Knightica, from Mad Mango Games, is a turn-based, roguelike, and idle game where you guide a warband to victory. It features a unique mix of genres, challenging you to recruit powerful units, place them on the battlefield, and find the best plan to overcome monsters and free the kingdoms from darkness.

Knightica's core loop is centered around strategic choices and adaptation. With every new run, players must decide on a commander, units, and items, and choose a path that will lead them to victory. These decisions allow for endless experimentation with powerful combinations, ensuring no two adventures are ever the same.

Your choices matter

Knightica has a lot of good things going for it, starting with its charming and cute art style. It's an aesthetically pleasing game that feels well-paced and has some truly great ideas. The unique combination of an auto-battler with a spatial puzzle, where you have to carefully place and rotate units, is a fresh and solid concept on top of its energetic soundtrack.

Beyond the aesthetics, the gameplay can be very engaging. Building an army and watching your strategy unfold is quite fun. You can upgrade troops, focus on building a strong economy, or experiment with different enchantments to find what works best. The sense of discovery as you learn what units can do and how they work together is a rewarding experience for many.

However, the game suffers from a few significant issues that can make it frustrating to play. The user interface can be unreliable, leading to accidental actions like selling a key unit. Furthermore, there's a serious lack of clear information; units have hidden stats and abilities that aren't explained, making it feel more like a guessing game than a strategy game.

Give it a try and see for yourself

Knightica is a game that feels promising but incomplete. While it has a charming art style and great ideas, the technical problems and lack of transparent information can get in the way of the fun. It’s a game that needs more time and polish to truly shine, but for those who enjoy discovery and don't mind a few rough edges, it could still be a decent experience.