MidBoss

MidBoss
N/A
Metacritic
84
Steam
69.055
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$4.94
Release date
25 May 2017
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
84 (204 votes)

Kill your enemies, possess their bodies, and take their abilities as your own in this turn-based procedurally generated death labyrinth.

Show detailed description

MidBoss system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
  • Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Graphics: OpenGL 3.0+ support (2.1 with ARB extensions acceptable)
  • Storage: 300 MB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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Spacey_49
Spacey_49

Its a great game with unique gameplay that is fun, interesting and engaging. It sucked me in and I probably would have played through the night if I did't die.

Winterous
Winterous

Interface is pretty bad.
Controls are horrid, you actually have to use the mouse for basically anything involving menus.
And it's just not fun.

Music and art are quite good though.

neocow
neocow

is good, Review this if you can to get it to 200 reviews, including buying the game if you dont have it then review it

JediMB
JediMB

Just finished my first run a moment ago. I'm not very good at this game, but it has a fun gimmick and brings back memories of crawling through dungeons and collecting loot in the old Diablos (although MidBoss is obviously turn-based).

Thankfully the difficulty customization options cover a lot (although the Quick mode was surprisingly long), so it's easy enough to tailor the game to your needs if you find yourself dissatisfied with your progress.

Atridas
Atridas

I've been following this game for a while and I've finally been able to try it.

This is a roguelike. Yes, you know it. And you go possessing things arround. As you should know if you read any description of the game.

What you maybe don't know is that this is some really classy rogue-like game. I mean really. Turn based, LOTS of numbers. HARD. I mean really HARD. The info you're given in the tutorial can be overwhelming but it's quite manageble from this genre.

Once you get to the second flor, you die, basically. Then go try again xD

There is not much more I han tell you about this. It's way more similar to the original rogue than the art style hints and that what modern "rogue-likes" use to be, but if you like the genre you'll like this game. I loved the attention to detail it has, the music is quite good and the dialogues are really fun.

Shiro
Shiro

A solid Roguelike. You'll die, but it'll be fair, and the posession mechanic is quite nifty.

If you're into Roguelikes, it's worth the money.

St1ka
St1ka

Midboss is a fun roguelike with a neat concept. Sometimes it feels a bit pokemon-ish with the creature collection and skill training aspect, but I'd say this game is definitely worth your time.

Check out my full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdxdv7o60Ss

Patches
Patches

It's a neat game and I enjoyed it, but it's a bit too brutal. As you learn the game you get an idea of how strong enemies are and how strong you need to be to fight them, until then you'll get into bad encounters every playthough. There's no escaping a bad encounter (with a few exceptions). A good run suddenly ends because you picked the wrong fight. Dying wouldn't be such and issue, but...

Each playthrough also feels the same because you find the same enemies with only a little variation. Had the enemies been more randomized throughout the game I think this would be a lot better.

Selphie
Selphie

Been playing Midboss for a good few days now and i'm thoroughly enjoying it, love the RPG style, character humor and design

DrEnzyme
DrEnzyme

Midboss is a simple Roguelike with just enough mechanical depth to keep the experienced player interested, while maintaining enough simplicity to keep the new player attached. The familiar trappings are all there; gods, tomes, potions, scrolls, weapons and armor, but the way they are presented is somewhat simpler than tradtional roguelikes such as Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup or Nethack. Potions start off unidentified, but can largely be quaffed with impunity, for their effects are largely unpunishing. Altars exist, but function as a one-off sacrifice mechanic that lets the player experiment to discover each god's preferences.

This simplicity is carried over into the enemies. At first, Midboss's enemy selection could be seen as meagre, but this is largely mitigated by the possession system; Midboss's main point of difference. Any enemy in the game can be possessed, as long as you possess the strength to defeat it. Each "form" you take has its own skills/abilities, and is levelled up independently to other forms. Forms can also be mixed and matched in order to combine the abilities of your fallen foes in interesting ways. The depth of the possession system is what sets the game apart from other roguelikes. Do you take a rat's speed over a Zombie's strength? Do you take a warlock's magical prowess over a minataur's charge? These are the sorts of decisions you have to make constantly in order to survive the game, especially when it starts throwing enemies at you with powerful specialisations.

In conclusion, whether or not you'll enjoy Midboss is largely dependent on the sort of gamer you are. Midboss functions as a perfect entry point for new and semi-experienced roguelike players, but might not have enough depth to keep veterans of traditional roguelikes interested.

TheSHEEEP
TheSHEEEP

tl;dr: Has potential, but is THAT kind of roguelike and has absolutely no variance in the early levels.

I really tried to like this game. There is huge promise here.
There are also many annoyances here (such as no having no shortcuts for items - wtf?) and the death card mechanic simply not working (I have many cards, yet always the same two ones show up when a new char is created), etc.

But what really breaks this game is that when you die, it will not be your own fault.
Now, I know this sounds like whining from someone having no clue what he is doing, but let me tell you, I have played them all: ADOM, ToME, Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, Caves Of Qud, Dwarf Fortress, Rogue: Legacy, Everspace, etc. And also finished them all (at least those that really have a "finished" state). I do know what I talk about when talking about roguelikes.

In good roguelikes (especially the best, ToME), you will know what you did wrong when you died. You might have been too brave, ill-prepared, used wrong spells, etc. You get punished for mistakes and rewarded for playing well. As it should be.
In bad roguelikes, the game may at any point throw random **** your way that you have no way to be prepared against and that will just kill you, no matter what.

Unfortunately, MidBoss belongs to the second category. It doesn't matter how well you play, how much attention you pay to your stats. You can do everything perfectly (as will be evident by having a generally easy time and some momentum) - and then there will be some enemy that has stats so far above anything you could have achieved so far that he just obliterates you. If you manage to get to floor 5, which has no doubt the craziest difficulty spike I have ever seen in a game, you will know what I mean.

Now, Caves of Qud does that, too, but at least the beginning of the game is varied.

In MidBoss, you will have to live through the first floors again. And again. And again.
And let me tell you, the first floors are ALWAYS the same. Slightly different room layout, yes, but the enemy types are always the same, your loot will always be the same (as the right piece of equipment for you is easily discernable). Everything is the same, always.
There is nothing like in Rogue: Legacy or Everspace that would give you a boost after a while so you could at least skip those early levels and get to the interesting parts. Nope. The death cards are a drop in the ocean, since what really matters is your character level. Plus, they seem to be very buggy - as written above, they don't even work right for me.
You will grind through the early floors, "collecting" the same essential enemies to mastery, leveling up the same stats best for your chosen playstyle... it is a nightmarish version of Groundhog Day with no variance whatsoever.

What a shame. It could be easily resolved by randomizing the abilities of enemies or simply which enemy appears on which floor, but since all of that is fixed, you will be bored out of your mind by the 10th time you have to do it all again - latest.

AterSol
AterSol

Very good game! Love how you can obsorb other monsters into yourself and can even possess them!

Tux
Tux

Probably one of the best unique turned based rogue style games. Possess other creatures to learn their powers, as well picking up items like Shields, Swords, Magic Staffs, etc, that will boost your stats.

Levels are randomly generated, & if you die, you can have an option to take 1 item you died with to start your next run.

My hours played is not accurate, as I have been playing this game before it launched on Steam.

I highly recommend this game

Pizzaul
Pizzaul

Excellent twist on the traditional rougelike genre.

The game is pretty simple to pick up, but there's a lot of depth. I think the difficulty curve is perfect for me - you don't get roflstomped from your first playthrough, but there's a lot to learn before you are really progressing through to deeper levels.

I NEVER write reviews but I am doing so for this game because I think it's totally worth adding to your library, but it looks like it's slipping under the radar. Don't pass it up!

PROS:
-Unique possession mechanic allows for great flexibility of playstyle each game
-Updates address QoL wishes from player base. Awesome devs!
-Good humor throughout game
-Learning curve is perfect. Not really easy at all, not "go **** yourself it's a rougelike" hard
-Encourages replayability by allowing you to pick an item from a previous playthrough and use it in a future game
-Game design is... really good. Hard to explain, but the game GUI just FEELS well-made.
-Easy to start up, save, and pick up later. Game doesn't seem super story-driven, so forgetting where you are isn't really an issue. This is a big pro to me as I often shuffle between 5-10 games and might not come back to something for a month or two.

CONS:
-Mediocre graphics (I don't care, but some might)
-Sounds are repetitive
-Inventory management is not excellent (but is slated to be improved in the next update)
-Item diversity is a bit lacking
-Maybe it's just me, but some forms just seem like trash, and some seem OP. I'm no expert, but there are definitely forms/skills that I just don't prioritize or use because they seem weak to me.
-Not sure how I feel about stealth mechanic. Seems like best strategy is to get in there and slay bad guys - why would I want a form that can skip enemies and lose XP?

The7ofDiamonds
The7ofDiamonds

Couldn't honestly even get through a single playthrough to be honest. There's some cool concepts for sure, but the interface and controls leave so much to be desired and make it difficult to perform the simplest actions. Inventory and character management is a big part of it, but when it's such a chore as it was, I decided to just quit the playthrough.

Acidicjew
Acidicjew

This Rogue'like is tedious AF, eschewing all the common quick play features of even the oldest rogue'likes (Such as DCSS).

No Auto explore, no trash for cash exchange... etc.

Interesting mechanic that is a real slog, even when using Quickplay.

Elizabeth McFife
Elizabeth McFife

This.

This is a very neat and tidy little game to keep you occupied for hours. The innovative possession mechanic lets you experiment with combos and powers endlessly, and with great power comes great mirthful doom for all of your enemies.

A roguelike that is like no other. Cool retro feel, with a modern twist in thinking.

Most folks just browsing Steam won't *get* this game at first glance. Give it a chance, trust me.

BloodRaven
BloodRaven

MidBoss is a loot driven, permadeath roguelike with a twist. It's satisfying enough although starting at zero again can get tedious. Some of this tedium is relieved by a few other interesting mechanics like death cards and custom games.

Pros:
Combat - The possession system means your available skills and stat build are always in flux, so how you approach each fight changes according to who you are fighting and who you happen to be at the time. This makes combat a fun exercise in strategy.

Loot - There is lots here, tiered randomly generated rarites and uniques. Each playthrough will have you wearing something different and hoping for the next big drop.

Graphics - The graphics are crisp and easy on the eyes. They're not 3d masterpieces, but that's unnecessary in a game like this.

Death Cards - You die in this game a LOT. Fortunately, you can use a card to use a previous run's seed. This allows you to know what loot will drop, what monsters will be where, what the layout will be, etc. You can also use a card once to give your new imp a piece of equipment that your old imp died with. If you had a favourite unique or legendary you can pass it on and get a headstart. While this can only be done once per card, you can save death cards and use multiple cards for a single run, potentially decking your new imp out in some impressive gear.

Custom games - If the standard mode has got you annoyed, you can always make a custom game with the cards stacked in your favor. This doesn't mean you won't die, it just means you can have a bit higher chance at living.

Cons:
Unlockable modes - I like the idea of "retro graphic modes" but they seem to be just overlays. The problems arise when the text becomes unreadable because it. For example, the P&P mode is nice looking, but because it just strips out color the text becomes white blocks with thin black outlines on a white background. In an actual p&p setting the writing would be bold black. Overall I collectively call the retro modes "aaaah my eyes!."

Repetitive - Honestly this is something that all permadeaths inherently suffer from, so it's not much of a con as long as you know what you're getting into. Every death means going through the same motions from the start again and again.

That's about it. It's fun as long as you're into permadeath roguelikes.

Jrquinlisk
Jrquinlisk

Kitsune Games has managed to do what I thought nearly impossible: create a rogue-like that makes me want to come back.

Two things jump out at me as especially intriguing. First is the possession mechanic. It's been done before, but MidBoss manages to make it feel freshby allowing for the use of the abilities of the creatures you possess without requiring you to possess them every single time you want to use them. For example, I made extensive use of the vampire bat's leeching skill in pretty much every form I used.

The second thing that I took notice of — and the far more meaningful thing, in my opinion — is how much thought went into this game about accessability. This naturally includes the color-blind graphics mode, which has never really been more than an afterthought for most games. More surprisingly, though, MidBoss also includes mechanics that help players enjoy the game, even if they aren't a fan of rogue-likes. The presence of Quick Play mode and Death Cards — which act both as a record of your game and as an assist for your next playthrough — demonstrate that MidBoss is actively avoiding the insular elitism that plagues genres like rogue-likes. I can only hope other games and genres follow suit.

I should also note that this game is wonderfully easy on low-end systems. I played it on a 2-year-old budget laptop without any notable slow-downs or stuttering.

My list of cons about this game are few, and mostly revolve around the controls. The game can be slow to accept inputs, and some movements are puzzlingly unavailable: most notably, you can attack diagonally around wall corners, but you can't move that same way.

If these are the worst problems I have with the game, though, I'd say it's a small price to pay. MidBoss is a fun, engaging game with a delightfully snarky sense of humor and a welcoming approach that many of its fellow rogue-likes seem to fear. Whether or not you usually enjoy rogue-likes, I heartily recommend giving MidBoss a shot.

P.S.: The color scheme produced by the CGA retro potion brought me more glee than might be entirely healthy.

foxclear
foxclear

I originally thought it would be an interesting an evolving game, so permadeath didn't scare me that much.

However, when you die, you get to start doing the same things as the previous run, the only thing that changes is the layout of the place.

This game is pretty complicated, lots of different stats, lots of loot (probably too much).

You begin as a rat, take on different forms, get a bit stronger as it goes (or so I think) ... and then you finally encounter a creature that beats you (without warning of knowing it's stronger than you are), and have to start again, being a rat, then a bat ...

I guess you need experience to progress in this game (I have played an hour, so I suppose it's normal that I haven't really understood how it works), but retracing the same steps everytime you die until you get that experience ? Certainly not !

Well, if you want it, then know what you're getting into, it's (probably) actually not a bad game if you're willing to go deep in it, but not my area.

ninrac
ninrac

Midboss is a true rogue-like that really has hit that focus very spot on and delivered a fantastic experience. There is a huge difference in experience when you are playing poorly and trying to rush through compared to playing wisely and concisely. If you are reckless and not thinking about what you plan to do, the dungeon will crush you quickly. If you plan your turns and use your resources well, you can be a massive force of destruction that feels empowering and rewarding. There are also lots of extra little goodies, secrets, and accessibility options to make the experience what you really want. If you like true rogue-likes, this is a must. If you don't enjoy challenging and very thought provoking games, it may not be as much your cup of tea.

Mr-Hades
Mr-Hades

I've only spent a bit of time playing MidBoss currently, but it's a simple to play game that I can definitely see coming back to time and time again. The music is enjoyable, the control scheme is easy to pick up (simple arrow controls or clicking with a mouse), and the possession system gives you the option to mix abilities between forms to better fight enemies with. And fitting with the rouge-like games, it's fun to come back and try again and see if you can get past (or carve a path through) whatever ended your run the last time around.

Misery
Misery

An enjoyable little roguelike; I followed the development through its early stages, and it has been fun the entire time from then on.

banana
banana

This is a roguelike that creates a cool combat system around the concept of possessing monsters. It plays more like a "traditional" roguelike with things like turn-based combat, procedurally generated dungeons and permadeath. It does break out of the mold but in a good way, like their "death card" system where you can save all your character's information in a png image, and you can literally drag and drop someone else's death card image into your game and load it into your game, play that same seed, or even import one of their items to start with.

The combat is what this game is about, and the idea is that possessing stuff is not only done as a way to get stronger, but it's also your primary, and often times only, means of healing. Combined with the fact you don't regenerate HP naturally, this means that to survive hairy encounters you have to time your possessions carefully AND choose who you possess carefully.

A pet peeve of mine with roguelikes is that some tend to obfuscate information, forcing you to dig through a wiki to find out what to do with your stats or what decisions to make during combat, but MidBoss is very "up front" with information, letting you make tricky decisions in a informed manner. There's some notable exceptions where the game is deliberately obtuse about certain mechanics, but these exceptions don't seem to affect gameplay significantly or at all, which is very much appreciated.

Game length felt pretty long specially for a first playthrough. which can be pretty scary if you're not used to losing a character 6+ hours in, but I see that as a feature. If you *really* don't want to die you can look up a guide so you know what to expect on later floors but it's not as fun that way IMO.

As of this review I do have to say that backtracking in large levels or going up and down floors repeatedly can get tedious and affect replayability, BUT according to the developer map sizes are being adjusted and there's a fast travel feature coming up soon which would solve that issue.

Even with the aforementioned problem, for my first playthrough there was enough content to go through that I had a lot of fun, I have around 20 hours in this game (not including idling) which is awesome value for what you pay, I definitely recommend it.

Opal
Opal

Update: The developer added a new font and you can disable scaling to instead use nearest neighbor, fixing my main issues with the game. The game has also been reciving good support in general and lots of extra content, so definitely buy this if you're at all interested!

Neat little roguelike. The main possession gimmick is implemented pretty well and hitpoints not regenerating naturally help the game a lot. There's also a "Death Card" system where it generates a trading card with death information, map seed, and equipment at death that's super cool and shareable. The main negative is that the UI is a bit rough around the edges, as well has having slightly blurry scaling.

Bonus: it has good humor in it and proper accessibility options

i'm electric makoto, hadoooken
i'm electric m…

feel like this is an excellent roguelike with a unique twist

im beaby
im beaby

(Quick note: steam doesn't track my offline hours; I actually have more like 8 hours of gameplay)

I'm not gonna lie, I was really hesitant to buy this game initially. Most of my games are more story based (or Stardew Valley), and I'm generally awful at combat games of any variety BUT I am so glad I purchased this game!

The combat style is simple but still challenging and each playthrough is unique, so it’s hard to get bored. The main demon is also absolutely adorable, and all of the other characters are surprisingly endearing (from the Cratefish King to the punny Cat Merchant). The music and graphics are also A++. There’s a ton to do and find (since you start from square one every run through and every runthrough has a unique layout and difficulty), and it’s a surprisingly fun to see how far you can make it.
A lot of heart clearly went into this game and it’s well-worth its $15 price tag.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else Kitsune Games comes up with!

transce
transce

This seemed so good when I started playing it. I'm a huge Dungeons of Dredmor and Tangledeep fan, so a roguelike with big beautiful sprites is right up my alley. But unlike those previously mentioned games, this game doesn't seem to scale properly. I always seem to die unexpectedly or in situations where there doesn't seem to be any way out. I'm no stranger to hard-as-nails roguelikes but in those games, every run gets me farther and farther as I learn more about the game. In this game, I feel like I understand the systems but something is missing, maybe balance. The early game is very tedious and monotonous since it's always exactly the same. You have to slog through all the boring early levels, only to die quickly and unexpectedly when things are just starting to get interesting. It really kills your motivation to start over. I would highly recommend either of the two previously mentioned games over this one.

Noloe
Noloe

Humor of Disgaea with a nice dungeon crawling turn-based twist. The New Game+ system allows for a lot of customizing with each play through to help keep the game fresh.

degro130681
degro130681

Idea of possessing and earning souls is great. Also plenty of ways to customise difficulty, so for everybody there can be a balanced playthrough.

Neutral point is the harsh difficulty increase for each level passed. Every level you seem to meet a monster that vastly beats your current stats. Mostly strategically manageable, but still. Added the hardcore mode that's non-removable, can result in some curses. But I put it as a neutral point as it also somewhat gives it a decent challenge.

Dapper Prinny
Dapper Prinny

MidBoss is an interesting game, combining grid-based combat akin to Final Fantasy Tactics to a rogue-like Binding of Isaac. Players fight and possess different monsters to gain new abilities and stat increases. Each monster is effectively a new class, unlocking abilities as the form level ups. Gaining new abilities like Scurry or Envenom is a nice bonus to the stat boost that come with the leveling up.

The music is nice, and fits well with the dungeon theme. The graphics are nice, but items can be hard to spot at times. Luckily, the game has a feature that essentially highlights the item location to allow for easy pickup.

Each floor that you progress through adds new enemies, some are just varients of previous foes, but some are suprisingly tough. Enemies slowly increase in difficulty, and murdering everything on a floor is usually necessary to gain levels to make up for the difficulty. Also picking the proper monster to level up as is important. Zombies give constitution bonuses, aka more health, while rats give general bonuses. Focusing your levels is important to a long run. Likewise, picking which stat to level up is important, since you only gain 3 stat points per level to be divided amoungst 4 stats.

I originally played MidBoss when it was in it's early alpha stages at MomoCon a few years back. It caught my attention then, and was a delight to play in the indie showcase. Even surprised one of the devs by carefully kiting an enemy around the exit of the floor, slowly widdling it's health down with poison, while I had only 2 hp myself. Won a free copy of the game, and promptly lost the code once I got home. But it's for the best as paying for the game supports the devs to make more interesting games. I strongly recommend MidBoss, or if you don't want to buy it, I recommend at least watching some gameplay of it.

Karp
Karp

Simple and very fun combat mechanic if you don't look at numbers. I really enjoy this game and I'm planning to beat the boss.

Some cons:
- UI for managing forms and equipment is bad, too much clicking and not enough feedback.
- Stats are over-complicated, to much stats without clear feedback how they affect game.
- Unknown potions. It is just boring.

Kat
Kat

Extremely solid roguelike. It's more arcade-y than most, but in a way that makes it pretty fun to play and not nearly as disappointing if you die and restart. Just about all of the negative reviews on here have criticisms that have since been patched or solved because the developer has been putting in huge amounts of effort to improve and develop the game post-release.

Spear Deer
Spear Deer

Nearing the end of my first run (floor 12/15, haven't had any trouble since floor 4), I have to say I have mixed feelings about the game. Its good. The design is good, and its fun. That being said, despite having more of the fixing of a traditional roguelike than many of the roguelites you see on the market, the game is the "lite"est roguelike I've ever played, in that as a veteran roguelike player, it offered me almost no challenge, and has comparatively little replayability. If you've cut your teeth on real roguelikes than its trivial to find the optimal path through the game.

Is the game interesting? Hell yeah. Great mechanics.
Is the game fun? Yeah, it is. Its engaging and fun to play with the systems.
Is the game worth it if you consider yourself a roguelike player? It depends on how much entertainment you want to get for you $15. I got it on sale, and would do it again just to play around with the genuinely interesting possesion mechanic, but I'm probably not even going to get 10 hours out of it, which is very low for a roguelike.

trapsraps
trapsraps

I really wanted to like this one. Unfortunately, can't seem to play it with a controller or keyboard and mouse. Overall, I am very dissatisfied with this one and would not reccomend it to anyone.

fesbian leminist
fesbian leminist

I've really, really enjoyed this game so far, and it's one that I think I'm gonna keep coming back to. The possession mechanic for combat is really interesting, and I'm enjoying trying to level up different forms and find the best abilities.

I also really dig the design. The art for the characters is really nice to look at, and it's got a nice variation between the monsters. The sound is nice too. I really dig the music, and the combat sounds are nice and pretty solid.

I'd happily pay for this game again, and I'm disappointed that I didn't pick it up sooner. I'd definitely recommend it. The tutorial is clear, and it's easy enough to pick up, which is always something I like with this kind of game. It's easy enough to make a mistake and get punished for it, but that's always part of the fun too.

Rathael
Rathael

One of the more unique roguelikes I've played. The main gimmick of the game - possessing defeated enemies to steal their abilities - is actually as fun as it sounds without being the only thing to work with. Equipment and item drops are still very random, stat growth actually exists (though it doesn't feel that impactful), and there are a number of different ways to go about your dungeon run.

You play as an imp that grows in strength by possessing other monsters, fighting in their form for a while to permanently steal their abilities and favorable stats. Despite the heavy encouragement to use a possessed monster most of the time (possessing or depossessing something are the main ways of restoring HP), you are usually strongest while in your natural imp form, as it lets you use the abilities and stats from more of the monsters you've possessed.

The game lacks some of the familiar elements like hunger and one-way stairwells, but that doesn't make it any easier. I have yet to beat the game and it makes some major power jumps between monsters, but it's hard to put down and easy to get back to despite the frustrations.

If you're a fan of turn-based, dungeon-crawling roguelikes and don't mind a gimmick or two, this one's worth a look.

chimney37
chimney37

Overall: 8.0/10.0

Very Fun Game. Casual, and no cognitive stress progressing with the game, or quiting when you had enough. Mechanics to absorb enemys' abilities and using is quite unique (maybe is very close to "Rockman" (Megaman), and maybe more complex in a good way). Maybe levels can do a bit more tricks (such as having to use enemys' abilities to solve environmental puzzle) to make use of game mechanics.

Picking up items is also intriguing. In the beginning, you have absolutely no idea what a potion is meant to do, until you use it, and realize. It's not really a hardcore item hunt game like the Diablo series, and often you won't jump with excitement to find a spectacular item.

There's a mix of melee-type items and mage-type combinations, depending on your preference. It wasn't quite clear to me, if there were specific tactical needs for using either types. There were a few exceptions though, when facing a powerful enemy, to think more about using the right weapon.

There's also not much pressure in this rougelike, and there's not much pressure to move on to the next level, such as character hunger or monster respawns. This casual take on the game is also what's relaxing about it.

You could get additional items through a merchant every 2 levels or so. Initially I found it very useful, then it became more like an item dumper to sell off and get coins. The merchant have very powerful items too.

You can also get items from breaking boxes that you encounter throughout the game, and get rewards from a thing called cratefish.
.

Good:

    • Game concept, story pacing
    • Game Mechanics fighting enemies
    • Game Modes allowing hardcore, normal, and full exploration

Bad

    • Repetitive/Bland Levels?
    • Maybe needs more mid-level bosses or special enemies
    • Item storage can be made better? e.g. get perks to carry more
    • Deserves a bit more explanation about game ending?

Nile
Nile

Much better than expected! A nifty replacement to Binding of Isaac! I wish the control was better though... I got used to it by rebinding the keys to
qwe
ad
zxc
and using 's' as the pickup key. Try it. It helps.
The music is really good also. +1! You should try it too.

twitch.tv/chaosrules1
twitch.tv/chao…

really want to play and like this game, especially when i got it when it was on sale... unfortunely i can't play it at all!
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for me the frame is stuck. i can hear the sound working properly but what i see is frozen in time. unless i keep updating the frame by moving the game in windowed form FRAM BY FRAME per millisecond, i cannot tell what buttons i am even clicking. in other words, this is impossible to play for me.

Blind Ryan
Blind Ryan

New font. Very legible. Legally-blind friendly. Here's a Let's Play I did. https://youtu.be/FRLSA7NK94Q

Citronvand
Citronvand

I don't like giving this game a negative review but I feel like I have to if I want to be objective. Secondly, my experience with the game is not that of the average player, this is due to the fact that I beat it on my first try on hardcore (1 life permadeath):
https://i.imgur.com/hr7K0vG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4iUccB0.jpg

But I've had a lot of experience with roguelikes. Tales of Maj'eyal, ADOM, Dungeons of Dredmor, Doom Roguelike, Dragon Crystal (SMS), Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup and many more I can't think of. I've beaten them all on the equivalent 1 life permadeath difficulty.

I like MidBoss' possession mechanics, I found it to be interesting to take control over the minions, see what abilities they had, which form to use to maximize the chance of survival and all that. So what is it I don't like? Quanitity, variety, different experience every time you play. I got the achievement for mastering all forms so I've already seen and used them all, on my first playthrough. In Roguelikes, and I'm talking real roguelikes here, not those roguelite games, it is important that when you die you can have a completely different experience on your next playthrough. That's why it feels ok to die in those games even though you have to restart. Because you can try something else.

If MidBoss had hundreds of different enemies that were randomized for each floor and it wasn't even possible to see them all in one playthrough, then I think I would have liked it a lot more. Of course I understand that would take time and resources to implement and might not be possible for the developers, but that is sadly irrelevant. There are many other roguelikes that has more variety and are free.

It does however have better graphics than most roguelikes, but all I can think of is "at what cost?". There wasn't any (graphical) variety in the dungeon floors. They all looked pretty much the same. I found a floppy disk in the game which let me play a previous version of the game(?), the graphics looked a lot worse but, fuck it, I liked it. If that is how the game looked while having a lot more variety I would have definitely recommended it.

If you're new to roguelikes, you will probably enjoy it more than me and it is not a horrible game. Pick it up on a sale if nothing else. It just needs more, more quantity. It was also a bit easy, but maybe that is just me.

BlankMauser
BlankMauser

Midboss is at its best when you're knee-deep into a dungeon, trapped in a booby-trapped room full of enemies, possessing and depossing each one to heal yourself, getting clutch crits or re-animates and wisely using everything in your arsenal to barely make it out alive. It honestly takes a bit to get to that point, but the mechanics themselves are well done and interesting.

Once you've mastered an enemy form, you can take its abilities and equip them for yourself. You can mix up to 3 forms so I found myself very easily attached to the builds I was creating. Since this is honestly the main hook of the game, it was kinda demotivating for a permadeath game because the grind to master them is quite long. However, you get over it very quickly once you know your way around and understand what skills you want. I'd recommend putting the experience mod way up at the beginning so you can truly experience the game. When you've understood it a bit more you can go back for the challenge.

As a person who generally does not like roguelikes, I found this one fairly accessible. RNG muddied a bit of my experience, but fans of replayable genres like this probably won't mind. Overall a solid game with lots of charm and good influences. Combining Disgaea's array of playable enemies, with a Final Fantasy-esque job system.

Jeff
Jeff

A good, difficult, tactical rogue-like with a fun and interesting central mechanic. If you're looking for a fast game, though, this isn't it. You really need to think about what you're doing and progressing in the game takes time. With that said, the game is never boring. You always need to think about what creatures you want to take over next, what the best equipment for you character is, what the best mix of skills is, etc.

All in all, it's definately worth your time.

dobbs
dobbs

A solidly Good Turn based Dungeon crawling time,
7/10 Some points are oddly hard for no Reason

Veyerals
Veyerals

This is a very fun roguelike with an interesting ability mechanic where you possess the body of your enemies and steal their powers.

It takes a while to get used to all the mechanics, but I super appreciate the amount of options there are to play the game. The main way to play is the standard try to get to the final boss in one life. But my favorite way to play is the 1up mode where you start with 4 lives and you can randomly find more along the way. The game is still difficult this way, but a single costly mistake will not be the end of a run, which is very helpful if you are still figuring out the mechanics. There is even an infinite lives mode if you really having trouble and you just want to see the ending.

vhytom
vhytom

tl;dr - Great game, but needs a little polish.

Amazingly fun though a little on the awkward side with certain enemies having absurd damage values compared to others, and effects like poison often feeling OP against you (while fairly weak against enemies). When I poison a minotaur 3 times to kill him, then possess him while he's still poisoned and DIE from the leftovers of my own poison... something feels wrong. Or when normal enemies hit you for 10-20 damage, and suddenly something will crank out a non-crit 100+ damage blow to instakill you even from full health.

After realizing that nearly every death I had was from one of these outlandishly unbalanced kills, I eventually gave up standard mode and just went in narrative mode to play it through, and that was fine. I only died 3 times before beating the game, and each of those 3 times was one of the bits I mentioned above.

If these rough bits could be polished off a little, I'd rate it as near perfect (though always wishing for more content). As it is...
7/10 - Good as is, huge potential to become even better.

Xerzes
Xerzes

A fine game of watching an imp discover their identity by way of a great deal of murder and looting. Delicious murder and looting.

tuxdelux
tuxdelux

Kept having trouble getting to enjoy this game. This rougelike starts at a tutorial level, after every restart, and kills you pretty quickly afterward. It has a deluge of numbers and meta-stats, while it fails to show their significance in the gameplay. The possessing of enemies and taking their power is a fun idea, but it made an overly complicated game even more complicated. There was not enough variety in combat to make each fight interesting, and the game lacked common rougelike combat functions like throwing and weapon specs.

Technically, I had no issues playing on ubuntu linux 19.10 with radeon mesa drivers and keyboard and mouse. The game was ported from a .NET coded engine. It would have been nice to have some options to lower the combat animations and other ways to speed up the gameplay. You will want to wait for a sale to try this one, as there is not much content outside the core gameplay and graphical assets.

Lariria
Lariria

This game's pretty fun. A casual rogue-like with an unusual art style and a possession mechanic. As you continue to use the possessed monsters, you level up that form and can take its traits when not in it.

The music's decent, and the game's non-serious atmosphere is welcome given many rogue-likes are kinda grim. Give it a try.

bbjeans
bbjeans

An excellent roguelike with a refreshing twist via the possession mechanic!

Duck Whitman
Duck Whitman

A great little game with cute retro graphics.
The possession mechanic is really rather deep and there are tons of monsters to be able to take over. There are many skills, and the combinations that can be created are all really cool.
The leveling system is great and full of data and choice for different builds.
That the game is almost two years old and still receives support is fantastic. The death card mechanic is super cool.

All hail the Cratefsh God.

awp
awp

This is both a challenging and well-balanced roguelike with a bit of a "Disgaea flair" in the aesthetics and music. I'm not really a big roguelike fan but this one still managed to hook me in long enough to get through it all. My experiences with this game are based solely on the Hardcore difficulty, but I would strongly recommend starting on one of the easier difficulties to learn the ins and outs of the game before you go for the hardcore win due to how crucial knowledge of each enemy type ends up being. Took me maybe 8 failures before I had enough knowledge and power to meticulously and carefully march my way to the end.

Oh, and the ending. Make sure you're prepared. I was not.

CASTER FOR LIFE!!! (and death. So many deaths)

rottencorpse.z
rottencorpse.z

one of the best casual dungeon crawling game i've played in my 45 years of life. very unique. underrated.

ScarLightt
ScarLightt

If you want to see more reviews like this, follow me as a curator: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34792193/

MidBoss is a roguelike game with a turn based attack system. During the game, you will explore a plethora of dungeons and encounter new enemies that you will engage in battle. The catch? Once you kill the enemies, you can possess them.

You are able to discover and learn more than 60 different abilities, which will allow you to become stronger as you play. You need to be careful because the game has a heavily randomly generated system. Everything in your run is unique before you start playing. The game modes differ; you have the narrative mode with infinite lives, the 1up mode with five lives and the hardcore mode with a single life. Timing your runs and every attack will make it easier to stay alive in this game!

Having a randomly generated map means each run is always different. That brings in more replayability, because of this you get to enjoy new mechanics as you play. There are cursed items in the game, traps and so on, which means that every section of the game can be a problem and you need to tackle it the best way that you can to obtain the best possible results and experience no matter the situation.

When you die you can see a death card document, you will learn how long your run was, how it ended and so on. If you beat the game, you will have a special card, and that unlocks a new game mode. You will retain your abilities, and you can improve them, but the enemies will be stronger. There’s tons of loot and chests in the game. Every chest has random loot, so you never know what to expect during your run!

While many roguelikes adopted the controller, you can use that in MidBoss as well, but the keyboard and mouse still seem to be the optimal solution for playing this particular game. It’s also important to note that they added a colorblind mode, support for multiple monitors and multiple retro mode filters.

Once you start playing MidBoss, you will be impressed with the unique system, action-packed gameplay, and numerous mechanics. It takes a little bit of time to get used to some systems, but once you do so, the outcome will be great. And that’s because you can try out new runs. The idea of taking over your enemy’s body might seem a bit grim, but the implementation is amazing, and you won’t be tired of it. If you are passionate about roguelikes with a clever mechanic, this is the game you want to play, as it’s fun, intense and a blast to play!

Cwun
Cwun

Outstanding game. Original concept, fair price, great developer.

The Birthday Skeleton
The Birthday S…

One of the most mechanically unique roguelikes I have ever played, and even if you don't like the game overall too much, the possession/skill learning mechanic alone is worth having a look at.

Frankly, it inspired me to make something of my own with a similar mechanic, and I cannot wait to be skilled enough in coding to make it happen.

Thanks, devs!

[ʀᴇᴅᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ]_Fiend
[ʀᴇᴅᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ]_Fiend

An overlooked game by far, the mechanics are interesting and quite developed. However with a sequel and more refinement this game could easily become a greater success.

johnwin
johnwin

Its good, just not a lot to do.

Ninjabear201
Ninjabear201

I will recommend this game. Not only for its one of a kind idea but also for the amount of work the devs put into this masterpiece.

Geomancer
Geomancer

This game is amazing. It is easy to play but that doesn't mean it's forgiving. If you are a fan of rouge-likes this is a game for you. Once you get it be sure to break all the boxes. That is all. Enjoy it.

teamjimbo
teamjimbo

Midboss is a turn-based, rougelike game. Its core feature is the ability to master the skills of the enemies you defeat in combat. In fact, you actually possess the form of the defeated monster. You then proceed to level up that monster for a short time, learning new abilities. At any time, you may revert back to your default "imp" form, retaining the abilities and stat specialties of three of the monsters you have previously possessed.
Pros:

    • The core possession mechanics are simply awesome. The ability to fight as a completely new monster with a completely new set of stats and powers keeps the game refreshing. All of this while retaining your core paper-doll inventory of items.
    • Underlying stat mechanics aren't groundbreaking, but are diverse enough to be somewhat interesting. That said, it seemed as though all four of your core stats were quite mandatory, so it wasn't clear to me that different builds as far as these go are that possible.
    • There is a nice progression to newly found items and finding new items is really exciting. Beyond that, there are some nice unique weapons which interact with the powers of given creature abilities keeping things interesting.
    • Game isn't too long.
    • The session is quite customizable, allowing you to play the way you want.
    • Hooray for fast-travel.

YMMV:

    • There isn't much of a story. In a game like this, this didn't bother me in the slightest as it is all about game mechanics and items. But if you need a good story look elsewhere.
    • I found the graphics serviceable, but not great. Certainly sufficient for a game like this.

Cons:

    • As awesome as this game is, it has somewhat low replayability. Future runs won't be any harder and your character won't be any different. You can of course force yourself into a different playstyle, and/or you might find items which steer you in a different direction. But at its core, you will be doing pretty much the same thing in the same way, especially on the early floors.
    • Inventory management was a bit of a pain. Half of my inventory was potions, so i had to keep going to back to old floors to sell stuff. I could only keep a few spare items as possible swap-outs lest my merchant return trips be even more frequent. They did implement a "scrap" system, but it gives almost no money as compared to the original item. Of course, money is near useless anyway...
    • The main currency quickly became useless, as there was nothing for me to spend on it. Perhaps purchasable stat upgrades or something are called for.

Overall: This game is a must-have for fans of turn-based games. As a rouge-like it is merely OK, due to the low replayability. In fact, I recognized this quite early on, even though I was still having fun. My first game I ran with 4 lives and died on floor 5 (since I had no idea what I was doing). My second game I upped this to 10 lives. I made it to Floor 9 in my second game but spawned some strange god like monster whom I couldn't beat. In my last game I went with the full 15 lives (and finished it dying only three times), simply because I didn't want to replay the same old floors if I were to lose again. I was still having fun when the game was over, but decided not to do another run, because I didn't think I would get too much more out of it. Perhaps in a few months. Anyway, if you are on the fence you should buy it and any sequel to this game will be an insta-buy for me.

Rating: 8.5 /10

Inaluogh
Inaluogh

Thanks to other negative reviews I was able to find out that the game's main gimmick is shallower than a puddle. Only 26 monsters to possess and master in a roguelike ALL ABOUT doing exactly that? And the layouts as well as monsters are pretty much always the same. Which outright RUINS replayability once you've seen and possessed every monster even if you did not beat the game. It had a great idea, but seems rushed because of how little content there is.

[They/Them] Chesse20
[They/Them] Chesse20

its alright, lots of items and skills to play with. When you lose or win you get cards that let you pick an item you had or newgame+ if you won and you can send those cards to your friends and they can use them too great feature

Puddles
Puddles

A neat take on the rougelike formula. A retro game updated with modern loot (epic, legendary, unique, etc). Classes are replaced with using the skills of a limited number of formerly possed creatures. I held off buying it based on a couple of negative reviews, but I'm glad I finally did.

renbletz
renbletz

Picked this up recently, and I've been having a great time with it so far.

Some older reviews mention the samey-ness of the first few levels, but the upcoming DLC (planned for release before end of year 2019, I believe) should address that.

It's a fun game so far, very accessible, and the upcoming DLC should shore up its weaknesses greatly.

Arcthebad
Arcthebad

Quite a fun little game. If you like rpg's you will find a few hours of goodness here. I had an issue with my save file, after notifying the devs, they were quick to fix me right up. Eniko and everyone at Kitsune rocks! Def recommend.

saberwriter
saberwriter

An enjoyable, easy to get into game that's a lot of fun. The possession mechanics add an interesting dimension to the gameplay and lets you play in a number of different styles.

10/10, would recommend to anyone who asks about it

Ceak
Ceak

I thoroughly enjoy a challenge, and this game is extremely challenging especially on hardcore.

Nova
Nova

I have no idea what I'm doing 90% of the time but I dig the style of this game and the effort put into it.

fox
fox

Based game from a based dev
Best roguelike on steam, buy it

Sanglaine
Sanglaine

So I have been thinking about this review for a good bit here because I really, really like the concept presented here and the way that everything works. The problem is that I base my reviews on price point and this game is adverting as 15$ and I'm sorry, but there just isn't enough content to justify that price. Even as cheap as it was on xmas sale (3.74) I'm still not sure I'm happy with it as a personal purchase.

But anyway, there really just isn't enough content. Most of the creatures in the game are unique, but there are a few recolors and a lot of the items feel very samey. The balance for the game is also pretty lacking. I felt like I had some really amazing items within the first thirty minutes of the game. This game doesn't understand proper progression at all.

Even though the game is about possession and gives you some great reasons to master each enemy, the pure perma-death system is poorly supported. You get an item from your previous playthrough, but you don't make progress after dying. So there is no reason to play perma death. There is a mode where you can get extra lives or just have infinite lives, but that's too far in the other direction. A game like this where you master monsters should really have mastery cross playthroughs when you do permadeath. It would feel a lot more rewarding and make me want to risk more. Instead I don't want to play permadeath because I don't want to grind the mastery again. It's annoying.

Also no elf chick or succubus. Big missed opportunity.

The environments are very lacking. In a game about procedural generation you keep things fresh with a lot of individual variety. Different types of boxes, walls, unique room patterns, rare enemies, rare rooms and tilesets. Sometimes you do outdoor sections (i personally love outdoor sections that are done right) and just in general push your limited design as far as it will go. Variety is the spice of life. This game has very little.

As far as controls and general usability goes though the game does a great job. Sound design is ok, though nothing special. Lackluster is a good call for that area. Having good controls is actually really nice especially since I just got done messing around on Gothic. Augh.

So about that lack of content. Well I read some of the reviews and one of them had a comment by the dev about adding in more content as part of a free update. Well in the interest of seeing whether or not it was out, I checked the news feed and even now the update isn't out yet. Well the dev was talking about that back in 2017. The most recent update about the content is this year. That's not a good sign in my opinion.

I feel like in this case this is just an issue with me having to eat the cost and hope later on I might actually get to enjoy a decent game. For now though I am warning away from the game. This game is serving up a prototype of something that should be made, but just falls quite short. Wait till it's really cheap or just pass.

Campa
Campa

Cool concept, but still needs more production. also music is super loud

SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperForceGo
SuperRobotMonk…

noreanimationlost4livesnotgameoveryetbutstillragequitfeelsbadman

Hold my Hand
Hold my Hand

Short well made game with great replayability.

UI is annoying at times but all around 8.5/10 for me.

plus300
plus300

Despite not being a fan of rogue-like games, I found the ideas behind this one interesting so I decided to give it a try. I played the narrative mode so I can't really comment on the permadeath aspect of the game, but I can say that I had a lot of fun (~12h to complete with infinite respawns). The mechanics work well, the humor is nice, the items are diverse.

My only complaint is that I feel that the game kind of forces you into one or two specific builds (both item-wise and "possession-wise") and that some stats don't really matter as much as others. It would be more fun if it were viable to stick with the skills from some of the early monsters until the end game. Still a very good game, though, and I'm looking forward for a sequel.

THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
THE MAN IN THE…

there is really no reason to play through this game more then once since you can see all the content the game has in one playthrough. and as a roguelike thats bad news dont buy it.

SamuraiCupcake
SamuraiCupcake

Not for me, but I can see the appeal.

Pros:
-Really interesting enemy possession mechanic. This is what got me interested.
-Sound effects are good
-Death card system is neat
-Controls are serviceable, if a bit awkward to use at the start

Cons:
-Repetitive Level Design
-Repetitive, loud music
-Unappealing animations
-Uninteresting, hardly present story
-Art style is pretty bland
-Enemies are too powerful at the start (open door->get instantly two hit KOed by skeleton from full health)
-Deaths always feel cheap and unavoidable

Not recommended.

turretboi
turretboi

a unique concept, executed brilliantly. in short, this is a dungeon crawler where you possess fallen enemies. however, you can add a portion of another form's stats, as well as their abilities, to a form you've acquired. this opens up various strategic elements to this. fair warning though, this is a true rougelike, so you lose EVERYTHING except knowledge of the game when you die.

Nalgarryn
Nalgarryn

This is a fun game that reminds me of Rogue and games inspired by it.

Great if you the graphics don't bother you. Wish it were longer with greater replayability, though.

Ogreman
Ogreman

Alright game, a bit repetitive but a good timekiller

Bloody Mary Smith
Bloody Mary Smith

Not exactly what I was expecting but its good, reminds me of space station silicon valley meets diablo or somethin.

panurgy
panurgy

This is probably my favorite roguelike on Steam. It's simpler and shorter than the epic RLs (NetHack, ToME, etc.) but still offers hundreds of hours of gameplay. The design is tight, and the endgame difficulty ramps up nicely. I hope we see more from this dev team.

Thommy
Thommy

The concept its really fun, and i trully hope that i would like this game, but theres some issues that i had with it.
The illustrations and art style are beautiful, but the core gameplay its slow and the posses system (what the game is built around) its very shallow actually, and theres not so much monsters to posses, almost half of them are reskins of the same monster. Comparing to other games of the same genre, item/stats of your character are very shallow too. So theres not so much room for me to like it basically, but i would recommend for you guys to give it a try if you got it for sale or something, its worth a shot, but not my type at all.

Half Pint
Half Pint

Just dont and go look for something better. Trust me on this. Dont give 2 Sh!ts what people say cause i only got .5 in this.

pshem
pshem

Hard but fun game with a mediocre interface. Surprisingly addictive

S†rider
S†rider

This is excellent. A brilliant RPG which is traditional yet with a new mechanic - possess and use those other character abilities for yourself. I do find it a little odd not being able to fully compare an item in my inventory to what is currently worn but I'm getting used to how that works. But, overall this is an amazing game!! Highly recommended. (playing on Mac M1 / Big Sur)

Bart
Bart

Pros: Very interesting game, with fun combat mechanics. You have to be very careful, but you never get cheesed.
Cons: It is not always clear what all the mechanics/stats do. When looking at 2 items, it was not clear to me whether higher Cruelty, or precision or something else would affect my accuracy more for example. And even after beating the game I am still not sure whether I had to select passive skills for my forms or whether they'd be auto-equiped. It seemed like my Hell Rat passives were up, but my Minotaur passives weren't.

Overall if found it to be a nice and challenging experience, but it was also paired with some uncertainty. If you prefer a more streamlined experience, this might not be for you.

MrFoxly
MrFoxly

The funny thing about life is you never know where it will take you. One moment you're foolishly trying to argue with a political zealot over an "illegal" game. (It isn't by the way, I checked.)

The next you're looking for how to contact the company to check their side of the story and discover another of their games looks interesting. So you buy that game to try it out and to flip the guy off at the same time. (Yeah that's right, I gave the company my money! Take that jerk!)

As dumb as my story of how I found this game is, it doesn't change the fact that Midboss is one of the best overlooked games on Steam.

The game is a Rogue-like set up in the style of old isometric dungeon crawlers. Complete with potions that revert the graphics to those of old gaming computers.
The character animation is minimal and everything moves like a figurine on a tabletop.

Rather than a brave hero, you play an imp fed up with being treated like dirt by his peers. So he decides to turn on his boss and take over for himself. And this is where the game's main gimmick comes in.

Grabbing randomly generated equipment and leveling up is good and all, but the real way to get stronger is by possessing defeated enemies and taking their powers.

However, when you possess an enemy, you don't immediately have all their abilities, you need to gain form points from defeating enemies in order to unlock everything the enemy can do. When you gain enough points, you master that form and it's best stats are applied to your base imp form.

When stealing an enemy's body, you can also activate the abilities of another form you've taken. This encourages experimentation and furthermore, in your base form, you can apply the abilities of two forms to yourself.

To put it simply, this game utilises the Job system from Final Fantasy 5.

This combined with the randomly generated dungeon and loot make the game highly replayable and a must buy for anyone lucky enough to discover it exists.

stuguy909
stuguy909

If you are a strategy/4x gamer like myself with kids and a lot of things the wife wants you to do, you might be able to squeeze in a few hours to play this title if you are in the mood for a rogue-like that is a little bit different from the rest. The game is stable, unique, and is fun for precisely the amount of time your wife will let you have on a weekend. After which, this game gets stale extremely quickly and has low replay potential.

I liked the simple isometric art and premise behind the game. You are an evil minion rebelling against your overlord, and you have the ability to steal any monster and use its powers, whilst slowly leveling up your base power and spells. It's a well thought out system, but once you capture most monsters and beat the game, there is no point playing anymore.

The humor is OK, but the game just isn't long enough to warrant calling it an artistic masterpiece. It's just cute and does what it needs to do for a couple of hours.

In short, this is a neat game for an indie dev to break into the market with, a fantastic demo for a programmer to pad his or her resume to sign on with a major studio, a coffee break game, a good mobile game, or a neat game to show off to a friend for a few rounds. This is not something I would recommend to my 4x subscribers, as there are better rogue-like titles that one can immerse oneself in for days upon days.

In short, I liked it a lot for a few hours, but then it got boring and went on the shelf. There hasn't been any updates to the game to add content since I last played it, so there is no point installing it again. If you are OK with financing a few hours of entertainment on a different kind of rogue-like dungeon crawl, then this might be the title for you.

Kingduck34
Kingduck34

I enjoy how much you can customize your playing exp with the in game settings.

FullMetallic
FullMetallic

I really wish it had a better UI. A complete graphical overhaul could make this game absolutely NUTS.
Being able to keep 1 item per death is a very neat mechanic.
Mastering enemy bodies is also a nice one. A very unique roguelike twist, but it does have some annoying elements, like combat being slow and drops being rather inconsistent and straight up shit sometimes. Very decent overall though.
7.9/10

radd
radd

possessing enemies to fight and learn their abilities is an extremely fun mechanic that allows for a huge variety of strategy and flexibility. i really dig it! the graphics are cool and cute, and i enjoy the writing a lot. please play this game.

Gacha Pawn
Gacha Pawn

It's a solid roguelike. Certainly challenging, but not overly so. The possession mechanic is pretty neat, too.

Akien
Akien

I really enjoyed playing Midboss, though it was 3 years ago so I don't have very clear points to raise anymore. But it's a good game well worth your time, and developed by super dedicated indie developers, so definitely do give it a shot. I'll probably replay it myself at some point (it kept being improved after my last play session) and maybe update this review :)

But in short: it's a traditional roguelike (permadeath, no metaprogression) where you get to play all the amazing monsters that you normally only kill or flee from in roguelikes. So instead of carefully choosing your "build" at the start and evolving it with the right skills and equipment, here you choose the monsters you want to possess and master, and this defines your abilities.

It's a very refreshing concept and well executed, which makes for a ton of fun.

TrueWOPR
TrueWOPR

Possess monsters, learn their abilities, become a chimera of your 3 favorite monsters wielding all their powers at once.
Good little roguelike, poorly optimized graphically speaking - but shouldn't affect you unless you're on a toaster.
Buy half off.

dsojourner
dsojourner

Fun roguelike, and you can adjust just how rogue like it is. (If you make it too forgiving, you don't make it to the community score board). But games should be fun, do what's fun for you.

xl0e
xl0e

Mid Boss is short, small and not complex roguelike with couple twists done right.
First right twist is possession mechanic. Second right twist is custom game mode, check it out, really.
Last but not least Mid Boss has great final levels. Recommend.

Shindragan
Shindragan

Cool turn based roguelike where you play an imp demon able to possess other monsters after you kill them.

The game mechanics are fun as you can mix different forms you steal from your enemies to adjust your particular playstyle and boost your offense and defense by finding or buying items to equip in typical RPG fashion.

Some forms have magic attacks and others melee, you can throw stuff like a mad bomber too so there is a viable build for that. Its all about stats, builds, tactics and runs.

Each 15 floor run can take from 2 to 6 hours depending on difficulty and how big you want each floor, a lot of customization for the challenge you are up to.

Seeds and Death cards make the game shareable with friends, you can give them items through grave items, as you die, you spawn a death card and when you start a new game you can bring one of your items with you.

The game also features a new game+ where you can start a new dungeon or replay the same one with all your items and stolen forms and masteries if you wish.

If you dont like permadeath, which this game has, you can start a new game in begginner mode with infinite lives.

You can be as hardcore or as casual as you want in this game.

As for achievements, its very easy to get them withy some luck and determination, RNG will make some achievements take several days but you can do quick games to go through seeds to get what you need. It shouldnt take more than 4 days tops to 100%.

Ill give Misboss a 16 lucky multiplier out of 20 mastered forms.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748997849