Summary
Strategy games are often packed with interesting mechanics and complex gameplay ideas, and as such they are often over-balanced and extremely fair. While this is somewhat of a necessity, especially for more competitive strategygames likeStarCraft 2, it can take a little of the video game magic away from the experience.
Randomness is a great way to add replay value and tension to video games, but it has to be used right to prevent players from becoming frustrated. These games all feature strategic gameplay with plenty of randomness that consistently shakes things up.
Super Auto Petsis awell-crafted auto-battlerthat centers around building a team of pets, each with its unique abilities and stats. The game features a broad selection of pets to build a squad out of, and a handful of simple but interconnected mechanics that make it one of the most strategic auto-battlers.
One discerning feature ofSuper Auto Petsis its RNG. Players are given a randomselection of petsto choose from every round, with the ability to spend their limited cash to reroll this selection. However,Super Auto Petsalso lets players freeze items/pets in the shop, allowing them to save them for the next round if they can’t afford to buy them. Furthermore, each pet inSuper Auto Petsbelongs to a specific tier, and these tiers are slowly unlocked throughout a match, ensuring players have a good chance of getting duplicate pets early on.
2Luck Be A Landlord
A Slot Machine Roguelike
This truly unique roguelike may not look like much on its rough, pixel-art surface, butLuck Be A Landlordis a great example of randomness used well.Luck Be A Landlordtasks players with customizing their slot machine and spinning it tomake as much cash as possible, all to pay their rent on time.
By giving players direct control over their slot machine’s RNG, the randomness inLuck Be A Landlordbecomes less frustrating, and much more strategic. This, combined with the game’s variety of passive items, makesLuck Be A Landlorda great strategy game for fans of randomness.
3Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
A Tough-As-Nails Dice-Based Roguelike
Thisroguelike deck-buildersees players building a deck of six-sided dice, and manipulating those dice over the course of each run. There’s plenty of variety to be found inAstrea, and the game consistently rewards players for taking risks.
This risk-reward gameplay ties in perfectly with the game’s hefty amount of RNG, which comes naturally with the game’s six-sided dice.Astreaalso features an innovative damage system that uses two types of damage, ensuring dice often have multiple uses, which helps to make the RNG less frustrating.
This turn-based,tactical squad-based strategygame is a tough-as-nails experience, thanks in large part to its randomness. WhileXCOM’s to-hit chances may frustrate many players, the random chance to land shots injects some much-needed tension into the game’s combat.
XCOM’s randomness may cross wires with a player’s strategy, but it’s this randomness that givesXCOMits tension and forces players to adapt. While at times missing a shot that had a 98% chance of hittingcan be rage-inducing, it makes fighting tooth-and-nail to get out of a mission alive all the more rewarding.
This low-poly, turn-based roguelite RPG tasks players with forming a party of dungeon-crawling heroes out of a broad selection of distinct classes.For The Kingis great when played with friends, though it can be played in single-player as well.
For The King’scombat is particularly random, with every combat ability using a unique “slot” system in which players essentially roll a selection of two-sided dice. The dice roll, and the player’s chances of success, vary depending on the particular statistic that ability uses, e.g. Strength, Agility. This ties in well withFor The King’sRPG mechanics, and adds a nice swing to the game’s fast-paced combat.
6Dicey Dungeons
A Dice-Rolling Roguelike
This dice-based roguelike puts players in the shoes of one of several anthropomorphized dice, tasking them with battling various enemies in true dungeon-crawler fashion.Dicey Dungeonslends itself well to randomness with its dice-based combat and gambling theme.
Although the randomness ofDicey Dungeonscan sometimes be frustrating, there are plenty of ways to manipulate dice and use them in various ways. This is most apparent with the game’s various equipment cards, and each character’s unique ability, which can be activated using different dice.
This unique, innovative roguelike deck-builder uses Poker, and more specifically, Poker hands, as part of its core mechanics and theme.Balatrois inherently packed with randomness, with almost everything players do in the game having chance associated with it.
However, despite the depth of randomness inBalatro, it still manages to feel strategic. This is in large part thanks to its variety of Jokers, each of which offers the player a unique passive effect that can be combined with other Jokers to create a plethora of synergies and builds.
