Few Nights More: Genesis is a turn-based combat focus game where the player is a vampire trying to defend their home from intruders. Each night, hunters will enter your base and try to destroy your coffin and kill you. Dying is a process of the game and gives rewards for future playthroughs.
While the game may look basic and even like a regular flash game, there’s a unique charm that will keep you replaying after you finish each round.
The Combat Is Better Than You Think
The first thing that sticks out is the combat. Most people see “turn-based combat” and automatically assume this means that you will be sitting there pressing attack repeatedly until your enemies die. In a way, that’s true; you are attacking in every round, but there are so many choices on how to attack or boost yourself that it doesn’t feel much like a turn-based game.
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I would say this feels like a tactical-based game because there’s so much strategy and tactics involved in how you fight, what room you choose to fight in, and how you engage the enemy. Even in the middle of a battle, you’re picking the right moves to use because the enemy’s positioning can change exactly how you attack them or what moves you use. It also features a ” blood ” meter acting as a magic gauge.
I am still not sure how a turn time is determined because you can make a lot of attacks and boosts in one turn, but other turns only let you use one. I played this a lot and still couldn’t figure it out, but I’ve seen other reviewers have the same question. Either way, it’s not a big deal because it always feels fair, especially with how much damage you can do in a single turn.
Overall, the combat is so well-designed that I wish other games would mimic it. It feels like you’re given ample opportunity to beat everything, and when you’re overwhelmed, it’s realistic. It’s incredible to make a player feel as powerful as a vampire and yet defenseless as a hunted monster at the same time. However, this developer excelled at it.
Losing Is Necessary
The most interesting aspect of Few Nights More: Genesis is that losing is a part of the experience. I lost my first game on the third night, and I did not like it. I thought it was unfair that I made a bad decision during those pop-up questions and lost the vast majority of my health. However, I saw that I could purchase boons with Heritage Points to help me with future playthroughs, which made me change my mind about the process.
Like many roguelikes, Few Nights More: Genesis gives players a feeling of progression and accomplishment between playthroughs. I enjoyed returning to each attempt because dying felt like I was still grinding in the game. This is something that far more games should incorporate, and the number of choices you get between playthroughs makes the game a lot more fun.
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I didn’t mind dying or losing health because I knew that the next time would be easier thanks to the extra stuff I could buy. For those of you who don’t want to buy anything and keep the difficulty, you always have the choice not to buy anything.
The Art Is Noticeably Bad
I am a big fan of low poly games and appreciate pixel art, but the hand-drawn style isn’t helping this game. I am not trying to be mean, but it is clear that this isn’t the artist’s unique style; it’s just amateur work. I am not asking for a masterpiece, but it seems like this artist needs to have more experience to make the game visually appealing.
I normally wouldn’t bring this up, but it actually hurts the game. It has no visual appeal, making the game look like a bad Flash game from Newgrounds instead of a game inspired by Flash art. I understand that the 2D aspect was needed, and it does help, but not having a good-looking game makes this one harder to pick up and play than it should be.
Player Choice Is More Detailed Than You Might Expect
The player is tasked with designing their manor in between rounds by placing rooms in squares they belong in. You get to choose between three different rooms every so often – like the abilities – and each gives its own boon and boost. You can level these up over time and set them up in your manor to have traps or minions that make the combat and survival a bit easier.
This ended up being a lot more involved in my nights than I initially thought because it looks like a passive feature at first glance. Features like this improve the gameplay as you learn how everything works. In fact, I was always looking forward to getting more rooms, minions, and other things to evolve my strategy to make those heroes a lot more hurt before our fights.
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Few Nights More: Genesis is a game that you can’t take at face value. Judging this book by its cover will lead you to miss an exceptionally fun and inventive game. Many features and design elements make this game one of the better indie games on Steam, and it would probably do a lot better if not for the biggest downside.
The biggest downside is the art, which needs a huge improvement and will actively take you out of the immersion. It’s something that I keep bringing up because it is a real blow to the game, and if it was better, it would probably make this game a lot more popular than it is. It’s not that it’s Flash art; Atrix Entertainment is a successful company that focuses on Flash animation. The issue is that Few Nights More Genesis has bad flash art, which makes you want to avoid picking it up and making it easy to stop playing.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Detailed manor building | The art style is bad |
| Fun and tactical combat | Turn length is hard to understand |
| So much clicking just for combat | |
Rating: 7/10
GamesHorizon received a Review Copy for Steam.
