Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder is a premium strategy game from the tinyBuild team. In this roguelike, pixel-art game, you are the titular despot tasked with building your own totalitarian army. Plunge the world into a dystopia of your own design. Develop and cultivate the army and sacrifice them in procedurally generated dungeons. Play against AI opponents or other human players.

With simple character designs and animations that grow more complex with progress, Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder is a deceptively simple and overly addictive game. Similar games include Slay the Spire, Inscryption, or Into the Breach.

Be the superior despot

The first thing to note about Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder is its graphics. The pixel art, if anything, makes everything simpler and a lot cuter. However, these stickmen characters are color-coded for the player and they can wield a large variety of weapons. From swords, spears, and bows, they can even be upgraded to wield magic and guns and magic.

With the graphics out of the way, you can now start checking its progression. As a roguelike, expect permadeath to be a part of the game. You can unlock new weapons and units for future games, but you’ll have to earn them every time. Also, its difficulty progression can be considered steady, although it definitely depends on your build and the odds of facing a certain set of enemies.

Like most roguelikes, too, this game has a “run” that can be completed after finishing a certain number of stages. Unfortunately, experienced players might not have that much difficulty completing this run considering how short it can be. Still, the random elements, the variety of the units and skills, plus the opportunity to play PvP games make it infinitely replayable.

Simply addictive

If you’re looking for something you can play over and over again, check out Despot's Game: Dystopian Army Builder. It features simple and relaxing graphics but is saved from being boring by the upgrades and styles available. Whether you play single-player or online multiplayer, its randomization of certain elements will make sure that each run is unique. This is highly recommended.