgame and anything above 1k is overpowering in competent hands.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -150 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express frustration with the game's optimization, citing issues like AI freezes, lost mouse clicks, and various bugs. Additionally, the lack of a mode that allows for leisurely gameplay without time constraints hinders the enjoyment of strategic agency building. Overall, the optimization aspect is seen as lacking and in need of improvement.
“I really appreciate the optimization features in the game, as they allow for a smoother experience and help streamline my gameplay.”
“The optimization options provided are fantastic, making it easier to manage resources and improve my agency's performance.”
“While I enjoy the challenge, I wish there was a mode without a time limit, allowing players to focus on building their agency at their own pace without the pressure of constant optimization.”
“Even though I can get over the high RNG stuff, it really bothers me that there's no mode without a time limit, allowing players to enjoy building their agency at their own pace without worrying about optimizations and random rolls.”
“F for the optimization: losing mouse clicks, AI freezes on their turn, bugs, etc.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is characterized as campy and endearing, reminiscent of Shakespeare's enjoyment of low-quality performances, which adds a charming and playful element to the overall experience.
“It's also got a campy sense of humor, but it's kind of cute in the way that Shakespeare used to enjoy watching bad plays.”
“The humor is delightfully absurd, making even the most mundane tasks feel entertaining.”
“I love how the game doesn't take itself too seriously, with witty dialogue and hilarious character interactions.”
- character development1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Character development is perceived as shallow, with limited synergy between the multiclass system and long-term growth, leaving players wanting more depth and complexity in character progression.
“Character development is very shallow: there's not much synergy with the multiclass system in the long run.”
“The character progression feels uninspired and lacks depth, making it hard to feel invested in my choices.”
“I found the character development to be lacking; it doesn't offer meaningful growth or transformation throughout the game.”
