Played the Bloodgrounds demo lately, good stuff for fans of turn-based tactical games.

At first, the demo felt surprisingly easy, the first arena fight went smoothly, almost too simple. After the tutorial and hiring your gladiators, there’s another easy match before things start getting real.

From that point on, the difficulty definitely ramps up. Not sure if it’s just my inexperience or misunderstanding how some abilities work but I actually lost a fighter even on Easy Challenge. Guess that’s the game being fair, not kind.

After playing for a while, you start getting used to it and stop making those critical mistakes that cost you the whole squad.

Feels like it’s all part of the learning curve, frustrating at first, but eventually you get the hang of it.

Visually, the game looks ok, it has a solid pixel-art style, and the character portraits look sharp. The 3D stylization of units on arena also fits the aesthetic well.

As for combat depth, it’s still early to speak for every part of combat system, but so far it feels like most abilities are actually useful. With smart planning and proper use of skills, you can get through harder challenges without taking too much damage.

Demo is worth trying out if you like turn based tactical genre, but if you dont want to play in slow pace – that can be frustrating.