Reverse Crawl

My spreadsheet instincts went looking for a resource economy and a tech tree, and Reverse Crawl handed me a lean, wave-based hex-tactics system built around one core question: which minion group do I deploy right now, and what am I setting up for the wave after? That pivot in focus is either going to hook you immediately or feel like a bait-and-switch depending on what you came for. The setup is this: the Revenant King, freshly resurrected from death by his necromancer daughter, needs to reclaim the throne from the Red Queen. The story is lighter than you might expect, full of goofy banter and charming super-deformed sprite work, and it genuinely earns its humor rather than leaning on it as a crutch. Combat takes place on hex grids where both your side and the enemy send out sequential groups of units. You get a preview of the incoming enemy group, which means every deployment decision is a small puzzle: send in your skeleton archers now to soften the mage line, or hold them and lead with goblins to absorb the damage while the fire mage is still active? The counter-group mechanic is the real tactical engine here. Rat swarms, skeleton archers, vampire bats, ogres, dark elf warriors, sirens, imps - each faction plays differently and punishes lazy deployment. Players who dig into the matchup logic will find genuine decision-making in every battle, even if the individual unit abilities stay fairly basic (archers shoot, zombies swipe, wizard-types cast). The strategic layer above the combat is where things get genuinely interesting for multiple-run players. Each chapter offers three different scenario paths, and the one you pick determines which new minion faction, trait, or power you unlock going forward. The campaign runs roughly 25 chapters, and there are more scenarios in the pool than any single run can see, so your army composition is always a reflection of your specific choices. Three different endings exist, and the branching is real enough that a second run with dark elves and spiders as your core instead of an undead-heavy roster genuinely changes how fights play out. The New Game Plus and Endless Mode add extra mileage after the main campaign wraps, which is important context given that a first run can clock in around three to five hours. Here is where I have to be direct with the strategy-focused crowd: this is not Final Fantasy Tactics. Depth is moderate, not deep. The turn order lacks a visible queue, which makes fine-grained planning harder than it should be. Combat maps trend small, which disadvantages ranged units and pushes you toward melee-heavy compositions even when the matchup logic suggests otherwise. Some community players also flagged that the Guard/block mechanic and the Threat-building trait can swing difficulty dramatically once you work out how they interact, pointing to a balance design that is a little loose around the edges. None of this kills the experience, but veterans expecting a tightly calibrated tactics puzzle will notice the seams. Mac users on Catalina or above should also note that the 32-bit build is no longer compatible with current macOS versions. For what it actually is, a sub-five-dollar single-session tactics game with a charming villain protagonist story, genuine replay hooks through branching faction unlocks, and a pick-up-and-put-down rhythm that suits short play windows, Reverse Crawl delivers well above its weight class. The 89 percent positive rating across Steam reviews reflects a player base that understood the pitch. If you want a weekend-length grand strategy, look elsewhere. If you want a tight, repeatable hex-tactics loop with personality and a real counter-deployment puzzle at its core, this is a very easy yes at its price tier. Diego, Scout Team

Valve rates this game Steam Deck Playable. Runs flawlessly on Linux out of the box. Based on 5 ProtonDB community reports.

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