Stranger of Sword City cover art

Stranger of Sword City

Party-build optimisation and risk management in a punishing turn-based dungeon crawl.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    1/10

    Turn-based menus carry no physical demand

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    0/10

    Monsters follow fixed logic with no adaptation

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    5/10

    Encounter rolls, drops and permadeath risk shape runs

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    8/10

    Party builds, class changes and risk management are the game

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

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Game details

Released
2014
Developer
Experience Inc.
Platforms
PC, Vita, X360, XONE
Modes
Single player
IGDB critics
75/100
IGDB users
64/100
Role-playing (RPG)AdventureFantasy