Digimon Story Time Stranger
Digimon Story Time Stranger
Game
Game2022
The Hand of Merlin
Developer Room-C Games
The Hand of Merlin is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend meets with sci-fi horror. Recruit mortal heroes to explore lands rife with otherworldly evil, make narrative bending choices in unique interactive encounters, and search for the lost fragments of your soul across the multiverse! From the Steam store page
193 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Aug 31, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
132 positive · 60 negative
95% range 62–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 132 | 60 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
1 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
255 of 361 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 193 · most liked firstThe game is good, but the difficulty is just artificially crafted against you. Good: - Decent graphics, animation - Excellent voice acting. Bad: - EDIT: The game's length is absolutely too short. The game is close to 1.0, and only 3 chapters with no other variants of the main quest, or perhaps other "custom campaigns", the game is way too short. I just finished it and there's literally just 3 maps, padded by unfair difficulty. There is also no incentive to play repeatedly when you can only…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →January 2022 / Early Access. This is already, at the very least, a beautifully presented and compelling roguelike with extremely strong theme, intriguing narrative and thoughtful turn-based combat. If it never progresses further it still feels already like a 'full' experience worth having. **Lazy review.** If you like any of these games, you will probably like this too: Tainted Grail, Roguebook, Across the Obelisk, Fort Triumph, Griftlands, Wildermyth, Slay the Spire, Banners of Ruin, Trials…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Consider this a Neutral review. The genre of this game is my bread and butter. I'm pretty much always playing at least one game similar to this. I had some mostly minor gripes with the gameplay and presentation that cumulatively meant that I was unlikely to choose it over some of its peers. That's not to say it's not good, or that my gripes are objective criticisms, I will list them here so that you can decide for yourself. The strategic map screen looks great, but does a poor job of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38553778-All-about-Strategy-Games/] Follow my Curator Page for more Strategy Games! The Hand of Merlin turn-based roguelike in a medieval setting mixed with horror. Merlin wants your party of three heroes to travel to Jerusalem to save the world. On your way, you will fight, talk, trade, help others, and a lot more. Story The story is about merlin, the monsters, and your journey to save the world but there are countless subplots and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was a bit of a slow burner for me, it starts a bit slow and can feel underwhelming when compared to other, much bigger and complex turn-based tactical combat games out there like XCOM or Invisible Inc to name a few. In fact, the closest comparison to this game I can think of would be The Banner Saga. However, this game has a lot of charm. Once you get used to the combat system and start trying to minmax every turn and try out higher difficulties, the game becomes rather challenging…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game with great hope, but I should have done more research beforehand, I guess. The story is interesting enough, and the part where some characters, connected to Merlin, are able to remember your previous run, and offer more interesting reward, or change their dialogue, is a masterfully done, but everything else is subpar. There are only about 8 different monsters, that's it. Oh sure, you fight a couple of bandits in the very early part of the game, but the game is really about…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Get it with a good discount. Don't get sucked into this game because of the roguelike tag, there is a skeleton of that subgenre in the game, but it doesn't really play like one. The game loop gets old pretty fast, consequence of having a gear system that's just based on stat boosts, very little skill variety, maps are uninteresting, enemies variety is so small that having a bestiary is kind of a joke. It's just a very simple shallow game. Then why do I recommend it? Well it's cheap and it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Okay it IS a turn based strategy but unfortunately it's another mediocre title using the Slay the Spire "choose a lane" mechanic. The story elements are serviceable enough if uninspiring and the same can be said of the combat. There's nothing hugely BAD about The Hand of Merlin and nothing hugely good about it either. I'd give it neither a thumbs up nor down if it weren't for the fact that this genre is already crowded, there are many better titles out there (the recently played Popup Dungeon…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have just completed the game on my first run on Normal difficulty and i do not recommand this game for now The Good: -The different encounter and the map part of the game is pretty nice. Its a bit lacking in overall content but for a Early Access its enought and I enjoyed it quite a bit. -I like the way you can build character with the way to customize skill and item. More variety would be nice but again Early Access. The Bad: The combat for me is where I really didn't enjoy the game.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately it still feels like an early access game: - Not a lot of enemy variety, and the enemies that do exist all feel very samey. I very rarely had to adjust my tactics to different enemies. - Boss encounters are usually just normal enemies with a larger model and more HP. Only encounter in the entire game that's an actual boss is the final one. - Very easy as far as roguelikes go, I beat the campaign on my second run of normal difficulty. Some combat abilities are completely…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played 1 run through and thought I'd put it away while waiting for future updates making it feel more complete. No updates are planned. Wish I knew that fact before purchasing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Content is really short and the rougelike replayability isn't great. I left the game open while AFK otherwise I would have finished under the 2 hour playtime and done a refund. Would wait until there's either a ton more content and polishing or price is ~$5
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is too random making it hard to build a team to suit your playing style,And most of your resources are decided by luck and not by your wise or not so wise decisions:you have to draw one card from deck and,despite chances looking always favourable the overall outcome is not.It would be ok for a casual mobile game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you enjoy skirmishing in turn-based in a Divinity: OS/Disciples-esque way, but also like the Slay The Spire-esque map simplicity and progression, then this may be for you. I did 2 runs on normal and completed both. I had fun with the game, and building comps is pretty fun. The good: + You choose 3 different heroes of varying class archtypes. They all have different passive abilities, and you can draft random abilities to fit with these. + Combat is pretty fast and streamlined +…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ever notice how a game on Steam will go on sale, and that game is "Mostly Positive" overall reviews, and then a sudden down-turn of "Mostly Negative" recent reviews? It's amazing how much more people hate on a game just because they bought it half-price. Hand of Merlin is a delight to play. The story and setting are fun and compelling, the art style is great, and the music is really fun to listen to. The variety in starting characters and builds for those characters is extensive once you start…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On paper, The Hand of Merlin scratches a lot of itches that I have. A rogue-lite, turn-based battler with a dash of Lovecraftian otherwordly horror with a dash of Arthurian legend is right up my alley. The problem here is the gameplay, once you get a few hours in, you've seen most of what there is to see in the game. I haven't unlocked every single available, but what I have unlocked is not particularly compelling. Let's start with characters, at the start of each run you pick a team of 3…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"This includes the very few crash reports we’ve gotten (stuff like mods and startup on other platforms) and implementing some misc features, but we’re not making any new content." This game isn't complete, and won't be receiving any more updates. It was fun, but enemy diversity severely lacks, and after about an hour it gets repetetive. Buy XCOM or something for the same turn based combat kind of game, it's more fleshed out and existed longer so mods fix what the devs haven't.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've put in about 75 hours on Hand of Merlin: suffice it to say that I'm a fan. Does it start to lose replayability? Sure. Eventually. But if you pay $20 for a game that gives you 40 good hours of entertainment, well, don't come crying to me. Hand of Merlin offers a tactical RPG roguelite experience with a threee-person party and an intereting set of abilities that you can combo for effectiveness. The devs are responsive, and the game has fairly few bugs. Thinking carefully about how you want…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It has it's quirks (camera rotate in battle would be helpful, UI is not all that intuitive) but I quite like the gameplay. The reason I'm not recommending it now is that it crashes a fair bit, usually in combat, and you lose whatever progress you've made on your run. I really want to like it but this issue doesn't make me want to play it anymore.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is irritating as ♥♥♥♥. I have absolutely no doubt the people who made this think that are so hardcore and edgy. Really they are a bunch of jackasses who don't think healing belongs in an crpg and eliminating any enjoyable customization in favor of? .... So glad you asked, in favor of NO CUSTOMIZATION or items or gear or, most importantly, REASON TO PLAY THIS GAME. The story isn't even Arthurian. TO the developers: This is a video game abortion of heavy metal poisoned toast. BAD DOG…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After initital dissapointment really liked this one. It is kind of FTL or other similar game where you go though semi-random events and tactical combat toward the target, It use the lore of Albion, Merlin, Morgana.. just some alter-universe where the world is threated by new evil. It is VERY short (just 3 maps that can be easily went through in some 2 hours) and eventually repetitive though i liked it - it was fun unlock new characters (via different achievements) than their empowered…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its not a bad game, but there isn't enough variety to keep it interesting. Enemy variety is very limited. Theres only 3 classes, albeit with several abilities. The only meta-progression is unlocking slightly stronger version of the base heroes, a few more heroes, and some spells. Combined this makes every run feel boring and repetitive, and the combats all feel the same.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the best game I've played in 2022 because I love the story at every node on the map that can include decisions you make, the increasingly difficult turn-based combat, and the replay value. I've played on three levels of difficulty so far and haven't been able to beat hard mode yet at about 80 hours of gameplay. The game has play modes for those more interested in story and easier gameplay as well. For those who don't want story there is pure battle until death with endless mode. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Hand of Merlin is a roguelite tactics RPG based on King Arthur myths. The world is being overrun by deadly monsters and the player’s party must take the Holy Grail from Camelot to Jerusalem. Gameplay • The world map, which is divided into three acts followed by a shorter final boss area, is covered in nodes which you’ll travel to, similar to other roguelite games. • Each node could be a fight against human bandits or more powerful corrupted monsters, a random event where you can make a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun game. It is very strategic and interesting until you reach the final fight. Then throw all that out the window and pray zerg till you drop. It's like they put all this thought into the game and then wen't screw it we don't know what to do with the end. It was sad.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In short, good game, much better than I expected according to some negative reviews, definetely worth taking it on a sale, although it does causes rage quits because you will die in a way you don't expect. Problems I expected Poor in-battle tactical movement - very good People said its hard to run after archers with melee heroes - no because there are skills to shorten distance or perform extra actions, even if you have none you can corner enemies because usually your moverange is same or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I quite enjoyed the game, but it doesn't have much in the way of a roguelike or (to my mind) any replayability. This might change in future hopefully. First run I had fun learning the game, and then beat it... after that there is very little to bring me start another run. No higher difficulty, no perks (to help with higher difficulty), no implied overarching mystery and story, just repetition. Definitely a fun game with a lot of finesse, but alas it needs more to be worth coming back to it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like it. It's not "XCOM fantasy" like initial reactions might have made it sound. It's more like a story-choice roguelike (think Renowned Explorers) where you navigate across nodes on a map, with various effects and encounters at each one. Some of them might involve combat, and that combat is kind of XCOM-lite, although since it's fantasy, melee combat is higher on the priority list and cover isn't as important. Your party is capped at three, so the fights aren't big and sprawling - quick…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily! A roguelike with turn-based combat system in an Arthurian setting and with Lovecraftian monsters encroaching upon the land. We are to pick three heroes who will set off to traverse from one land to another, help the locals, fight the monsters, and make decisions. The heroes come in 3 classes: warriors, rangers, and mystics. At first only 3 heroes are available, but 6 more can be unlocked by accomplishing certain feats in the game.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has kind of every chance of being a game worth playing, However it is ridiculously difficult. No game saving, and no room for any kind of wrongful choices. You cannot return or retreat to passed landmarks on your map, and you have no idea for which kind of choices may aid you ahead. The battle scenes are sometimes a mess, where you have absolutely no idea where you should be positioned during combat. I suppose you learn from your mistakes, should you ever start a new run. However, for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →having bought this game the first day it came out in early access I really enjoyed playing through it and seeing all the work and updates they put into it very quickly. I would love to play through the actual fully released version of the game but even after uninstalling and reinstalling the game it crashes after the first mission every time I play it thus rendering it completely unplayable. This game always had issues with crashing but I figured it was just early access bugs. I would love to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+ Writing is excellent + Points for originality - Arthurian legend meets Lovecraftian horror + It's a turn-based rogue-lite! - UI is truly awful - Poor replayability. Randomized encounters do not make up for the paucity of enemy and hero types. There's essentially no overarching story progression across playthroughs - Difficulty scaling is a bit off. "Normal" is a breeze (my very first playthrough attempt was successful; never had a full party wipe). "Hard" difficulty is far too punishing…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i really want to like it a lot of the features i.e the map and events are really nice but the combats quite flat lacking weight and the skills i keep coming across are quite bland making it quite repetitive quite fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hand of Merlin has some interesting mechanics in the way you unlock characters and spells throughout your runs - specific achievements or decisions made during multiple runs can impact which ones you can use in future. However, there are only three character classes and the characters don't really differ much in the way they play out. There are some event related differences and minor skill differences but essentially they play the same way. The spells you can unlock and the 'cores' from which…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good and original game that takes a bit of practice, but then it becomes enjoyable. It is meant to be replayed a lot. - Roguelike: You cannot save, so when you loose, you have to start over - You can choose to glide through the maps without taking much risk (and without getting much gear and upgrades), or you can go for the full experience and enganging every location you pass through, at much more risk to fail completely - Got nice skills and upgrades, but the choices you get for them are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is hard, and punishing, but in a good way. Once I learned that death is inevitable and I just have to build my next "run" on what I learned in the previous one, I really started to enjoy the challenge and learning the gameplay better. Better yet, despite lovely graphics and a satisfyingly mystical-alien soundtrack, there are virtually no hangs or crashes; there are zero load screens. This game is easy to walk away from if needed, but hard to stop playing out of boredom.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Hand of Merlin is just a few important steps away from being a good game. - There are not enough skills. Or enemies. Or different battle fields. Or...well, there is just too few of everything - Most of the already too few skills you can use, aren't unique enough. Actually, most of them are copy/paste of each other, but causing a slightly different status effect - Speaking of which, there are too many status effects, and the interface is not good enough in showing what they actually do -…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's good if you like quick turn based combat action. It's also very hard. It also happens to crash regularly every 20 min. I keep coming back, because the gameplay is good, but i leave the game after 3 crashes each time lol One thing that's really annoying besides the crashing is, that you can't see the range of attack of your ranged units, until you already moved to a new square. No undo, no preview. The caster's don't have much range and success depends on if you happen to calculate the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this title, but it's simply uninspiring. The game is okay, I give it a "barely thumbsdown." It has familiar systems, combat is ALRIGHT but after 3 hours of play I have zero interest in picking the title up again and that's why I'm giving it a negative review instead of a positive one. If you're really interested in it, pick it up on a sale.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really fun and addictive game. I really liked it, especially the fight. You loose and you want to try again with either other heroes or other strategy As you do more and more run, you unlock more things and that makes you want to try again. For the price, it is given. C'est un jeu fun et assez addictif. Je le conseille vraiment a ceux qui veulent passer un bon moment sans se prendre trop la tete. Y a beaucoup de rejouabilite car chaque run permet de deverouiller de nouveaux heros, de nouveaux…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is fun. Overworld is a bit boring, everything looks the same, just a icon moving around, but the combat is great. I've had two runs, had some flexibility in picking characters, and each run felt unique in strategy, which is what I look for. Problem: Both runs have ended in and inescapable situation that had nothing to do with strategy or tactics. Run 1: I'm at the very end of the 3rd (or 4th?) area, which felt like pretty far in, about 4-5 hours. The boss is this pillar that you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is very well polished in respect to the story, graphics, sound and game play. I am enthralled by the story and the random events that happen. Some things are luck, but others are choice. The game can be difficult at times, which is welcoming for those who like a challenge and deep reward. The combat system is turned based which allows you to plan out attacks and defend areas, but it has a learning curve. Once you figure things out, it is very enjoyable. I understand that this game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Initially put off by the 'rogue-lite" descriptor, I have found myself enjoying The Hand of Merlin immensely. I would recommend it to turn based strategy RPG fans even if rogue-lites aren't your usual cup of tea. Set in Arthurian Europe, THOM has players guiding a trio of heroes in their quest to stop the world from ending as everything falls apart around them. Guided by the legendary wizard Merlin - or what's left of him - players traverse between nodes on a map, with each node representing a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not bad for a game built on a Gateway2000 running Windows 95.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Очень простенькая роглайт игра на 2.5-3 часа. Как игра неплохая, но не за такую цену. Not bad roguelite game for 2.5-3 hours but not for that price.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are too many of these games out there that just do it better. I love the idea but the execution is dreadfully boring. Has no soul. Save your money
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first I was skeptical and wasn't really feeling the combat; however, as time went on I found myself enjoying the combat system and the slight changes in narrative as the story repeated. I ended up completing 3 successful runs and even took a stab at the endless combat trial. In the end I would recommend this game to fans of both tactical battles and rogue-like games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems like an interesting concept, but the combat is mediocre and dull. And considering that this game is pretty much all combat...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Story is fun, but after an hour I was bored because the combat was never compelling. Didn't feel a sense of risk or challenge.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I did not enjoy this game. The graphics and story are great, but the gameplay is lacking. Also crashed on me at start multiple times.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game reminds me of older games from the 90's mixed with an old choose your own adventure book with an updated story line. If you have ever played the classic board game "Tales of the Arabian Nights" you will likely enjoy this game. Speaking about that... If this is a success for the company I hope the venture into other classic stories and time periods!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a hidden gem among rogue-lites. Good progression and challenging but fair difficulty curve. Lovingly crafted Arthurian aesthetics and writing. Great, rewarding grid-based tactical combat.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4/10 This game is killed by RNG and bugs lost an entire run on my 1st move. curb stomped our skulls in Abilities get stuck on and you HAVE TO USE them or end turn. If you can use them it goes back to normal and the turn can be finished. If you have nothing to target, F If anybody in your party dies, you're screwed…… You can only have a party of up to 3 For some reason the game WONT let me pick my warband/party. I can click on all of them but it wont add them into my party unless i hit random.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game doesn't have a single original idea but what it does is mash up every PC strategy game trope into one game. That game is alright and on the whole I'd probably tentatively recommend the experience. You go through a series of procedurally generated node based maps where the nodes have events, and as you fight and travel you are able to build out a strategy by stacking abilities and items which provide buffs. The actual combat is turn based cover tactics a la Starfinder or XCOM…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Addictive r-lite strategy with good tactics and cool narrative.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty fun overall, a bit like FTL mixed with FF Tactics, needs some more class variety (skills and weapon/armor builds feel pretty limited) and the final fight was a little lame imo but i'll be keeping an eye on future development for sure.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Combines enjoyable tactical fantasy combat with an overworld layer where you pick the route of your journey and take part in multiple choice events that can affect your party, like in FTL. The combat system is challenging, requiring you to use the various character abilities in the correct order and positions in your turn to eliminate the enemies quickly before you take too much damage. Characters have armour (which renews between fights) and health (which does not), and if you don't play…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good concept marred by poor execution. This probably would have been better if it hadn't been a roguelike.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an interesting game which I would recommend tentatively. First of all I find the concept of finish-to-unlock to be most irrational, since there's literally no valid purpose to limit player's ability to choose heroes. Secondly, it's generally a very bad idea to implement chance to hit in a close-quarters turn-based game. Damage reduction per distance/cover would have been a much more appropriate concept. Third point: there's little to none new content upon release in comparison to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Purchased in EA played normal and came across a few small bugs (health #'s and something else they patched), lack of actions to use in gameplay, (consistently had excess AP with no skill to use other than move) and in general choices outside of combat felt very stale and hard to tell what I was gaining from having specific heroes for certain situations. Hadn't played for quite a long time, thinking around 9 months, when I saw 1.0 release. Thought I'd see all the changes as it looked like it had…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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