TAVERN GUARDIANS: BANQUET Demo

Combining genres is not a new idea, but as it was proven time and again over the years, there are certain mixtures that just don’t work, no matter how talented the developers might be. While everyone would like a Total War game where you can jump into the boots of one of your troops and fight like in a Dark Souls game, such concepts don’t fly, at least not yet. On the other hand, there are ways to include certain elements without ruining the experience as a whole.

TAVERN GUARDIANS: BANQUET is a match-three game that plays a lot like a turn-based strategy game as well, which sounds pretty cool. In essence, you have multiple types of tiles that can be matched, and they all have different effects. On top of that, you can also use spells and special abilities, as well as equip items that can restore your health or mana points when you need them the most.

As you can tell by the game’s name, your role is to defend taverns across the land, because the bad guys love attacking them for some reason. Each level takes you to a different tavern, and there’s usually a new type of enemy to defeat as well. Some of them don’t do much other than attack every couple of turns, but others can buff every monster on the board, so it’s important to focus your attention on them sometimes.

The biggest problem with TAVERN GUARDIANS: BANQUET is the fact that it’s actually quite difficult to survive, especially during boss battles. While there are options at your disposal, such as reinforcing your walls, replenishing your health pool or casting spells, none of these can be used unless you have the appropriate tiles on the board. Hence, it’s hard to think strategically when your skills can only be used if you are lucky enough to have the necessary tiles spawn on the board.

This is especially true for boss battles, where you usually have to defend against special attacks every couple of turns. However, other enemies still spawn, and they deal quite a lot of damage. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how well you plan your moves, because the sheer amount of damage is way higher than the available health points on the board. Other times you can easily plough through a level thanks to lucky combos, so frustration is bound to kick in sooner or later.

TAVERN GUARDIANS: BANQUET is definitely not a bad game, especially since it’s a lot more engaging than your typical match-three flick. However, the RNG factor ruins your experience on more than one occasion, which is not something one wants to experience in a so-called “strategy” game.