Becoming Saint

My first instinct when I saw Becoming Saint was to slot it next to the grand management roguelikes I keep color-coded in a spreadsheet. Heretical doctrine selection, food and charisma as dual resources, a map of 14th-century Italian city-states to convert one by one, on paper, that reads like a compact political sim with roguelike legs. Reality is more complicated, and more honest about its scope than its genre tags imply. The core structure works like this: you open a run by assembling a creed from historically grounded heretical beliefs, which locks in your political orientation and determines which of the game's 16 unit types you can recruit. From beggars and nobles to units best described as genuinely peculiar, each follower carries a specific strength-weakness profile. Confrontations play out on a grid-based arena in a quasi-autobattler style, units clash mostly on their own, though you can take direct control at any point, apply terrain bonuses, and invoke saintly blessings or curses to tilt the outcome. The rock-paper-scissors logic underneath is clean enough that composing a squad for a specific opponent town feels like a real decision, not a coin flip. Food management threads through every march between settlements, and charisma acts as a secondary pressure valve that reacts to your political choices along the way. Where the game earns its mixed-but-trending-positive Steam reception is the concept and tone. The satirical framing, dark humor in the vein of Umberto Eco crossed with Monty Python absurdism, per the developer's own stated influences, lands more often than not. Runs clock in around two hours, which is exactly the right length for a lean strategy game of this type. The art direction is charming, the music is praised consistently by the community, and the Steam Deck verification means this plays well off the couch with a controller. For players who want an accessible on-ramp to the autobattler-RTS crossover without a 40-hour time commitment, the low mechanical floor is a feature, not a flaw. That said, the legitimate criticism is hard to wave away. The map of Italy is static, town locations and power levels do not randomize between runs, which puts serious pressure on the roguelike label. Some critics note that the initial doctrine and symbolic choices (including which animal mascot represents your movement) feel like they cycle through a limited pool, reducing the sense that each run starts from a genuinely different position. Players who want mid-run pivots, cascading build decisions, or AI that forces you to rethink your squad composition run by run will hit the ceiling fast. The management layer, food tracking, begging mechanics, charisma balancing, is real but light, and experienced strategy players may want more levers to pull. For a genre specialist like me, Becoming Saint sits in an honest category: a well-made small game that knows what it is. It is not a Paradox-weight political sim, and it is not a Hades-caliber roguelike with hundreds of hours of run variation. It is a two-hour tactical puzzle with a distinctive historical skin, some genuinely funny writing, and enough doctrine-building to scratch a light strategy itch. If you are a newcomer to the autobattler space or want something you can finish in a dedicated evening, the low runtime and accessible mechanics work in its favor. If you are chasing depth and replayability, read the room before committing.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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