Pharmakon

About

Pharmakon is a single player tactical turn-based strategy game. It was developed by Visumeca Games and was released on July 20, 2017. It received neutral reviews from players.

Use your drone to lead tactical combat against elemental beasts infesting your faction. Assess the risks, coordinate attacks, optimize your equipment and become the agent who will put an end to the infestation!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

42%

Audience ScoreBased on 12 reviews

replayability3 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features an interesting and original concept that combines Tetris-style mechanics with tactical gameplay.
Battles can be entertaining and require strategic placement of tiles, providing some engaging moments.
The game can serve as a fun time filler for those who enjoy unusual puzzles and tactical elements.

The game suffers from poor design and programming, leading to issues like unsolvable puzzles and bugs.
Gameplay becomes repetitive and monotonous, with limited mechanics and a lack of real progression.
Randomized encounters can result in impossible situations, and the game does not save progress effectively, creating artificial difficulty.

gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The gameplay has been criticized for its complexity and limitations, particularly due to a frustrating rage mechanic that restricts damage options and leads to random, often unwinnable battles. Players also find the repetitive tasks and lack of variety tedious, with the core mechanics revolving around fitting Tetris tiles into a cube and managing elemental attacks feeling insufficient compared to other strategy games. Overall, expectations were not met, leaving players disappointed with the gameplay experience.
- “The core gameplay consists of placing Tetris tiles inside a 'cube' as much as you can fit, then selecting enemies for attacks while considering their elements.”
- “Take Heroes of Might and Magic as an example: you manage unit positioning, elemental interactions, turns, and initiative, but in Heroes, this is just something you do alongside the real gameplay.”
- “Even the tutorial levels of Netstorm provide more variety and fun, both in terms of Tetris mechanics and overall gameplay experience.”
- “This is complicated by the rage mechanic, which means you can only indirectly damage each beast twice before it attacks you anyway.”
- “Very limited mechanics; battles are random, which can result in you being dealt impossible-to-win situations.”
- “Furthermore, the player needs to tend to a lot of repetitive mechanical tedium (repairing and putting pieces back), which gets old fast.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The story is primarily text-based and unfolds at a slow pace, with a focus on a mission to eliminate enemies on an island. Many users find the plot to be secondary and lacking depth, leading to a perception of it as unimportant and poorly executed, alongside criticisms of the graphics.
- “The story is text-based and slow.”
- “The plot is secondary, making it feel pointless to engage with.”
- “I personally didn't like the story; it felt cheap and unengaging.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
While the game offers interesting and innovative mechanics with randomized elements that can initially challenge players, many reviewers feel that the overall replayability is limited. Once players master the strategies, the game becomes relatively easy, reducing the incentive to replay.
- “The game offers a unique experience with each playthrough, thanks to its randomized elements and strategic depth, making it engaging to optimize your approach.”
- “With a variety of starting elements and diverse enemies, every session feels fresh, encouraging players to experiment with different strategies.”
- “Even after mastering the mechanics, the game's randomization keeps it interesting, providing enough challenge to warrant multiple playthroughs.”
graphics
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The graphics have received criticism for appearing cheap and unappealing, contributing to an overall negative impression of the game's visual presentation.
- “I personally didn't like the story and the graphics; they look cheap.”
- “The graphics are outdated and lack detail, making the game feel unpolished.”
- “The character models are poorly designed, and the environments feel bland and uninspired.”