I don’t play a lot of deck-building strategy games. I usually find them too complicated; I can never seem to get a grasp of the gameplay, and they make me feel dumb. Now, over the last year, I’ve really tried to step outside my comfort bubble. I’ve played horror games, top-down/turn-based strategy, and even some deck-building games. I have not really become any better at them, but have grown to appreciate the genre more than in the past.
Above and beyond my comfort bubble, I’ve really taken the opportunity to talk to passionate indie devs who reach out to me about their games. I am not an influencer; I don’t have a huge following, and I don’t create video content (although that will be changing). What I am, though, is passionate about indie games, and when a dev like Dubs reaches out to me on Twitter to offer me a chance to try out their game, I will always look at it.
FROGGLE, not to be confused with the Frogger of my youth, is a delightful roguelite dungeon crawler that also blends in deck building. If you like games like Slay the Spire and Balatro, this game is made for fans like you.
The narrative revolves around you trying to save an adorable tadpole named Tapo, so his first birthday isn’t ruined. Just look at this cuteness.
Once you clear the game on the Standard mode, you will unlock the “Frogged Up” mode, which is much harder. Certain encounters in the game will also open hidden stages.
There are 4 heroes to choose from: Warrior, Tank, Mage and Healer (with a secret 5th hero to unlock).
Tactical turn-based combat requires you to master 10 unique sigils and uses a D20 to roll and earn you advantages (if you’re lucky).
XP and gold earned in your battles allow you to unlock upgrades and bonuses between levels. What appeared simple in design was more complex than expected, and it took me a few runs to figure out what I was doing. This is completely on me, not the game direction.
There are no microtransactions (yay), and FROGGLE has a very addictive gameplay loop.
If you check out the Steam store, in the description, you’ll see an adorable review from ‘My Mom’. Whether real or not, I couldn’t help but smile.
I am thankful for the dev of FROGGLE for reaching out. I’m not sure I would have taken a chance otherwise based on my limited experience with this genre. It was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to the full release to try to get better at battles and saving the adorable tadpole, Tapo.
Until next time…be good to yourself and be good to each other.
**Special Thanks to Dubs for the review code**
Ophelia Payne 
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