CloverPit

This game is so fun and can run on a 14 year old pc with no graphics card a true 10/10

I recently visited Las Vegas, and at some point in the endless maze of casinos all teeming with dead-eyed automatons mechanically pulling levers, I thought, "Huh, [b]Clover Pit[/b] really does capture the essence of slot machines." That's… not necessarily a good thing. [h3]Gameplay + Details[/h3] Pull a lever, hope the symbols coalesce into one of (11) patterns, and earn enough coins to keep yourself out of a meat grinder. Standard mode challenges you to meet ~7+ ever-increasing "deadlines" by playing three (3) rounds at a slot machine, where each round is 1-7 spins and awards tickets to purchase "Lucky Charms" that might boost scores, alter odds, etc. Each deadline, a mysterious phone call offers permanent upgrades or immediate supplies. Around the third ante or so, you risk rolling a "666" and losing everything. [b]Controls. [/b]Fantastic with a mouse. Okay with controller. [b]Playtime. [/b]~6-10 hrs to first ending. [b]Settings/Options. [/b]Standard fare, plus some cool accessibility features: turn on/off text effects, screenshake, "wobbly polygons", and also reduce flashing lights. [h3]What Works For Me[/h3] ✅ [b]Endings.[/b] There's actual endings! They're not particularly fulfilling and feel rather like an obvious commentary on addiction, but they exist, and I think that's cool. Your first four victories unlock drawers that let you stash Lucky Charms, but can also spawn bloody corpse bits between games or after rolling a "666." Unlock the true ending by beating the game after [spoiler]equipping all (4) corpse parts and the skull, and surviving to the latter of deadline 7 or 3 rounds after obtaining all skeleton bits[/spoiler]. There's also a "secret ending" that requires hypervigilance and a keen sense of color. ✅ [b]Engine Building.[/b] As you play, gradually unlock a metric ♥♥♥♥-ton (150+) of Lucky Charms with unique effects and occasional traits. The basic Lucky Charms are kinda useless on their own, but as your catalog grows, so does your options. A lot of negative reviews point out that the basic strategy is still always the same, and it kinda is (boost your multipliers, folks!), but there's a lot of ways to get there. ✅ [b]Luck.[/b] Unlike in [i]Balatro[/i], "Luck" is a quantifiable randomly-generated thing baked into gameplay. For each value of luck, you're guaranteed at least one matching symbol (so, if Luck = 7, at least 7 symbols will match. You need 10 Luck for any guaranteed scores). You can manipulate Luck with Lucky Charms, but will also get random boosts and occasional "pity luck" if you're struggling. ✅ [b]Retro Horror Visuals.[/b] Gets me every time. Artist "Lorenzo T" cites [i]Buckshot Roulette[/i] as specific inspo, but it really nails the gritty, kinda edgy, starkly dystopian look of PS2 horror games. ✅ [b]Setting.[/b] This ties into the previous point, but I do love the utterly grim prison cell furnished with only a slot machine, toilet, demon cabinet, and meat grinder floor. I mean, as an allegory, it's solid. Also, bonus points for the [i]Raccoin[/i] sticker! [h3]What Doesn't Work For Me[/h3] 🟥 [b]Closing.[/b] This probably ties into the whole "allegory for gambling addiction" theme, but it's impossible to close the screen unless you're standing in front of the slot machine; between games, your only option is to play again. I've right-clicked the taskbar icon to close [i]so many times[/i]. 🟥 [b]Gets Stale / Completionists, Beware![/b] The first ~8-10 hours were great fun, but after the first real ending, it starts feeling… repetitive, annoying, and pointless. The "Lord of the Pit" achievement requires you to not only unlock all (20) Memory Cards at least twice (see below), but also beat each one on "Hard" mode. I just don't think it's possible in less than 40-50 hours, and I'm already kinda over this. 🟥 [b]No, but Really.[/b] The win condition requires you to equip (5) corpse bits, which each increase deadline requirements by 5% (for a total of 25%) and are not easy to come by unless you deliberately threw a previous game or stack the deck against yourself. I've spent the last ~5-6 hours working toward that second ending, and… I'm tired, boss. 🟥 [b]Memory Cards.[/b] If you accumulated enough coins to beat the next deadline, you get a choice: skip the deadline and receive 1-2 "memory packs." You can still answer the phone, purchase charms, etc. before saying yea or nay, and each memory pack contains (3) cards that unlock one of ~20 new game modes/challenges. In theory, this is [i]awesome[/i]. In practice… I hate it. First, the card is consumed once you play it; if you get a lame seed, you need to score another card from another memory pack to try again. Second, getting memory packs is tricky enough, but for some reason, there's a rarity system that makes certain cards almost impossible to find -- let alone beat twice. 🟥 [b]Slow to Start.[/b] The first few rounds feel basic to the point of boring, and rely heavily on the meat grinder to hold your attention. It can also take a while to figure out how different objects work together to boost your score, but the basic formula [i]seems[/i] to be: Symbol Value (just 1) x Multiplier x Pattern Value x Multiplier. [h3]Final Thoughts + Recommendation[/h3] [b]Clover Pit[/b] is the unholy union of [i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/?curator_clanid=45365863]Balatro[/url][/i] and [i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1404850/Luck_be_a_Landlord/?curator_clanid=45365863]Luck Be a Landlord[/url][/i], but it's also… less. Someone I trusted gambled everything away, so I don't gamble with real-life currency outside of fanatical.com mystery bundles. I don't understand the appeal of slot machines. Las Vegas isn't my jam, though the food is often tasty. The Italian bros behind Panik Arcade clearly have similar feelings (the press kit literally says, "We don’t really like gambling. That’s what the game is about!"), but I think the game suffers for it? You're forced to play and play again, and can't easily quit between rounds. Where [i]Luck Be A Landlord[/i] often felt very RNG-based and unbalanced, it somehow felt more balanced than [b]Clover Pit[/b] -- where luck is such a stark factor. I hate the Memory Card system; if I unlock something, I want unlimited goes at it. I'm honestly quite done and will probably uninstall after this. I would only recommend this to a completionist if they, like, chained me in a bathtub a la [i]Saw[/i]. However. While writing this, I went back and forth between posting a "positive" or "negative" review. At the end of the day, I paid $8 USD (on sale), enjoyed a solid ~14 hours spread out over several months, and had a good time. I'm not a completionist. I had my dose of retro horror and weird off-brand [i]Balatro[/i], and I'm happy to walk away. If that sounds like you, I recommend this. It's worth a go. [quote][b]Follow [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45365863/]Eekz Today[/url][/u] for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations.[/b][/quote]