Loop Hero: Deluxe Edition

Loop Hero's cleverly stripped-down RPG concept demands attention for as long as it takes you to work out the clear "best" way to guide each hero class, and its fantastically dark story setup stands out as one of the best in years.

Loop Hero combines familiar mechanics in unfamiliar ways, producing an exhilarating and tactical roguelite that you'll struggle to put down.

A commentary on games and players and a compulsive grind to boot.

The spirit of early-'90s fantasy games, cleverly revived in an original and digestible form.

You'll also be earning gear as your hero fights to survive, and juggling your loadout is a constant, unending job. Learning about each magical effect takes experimentation, since Loop Hero explains very little. What will this ring with those stats do when paired with this shield? What even is "vampirism," and could it be good in this context? You have to try different things and find out what works, much like parenting. Using trial and error to learn and figure things out is a great way to explore the world with your children, and it's almost a mandatory skill to perfect your run in Loop Hero.

This is a fun and intriguing genre mashup, placing the player in a management role instead of controlling the swing-to-swing minutia of combat

Loop Hero proves to be a fascinating and creative take on an RPG, distilling the genre down to its most important gameplay elements and throwing in some fresh ideas. Though some may be put off by the obviously repetitive nature of the core gameplay, Loop Hero is a consistently rewarding and engaging game that'll easily get its hooks in you. The light deckbuilding elements, anti-tower defense gameplay, and solidly paced loot system make Loop Hero easy to love and we'd give this one a high recommendation to anyone interested in trying something a little different.

Loop Hero will put you in a spin—but it's the kind you won't be able to stop going round and around in.

Loop Hero succeeds as an adventure game by blending together elements of strategy and roguelikes in a way that feels clever and fresh. Giving players agency on the adversaries they encounter, and the frequency of said encounters, is an exciting spin on the genre, and one that forced me to strategize in a unique way. Couple the outstanding mechanics with a gorgeous and well-executed visual design, and you’ve got yourself one satisfying gameplay loop.

Loop Hero is a brilliant piece of work that plays and succeeds with the idea of repeating gameplay loops via gameplay, story and even meta angles.