Prime of Flames finds the perfect combination in roguelike and strategy RPG - Pocket Playfest
Prime of Flames blends the addictive randomness of roguelikes with the tactical gameplay of strategy RPGs, resulting in a game that’s hard to put down. Set in an apocalyptic world, Prime of Flames asked me to guide clans to a new homeland. There were monsters and other challenges along the way, but there were also merchants, artifacts, and other powerful upgrades, so my units always ended runs stronger than they started.
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Welcome to TapTap’s Pocket Playfest - An Indie Celebration! Beginning on June 16 and running through June 28, we will be showcasing demos for ten brand-new, unpublished mobile games. These ten games are all from indie developers and represent some of the most exciting upcoming mobile games on the horizon. You’ll only be able to download those demos for Android right here on TapTap, so stay tuned!
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There are three different clans to guide to safety: the Ninelie, a clan of animalistic warriors; the tech-savvy Bronion clan; and the winged Evernight clan. No matter which clan I selected, Prime of Flames had the same basic gameplay loop. I needed to guide my units across a series of maps, surviving monster attacks and monsters. Surviving a run wasn’t always easy, but there were tons of characters for me to recruit along the way. I could even send injured characters back to camp if I needed to make more room in my party.
Every clan has access to the same five classes, but that tiny class pool is far less limiting than it seems. Class mechanics vary dramatically between classes, and even classes from the same clan won’t necessarily play in the same way. In the Ninelie clan, the Warrior class basically plays like a berserker, causing the player to lose control of the character while it dishes out ultra-powerful attacks. Bronion Warriors use tools like grappling hooks to get closer to enemies, and Evernight Warriors are graceful lancers with incredible range. Sometimes, I’d recruit units that had their own unique skills, like a Priest that summoned a flying boar when she was under attack.
Not only is there a ton of variety between classes, but there are tons of artifacts to choose from over the course of a run, which gave me access to even more strategies. During one run, I scored an artifact that occasionally rained lightning on my opponents. Another artifact summoned living patches of grass that fought by my side. There are also tons of opportunities to upgrade characters and unlock boosts for classes, so no two runs feel alike.
While the current version of the game is a little rough around the edges, none of the snags I encountered got in the way of my fun. The weakest part of Prime of Flames is the English translation, which is riddled with typos, grammatical errors, and sentences that don’t make much sense. Thankfully, once I got past the opening, there wasn’t much dialogue, and I was able to understand things like map objectives and class abilities without much of a problem.
As a die-hard fan of both strategy RPGs and roguelikes, I had an absolute blast with Prime of Flames, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves over time. The gameplay is simple and intuitive, and once I got a grasp on the basics, I discovered tons of depth and endless gameplay options. If you love tactical gameplay and recruiting adorably awesome fighters, you’ll definitely want to keep this title on your radar.
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