Days of Doom was provided by ATARI for review. Thank you!
When it comes to turn-based roguelikes, I like to see a couple of different elements in gameplay: A solid variety of events and encounters, a multitude of items that can modify how your team works, good ways for team members to work with each other, solid progression systems, and a good balance that promotes trying new strategies to get through to the end. While Days of Doom does have some of these, there are a couple of areas the game could improve.
Like other similar games, you will build your team where you will choose multiple people from 8 different classes, each with their own abilities. You will go across a map filled with different encounters or events where each move will cost you a tank of gas. With events, you will be prompted with some choices and, depending on what you select, you can get more scrap to trade with, food to heal with at campsites, or get into fights to survive or gain a new team member. The encounters are all turn-based combat where you will use your team's abilities to move or eliminate the enemies.
Days of Doom does put some interesting spins on the formula with elemental attacks that can work together for massive damage and the ways the environment can be used. I also like the more streamlined leveling and rune system to modify the team in various different ways. On the other hand, the game definitely needs more balancing, there are many times you can either be very overpowered or get overpowered easily, more spots or opportunities to heal would be wonderful, and there needs to be some quality of life changes. This is a strategy game at its core, so an easier way to see where your attack could land before moving or being able to cancel a move if you choose the wrong spot and not waste an action would be very helpful.
I also got a couple of events twice in a row, which made it feel like there wasn't a lot of randomization or variety. I do love the visuals and music, that's something I found very appealing, but it does have some flaws that hold it back from being a great game. But if you do decide to get it, I can say it runs quite well on the Steam Deck.
For the most part, Days of Doom can run on Steam Deck really well, but there are a couple of times where I felt battery drain didn't justify the type of game it is. The hub, where you upgrade and choose the people you will start your run with, tends to drain at around 14W when it's set to 60 FPS and there are no caps. Due to the type of game, and the way it felt during gameplay, I didn't feel 60 FPS was necessary. So, I set the game to 40hz/FPS to keep it from draining too much while still feeling smooth. You can play at 60 FPS without any caps, but expect a battery drain of around 12W - 15W.
I did notice the framerate bar does look a little erratic, very slightly, but it doesn't show when playing the game. The bar was still erratic when there weren't any caps, so I believe this is just normal for the game.
There aren't a lot of options in the settings menu in general, so there aren't a ton of accessibility options. You can change different volume sliders and the language, but that's about it.
The game does support 16:10 aspect ratios, so there are no extra black bars, and there are cloud saves and gamepad support.
Days of Doom has a solid foundation, and I can see a good game hidden within, but there are too many gameplay issues that hold it back. The combat and overall gameplay loop are enjoyable, but the lack of balancing and quality of life to make those necessary strategic decisions harms the experience. I also wish there were more opportunities to heal up since that and damage mitigation can be very important. The game does run really well on the Steam Deck, even if it drains a little much, and doesn't need any changes to run the best way it can. There's a fun game here, and hopefully, we will get some updates to help it realize its potential.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Days of Doom has the makings of a solid strategy roguelike, but lax quality of life and balancing issues plague it. But it runs great on Steam Deck!
