[PREVIEW] Roulette Hero – An Autobattler Mixed with Gambling and Cards

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At this point, I’m almost expecting the unexpected from Spiral Up Games. This publisher has a knack for bringing out some weird stuff, and their latest is no exception. They’re diving back into the roguelike genre, but with a deckbuilding twist that’s definitely its own thing. Imagine mashing up an autobattler, those games where your team fights automatically, with a roulette wheel system. That’s basically the core idea behind Roulette Hero, where you build a team of animal companions to take on all sorts of mechanical monsters.

The thing that really makes Roulette Hero stand out is how it handles your team instead of using cards. You put together a team of animals on a cube-like circle, and each one has its own special skills. When you spin the wheel, only one animal gets to use its ability at that moment. The real strategy comes from setting up combos, if you line up your animals just right, you can trigger these game-changing moves, like a chain attack that hits harder or buffs that make your whole team stronger.

Unique concept that relies on luck

Battles are turn-based, and you’ll be going up against mechanical beasts that get stronger as you go through the random levels. Each beast has its own way of attacking, but because you’re relying on spinning that wheel to activate your animals, there’s definitely a luck factor involved. Sometimes, even if you have a good plan, the wheel just might not land on the right animal, which can be a bit frustrating. Also, if you’re expecting a really deep deckbuilding system like in some other games, this isn’t quite that.

I played a test version of the game on Steam, and while it had a tutorial, I found it a bit confusing trying to figure out how those animal combos worked. There also seemed to be some balance issues with how strong different things were. Plus, the playtest didn’t really do a great job of explaining stickers, you can apparently slap over 100 different power-ups on your animals or the wheel to make them stronger or add cool effects, but it wasn’t super clear how all that worked.

When you finish a run in Roulette Hero, you lose your current team, which is typical for a roguelike. But you do unlock new animals, stickers, or even different layouts for your roulette wheel that you can use in future runs. However, the levels themselves don’t change up that much visually, and there aren’t really different paths to take, so the runs can feel a bit repetitive, and honestly, it feels like luck plays a pretty big role.

Some of the bosses I faced were also really tough, and the game didn’t really give me a good idea of why I was losing, what my other stats were, or what exactly was happening with all the combos my animal companions were doing. But even with those issues, I have to say, the game was genuinely fun to mess around with. It has a cute, hand-drawn cartoon art style that’s colorful and whimsical, which is a nice contrast to the strategic stuff you’re trying to do. It definitely offers something different, and if they can iron out some of the problems, Roulette Hero has a real shot at being a truly unique and enjoyable game.