Game:

Gorgon (1981)

Category:

Review

Duration: 18:19

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Gorgon Shield is a Real Time Tactics RPG Auto Battler where you climb the gorgon tower, rotating on a giant shield known as: The Gorgon Shield!
Gorgon Shield is a fun Arcade Real Time Tactics RPG Auto Battler with a novel and engaging Rotating Auto Combat system; it’s well worth a watch!

Rotating Auto Combat:
The Character auto attacks in their lane / platform, and you move them around the wheel; rather you move the wheel; the characters always stubbornly stay in their North / South / East / West positions, adding a puzzling and planning aspect to which of the 4 positions each character should choose.

There is a treasure chest spot, a healing spot, a repair spot for the elevator shield you ride, and a melee fighting spot.
Each of these positions / platforms matter, as if no one fights the monsters in the melee position, they can attack the giant magical shield you ride, and it will eventually break and you will fall and lose the run.
In the melee position, you get 1 exp and 1 gold for each monster slain, while the ranged position is safer, as the monsters cannot melee attack that character, but they only gain the exp in, not the gold.
The healing platform heals the character, which is something you will often want to rotate your character into to keep them alive and in fighting shape.

The treasure platform gives 3 gold, making it great for building up gold, which is both the within run currency for purchasing training, upgrades, and healing during a run, as well as the fuel for the Meta Progression in between the runs.

Not all rooms / floors have all of these spots, and they are not always in the same place, so you adapt your place in each room, depending on what is there, and what you currently need, adding tactical choice to the gameplay.

RPG Progression:
Characters independently lvl up after getting enough exp on the character and completing the floor, choosing 1 of 4 upgrades; things like faster treasure looting, healing faster, more dodge chance, some gold, a full heal, faster attack, impactful stuff like this.

Each character also has their special ability; the Barbarian can berserk, dealing much more damage for a time, while the wizard unleashes lightning that blasts the whole screen; handy!
Do try to keep your characters alive, as dead characters are dead for the run, try not to die!

Each of the different characters, like the Barbarian, The Wizard, and the Rogue have different stats, which makes them better at certain things, at least by default.
The Barbarian is powerful in melee, the Wizard is great at ranged, while the Rogue is great at looting!
It matters, as quickly looting gold from a treasure chests means they get more gold in the same amount of time, which means more upgrades for them, and more Meta Progression for you!

Meta Progression:
Meta Progression is very present in Gorgon Shield.
The Meta Progression is the Gold and Runes you earn in the run, and you keep all of it earned.
The gold is used to unlock the buildings, like the Tavern, where you unlock new characters, and the Wagon.
There are powerful items you can get at the wagon, which grant permanent bonuses to all your future runs.
There are the character upgrades as you complete runs, letting you improve the specific stats of your chosen character.
The runes are used to slot in alternate runes on the shield, changing its power, like one that instead of the default screen dps; it heals all your characters 20hp.
You can also unlock the ability to start higher in the tower once you get there using coins.

Due to the very strong and potent snowballing Meta Progression bonuses, Gorgon Shield is firmly a Roguelite, with its very vertical meta progression, as it is likely completely impossible to win on your first try, as you flat out lack the power-ups and meta progression necessary to win.

Controller Support is present, as is good old mouse and keyboard.
I found mouse and keyboard felt much better here, so that is what I used in the video above.

Note: This is an early look at Gorgon Shield so any bugs or other oddness is not representative of the final product.
Still, Gorgon Shield is a fun Arcade Real Time Tactics RPG Auto Battler with a novel and engaging Rotating Auto Combat system, and is easily well worth a wishlist and a watch.
Watch?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2446920/Gorgon_Shield/
#GorgonShield #Roguelite #AutoBattler