Purgatory

About

"Purgatory" is a single-player Science Fiction Role Playing game with turn-based strategy gameplay similar to Heroes of Might and Magic. As the protagonist Xzus, players navigate the afterlife, recruiting spirits and battling foes to gain enough power to break out of Purgatory and regain life. The game boasts epic pixel art, a vast array of spirits to recruit, and a prequel story to the acclaimed Data Hacker series, accompanied by an amazing music score and extensive grinding.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

58%

Audience ScoreBased on 157 reviews

story13 positive mentions

grinding24 negative mentions

The game offers a compelling story with interesting character development and plot twists.
The music and voice acting are well done, enhancing the overall experience.
For its low price, the game provides decent gameplay and a variety of enemy types, making it a worthwhile purchase for casual players.

The gameplay is repetitive and can feel like a tedious grind, lacking meaningful progression.
Technical issues such as glitches, bugs, and poor optimization hinder the overall experience.
The visuals are underwhelming and lack polish, resulting in a bland and uninteresting environment.

story
51 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
59%
16%
The game's story receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its character development and plot twists, while others criticize it for being disjointed and lacking a cohesive narrative. Many find the storytelling hindered by repetitive gameplay and technical issues, leading to an overall underwhelming experience. Despite some positive remarks about the pixel art style complementing the story, the lack of a clear endgame and significant replayability detracts from its impact.
- “The thing is I love this game's concept, its execution, and how it tells its story.”
- “Purgatory is a turn-based RPG with a skill tree system, a decent amount of enemy types, great music, a compelling story, and a decent amount of levels.”
- “I like the smeared and extra unclean style of the pixel design, because it fits incredibly well to the story.”
- “Purgatory with repetitive gameplay, technical issues, weak storytelling, underwhelming visuals, and limited replayability, it fails to deliver an engaging or memorable experience.”
- “No real storyline; the story starts out of nowhere and goes nowhere.”
- “Furthermore, I can’t recommend this as it is very repetitive, grindy, lacking an actual story and many other aspects.”
gameplay
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
53%
15%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players criticizing it for being repetitive, monotonous, and plagued by technical issues such as glitches and crashes. While some appreciate the basic mechanics and find the gameplay enjoyable and balanced, others feel it lacks depth and fails to deliver a cohesive experience. Overall, the game struggles to engage players due to its shortcomings in execution and storytelling.
- “The art looks so good and the gameplay is nice.”
- “I bought this game a long time ago in a bundle on sale... you won't regret buying this if you just put your mind into the story and the wonderful gameplay.”
- “+ gameplay is fun and balanced”
- “One of the major issues with Purgatory is its repetitive and monotonous gameplay.”
- “Glitches, bugs, and frequent crashes are common occurrences, hindering gameplay and causing frustration.”
- “Purgatory features repetitive gameplay, technical issues, weak storytelling, underwhelming visuals, and limited replayability, failing to deliver an engaging or memorable experience.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
30%
10%
The music in the game is generally praised for its charm and fitting atmosphere, contributing positively to the overall experience. However, many reviewers noted that it becomes repetitive, particularly during battles, and suggested that more variety in tracks would enhance the gameplay. Overall, while the music is considered good, its lack of diversity may detract from long-term enjoyment.
- “Purgatory is a turn-based RPG with a skill tree system, a decent amount of enemy types, great music, a compelling story, and a decent amount of levels.”
- “I like the gloomy atmosphere and music; the fog on the map is nice.”
- “Awesome music and sounds too.”
- “The music is charming for the first 3 combats and then gets repetitive, and it's way too easy.”
- “The way the gameplay comes across is dull; even if they changed the battle music or the background every so often, that would add some much-needed spice to this game.”
- “I like the art style and music, but both end up being very repetitive.”
grinding
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
92%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, with many players finding it lacks variety and engaging content. While some enjoy the grind for powerful units, others feel it becomes a chore, often requiring them to replay lower levels to progress. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a major drawback, detracting from the game's potential enjoyment.
- “This game actually contains little to no grinding if you play the aforementioned way, pushing through with your current troops instead of farming easy battles.”
- “The game quickly becomes a tedious grind, offering little variety or engaging content to keep players interested.”
- “Furthermore, I can’t recommend this as it is very repetitive, grindy, lacking an actual story and many other aspects.”
- “♦ Very grindy (this is because you get to a level you can’t beat, you have to go back and redo the same lower level over and over again until you get enough skill points to be able to beat the next level. Also, every time you replay a level, everything stays the same).”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
63%
13%
The graphics in "Purgatory" receive mixed reviews, with many players finding them underwhelming and lacking polish, resulting in bland environments and repetitive visuals. While some appreciate the pixel art style, describing it as artistic, others feel it falls short compared to similar games, citing a lack of graphical options and technical issues. Overall, the visuals contribute to a less engaging experience, overshadowed by repetitive gameplay and weak storytelling.
- “Nice pixel art if you like that graphics type; however, the game itself falls under the love it or hate it category. It does take getting used to. I can say that I'm one of the few that played it and enjoyed it, and not just for any one thing. I do like some types of pixel art games, not all though. Some purely look cheap and trashy. This game offered a nice and artistic look for me, combined with RPG elements, which is one of my favorite genres, and strategy, which is another, made this a win-win little gem for me.”
- “I like the art style and music, but both end up being very repetitive.”
- “Nothing much to say, but the graphics are cool.”
- “Moreover, the visuals and graphics in Purgatory are underwhelming.”
- “The game's art style may lack polish, resulting in bland and uninteresting environments.”
- “Purgatory, with repetitive gameplay, technical issues, weak storytelling, underwhelming visuals, and limited replayability, fails to deliver an engaging or memorable experience.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its gloomy aesthetic and immersive music, complemented by foggy visuals that enhance the experience. While the atmosphere encourages players to take breaks and return to the game, some reviewers noted that the repetitive nature of enemies detracts from the overall ambiance. Overall, it creates a captivating yet somewhat limited environment.
- “I like the gloomy atmosphere and music; the fog on the map is nice.”
- “Though the game itself is not too long, it has its own encouraging atmosphere.”
- “It's atmosphere is great and is the kind of game you can walk away from, fix a snack, then take another whack.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game suffers from significant limitations in replayability, primarily due to a lack of achievements, an absence of a compelling storyline, and no option to reset save files, leading to a one-and-done experience. Players find the repetitive gameplay and technical issues further diminish any incentive to revisit the game. Overall, it fails to provide an engaging or memorable experience that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “No replayability; this is because there are no Steam achievements, no storyline, and no way to even reset your save file within the game to start over. This means once it’s finished, it’s finished, and nothing makes you want to play it over.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game "Purgatory" is criticized for its technical issues and subpar optimization, leading to a frustrating experience for players.
- “Furthermore, Purgatory suffers from technical issues and poor optimization.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting frequent glitches, bugs, and crashes that disrupt gameplay and lead to frustration.
- “Glitches, bugs, and frequent crashes are common occurrences, hindering gameplay and causing frustration.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is consistently described as "lovely" and "funny," indicating that it effectively incorporates humor in a charming and enjoyable manner.
- “Lovely funny game”