Welcome to the world of ‘Dicefolk’, where dice rolling is the key to success. This fantastic game was developed by LEAP Game Studios and Tiny Ghoul and published by Good Shepherd Entertainment. Let the rolls guide your path.

With humanity on the verge of destruction due to the evil sorcerer, known as ‘Salem’, who has turned the beasts known as ‘Chimeras’ against everyone, and it is up to you to fight back the darkness that Salem has brought upon the land. A pretty basic story to keep you entertained along the way.

At the beginning of the game, you are welcomed by a quick cutscene, learning some lore. You are then dropped into a mock battle to help you understand the turn based, deck-like game mechanics with an in-depth tutorial. Once you are on your feet, you slowly travel a map similar to some ‘Mario’ games, going from location to location to arrive at the boss fight at the end. Controls are basic, only needing a mouse to click around the map and use abilities and dice-specific attacks.

Battles and locations help you gain some new Chimera items and equipment on the way. With over 90 Chimeras to unlock and play as, and tons of items and equipment to help you, your fight to free the land from Salem’s control becomes a little bit easier.

If you die, it’s still ongoing as the progression you make with coins all going to XP to level yourself up, gaining scrolls that give information and lore, giving the player more of an idea of what happened. Use your newfound items, equipment, and Chimera to help advance you further than before, slowly making your way through the world.

This game appears easy at first but does have a steep learning curve with it increasing in difficulty from the second map onwards. Whether a more advanced tutorial was needed to help explain more or a difficulty setting for those who want to play casually, it felt frustrating getting to a point and hitting a brick wall no matter how many Chimeras or items you found. This game definitely takes a lot of ‘practice to make perfect’ to progress.

The visuals in Dicefolk frankly blew me away. Mainly because the game is drawn by hand, which shows the amount of detail and thought that went into creating this game with moving animations and attacks. Not to mention the interesting, colourful and bold Chimeras, each with custom models with every single one being vastly different. Cutscenes are like watching a Saturday morning cartoon something that always will make your heart swell.

The music in Dicefolk is also unique. Let me put it into these words; it makes you feel like you’re going on an adventure with up-and-down tones, subtle piano notes, and drums in the background, creating an atmosphere that puts you in the mood for victory. The beginning intro has beautiful soundwork and voice acting that gets you amped up and ready to take on this creative world.

Overall, Dicefolk has put significant effort into creating something unique by being hand-drawn and utilising dice-rolling combat. With replayability and strategy at heart with a vast number of items and beasts to tame this game will likely be a hit, as it drew me in for hours. Whether you want to play casually or like a pro, there is a spot for everyone in this fascinating title. I can’t wait to see where this game goes. May the dice be in your favour!

Written by: TypicalCambieAU