If the fights in John Wick were choreographed by the plays you made with a deck of cards, you'd get Fights in Tight Spaces. The roguelite deck-builder puts you in increasingly cramped and intricate spaces, challenging you with figuring out an efficient and safe way to punch, kick, and outsmart every enemy stuffed in there with you. It's a fascinating mix of recognizable genres that produces something distinct and satisfyingly complex, even in its Early Access state.
Fights in Tight Spaces currently features the core loop of the game spread out across five stages, each their own unique enemies, rewards, and final boss fights. You have four styles of play to choose from, with decks of moves focused on counter-attacking, all-out assault, or combinations of the two. Each run is unique, too, shaped by the small decisions you make regarding what routes to take in each stage. These influence what rewards you might get out of each fight, what vendors you'll have access to, and what random events you can happen upon. Die, however, and everything resets, without any persistence between runs to make the next one any easier.
Each themed stage is littered with levels you need to complete, with the namesake of the game coming to fruition in their design. Each level plays out across a tile-based grid, with enemies randomly placed throughout. You use cards to initiate actions--moving to adjacent tiles, attacking enemies, or more complex combinations of the two--with action points restricting how many cards you can play per turn. These are densely-packed grids, sometimes as small as 4x6 battle arenas that make just avoiding attacks a delicate dance. Like other tactical games like Into the Breach, you have to use every tile to your advantage. Enemies prepare attacks should you come within range at any point during your turn, and will execute them regardless of whether you leave that space by the end. This means turns aren't solely about using your limited action points to dole out damage, but also trying to position other foes in the line of fire of their comrades.
Continue Reading at GameSpot