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Description
The once-peaceful community we call home has fallen under the shadow of an evil force, and the courageous protectors who defended our town have set off on their own pursuits of fame and fortune. In their place, a band of unlikely heroes have emerged - the Small-Time Heroes. These are not your typical heroes, with bulging biceps and chiseled jawlines. No, these heroes are more like the underdogs, with quirky personalities and oddball skills.
In this cooperative deck builder, you’ll take on the role of one of the Small-Time Heroes and work together to defend the town. With each battle, you’ll build up your deck of cards, choosing from a variety of cards that represent your hero’s unique abilities. As your power builds, you will defeat waves of minions and end with a final boss battle. Defeat the boss before they defeat you!
Play a one off session by battling through three waves of minions and a final boss or turn it into a campaign and battle through all 3 bosses.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 6
This page: 6
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–6 of 6
Video tuKjvu6RIWc
One Stop Co-op Shop Review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 83968 · mention_pk 304720
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Great value for its price and size.
- Engaging and fast-paced gameplay.
- Fun card combos and big attacks.
- Excellent and varied intent system.
- High replayability due to different bosses and mechanics.
- Compact package with significant content.
Cons
- Two-player rules feel unbalanced and might be better with house rules.
- Can be frustratingly random at times.
- Deck can become too large in some scenarios.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Slay the Spire
- Slay the Spire board game
- Unstoppable
- Ashes Reborn Red Reigns
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Block/Defense — A mechanic to prevent incoming damage.
- Boss battles — Features distinct boss encounters with unique decks and mechanics.
- Campaign play — The game can be played in a campaign mode with persistent upgrades.
- card combat — The core gameplay involves combat through cards.
- Card Drafting — Used to add cards to the deck after encounters.
- Deck Building — Mentioned as a core mechanic, heavily influenced by Slay the Spire.
- Enemy Intent — Players draw intent cards to predict enemy actions.
- Guard Mechanic — Enemies have guard that resets each turn, acting as a form of temporary health.
- Hand Management — Players manage a hand of cards, drawing and discarding.
- Minion Swarms — Bosses deploy multiple minions of varying levels.
- Resource Management — Players manage energy to play cards.
- Roguelike — Characterized as a 'roglike deck building combat game'.
- Set Collection — Equipment cards can be played and 'become ongoing boosts'.
- Strength Buffs — Ongoing boosts that increase damage dealt.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is basically Slay the Spire. Like, it is very, very heavily influenced by Slay the Spire.
- it does do some things pretty differently, especially in how the enemies work.
- the intent system. So in Slay the Spire, the video game, you can see exactly what the enemies are going to do most of the time.
- Smalltime Heroes is freaking great. Probably my favorite in the Gabe Barrett series.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video FtTXMVO4bTM
Meet Me At The Table Playthrough at 0:05 sentiment: positive
video_pk 83668 · mention_pk 303827
Click to watch at 0:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Compact size, making it portable.
- Offers a Slay the Spire-like experience in a smaller package.
- Heroes are fun and unique.
- Clever game design.
- Potential for long-term engagement with expansions.
Cons
- May become repetitive after 10-12 plays without expansions.
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Slay the Spire
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Ambush — Certain cards have an 'ambush' effect, allowing their ability to be triggered for free if the card is discarded.
- campaign mode — The game features a campaign mode played over multiple 'days' with different bosses and challenges.
- Challenge cards — Added to the wave deck, these introduce additional challenges for rewards.
- Character progression — Players level up and acquire new cards, suggesting character advancement.
- Combat — Players engage in combat with minions and bosses by playing cards to deal damage.
- Conceal/Unconceal — The rogue hero has abilities tied to being concealed or unconcealed, affecting card effects and damage taken.
- cooperative play — The game is designed for one to two players working together.
- Crystals — A mechanic in the Guardian fight where gaining crystals triggers negative effects.
- Deck Building — Players start with a small deck and can add upgraded cards and new cards from a market as they progress.
- Energy System — Players generate energy each round to play cards.
- Finale — A mechanic for certain cards that allows them to be played again under specific conditions, potentially for free.
- Hand Management — Players draw a hand of cards each round and must decide which to play based on available energy.
- Horde/Boss Cards — Enemies have different abilities when fought as part of a horde versus a boss.
- Intent Deck — Used to determine which enemy or boss ability activates each round.
- Knowledge Cards — Special cards for campaign play that offer persistent benefits.
- market — A market of four cards is available to choose from when gaining new cards.
- Potions — A separate deck of potions that can be acquired for temporary benefits.
- Prepare Cards — Specific cards reduce their energy cost based on non-prepare cards played beforehand, with a reset mechanic.
- Roguelike — Implied by the leveling up and campaign structure, suggesting elements of replayability and challenge.
- Strength/Block/Weak — Status effects that modify attack power, defense, and damage taken.
- Treasures — Special cards gained during play that have unique effects and don't get discarded.
- Wave Encounters — Gameplay progresses through waves of minions followed by boss fights within each day of the campaign.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- if you're looking for a more compact version of Slay the Spire, this is where it's at.
- It's a small footprint game. The box itself is tiny, so you can easily take this on a trip.
- I absolutely love this game.
- I love that. And there's two heroes in here right now. And four of these different bosses.
- Yeah, I just feel like it's a very clever game.
References (from this video)
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Video boV4_W4ztuc
The Dice Tower Analysis at 7:23
video_pk 81649 · mention_pk 335634
Click to watch at 7:23 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the nomination lists are more important than the awards because you can go out and just buy any of these and play them.
- We're nominating them now, and as I always say, the nomination lists are more important than the awards because you can go out and just buy any of these and play them.
- These are going to be games that are fantastic to teach to someone who is not necessarily part of our fantastic little world of games. Something to get them in the door, get them excited about board gaming, get them introduced to all these amazing things you can do on the tabletop now.
- And so, we got together a group of 50 plus people, that's Dice Tower staff and the other reviewers, different reviewers, and we vote on the nominations, and so we're going to present them to you.
- Well, too bad to each of those nominations because you have to go up against the other four. That is a tough slate.
- if you enjoy heavy strategy games, you were eating well in 2024.
- This is a category for games that play really well with two. It doesn't mean they are exclusively two, although that's usually what is nominated, but it's just a great game for two players.
- This is something that for the last several, several years has become an increasingly large segment of the board gaming hobby.
- Not only are those like pretty strong solo games, but they're also some of the games that were mentioned in top lists of last year. That shows where the category has come.
- So, these are games that do something different. We see a lot of the same stuff, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because same can be good and comforting. But, something that does something unusual or different or feels fresh, here's some games that meet that category.
- My goodness, you now have to ask every time you sit at the table, 'Wait, is this cooperative or competitive?' That's something that was unheard of, you know, a decade ago even.
- I used to not really appreciate how good party games can be.
- So, this is going to be just that implementation of the theme, really immersing you into this world and this setting, uh doing something cool, or maybe just showing you a different kind of light on a thing that you're familiar with.
- I always find it odd how the new designer category often also every year seems to dominate best games of the year category, and I like that a lot.
- Artwork is something that just walking by a table, you can convince me to play a game just by showing me a good box cover. And I think that it's something that can We talked about the theme, can really sell that, but it's that first entry point in the game, and can grab your attention.
- Games are a total production, and what this category is about is saying, 'This is the most impressive full productions of a board game we've seen this year.'
- Now, in this category, we have 10 um 10 nominees, and they kind of encompass the whole package here. You know, we're we're looking at the mechanisms, we're looking at the theme, we're looking at the artwork, just all of it. Which one brought its best to the table?
- Games that are fantastic
- Then our next one is Codenames, a game that really brought party games back into the light, especially word team party games.
- This has sold a gazillion copies.
- And that is Pandemic Legacy Season 1.
- But this is the game. It wasn't the first legacy game, but it was definitely the one that people that kind of exploded and changed
- changing the landscape.
- Talk about a game that truly shook everything up.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 6CaXVxy_QBc
Meet Me At The Table Top 20 List at 4:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 81436 · mention_pk 344801
Click to watch at 4:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- If you're not in the mood to lose, don't even try and pick this one up.
- This is a no-brainer for any solo player looking for a deduction style game or logic style game.
- The core system of the game remains the same but the variety of different decks you can buy for the game is what makes this game tick.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video lFdTxmY_h3o
One Stop Co-op Shop Discussion at 2:46 sentiment: other
video_pk 80260 · mention_pk 325085
Click to watch at 2:46 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
Absolute keeper, preferred to Slay the Spire
Pros
- Absolute favorite game from last year
- Preferred to Slay the Spire (video game and board game adaptation)
- Love the campaign mode
- Love the way the bosses work
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
- Slay the Spire
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- boss encounters — I love the way the bosses work and how they impact the enemy fights even before they come out.
- campaign mode — I love the campaign mode.
- Deck Building — Slay the Spire, but with different characters, some different mechanics
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this is another uh poker cooperative or solo game.
- it's just not as, for me, engaging or unique as either of those.
- it's the smallest and the least expensive of all of them, I think.
- the more I've played it, the more it's gotten a little bit frustrating.
- it kind of overstayed its welcome and got repetitive.
- Two games that I absolutely love and will keep for a long time, and one that I'm sort of keeping under duress until my 10-year-old will play with me.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video f662W980zm4
One Stop Co-op Shop Review at 0:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 41299 · mention_pk 327676
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Flavorful, thematic front/back dynamic that adds tactical depth
- Summoned allies provide interesting orchestration and damage soak
- Core memory mechanic scales into boss fight for a satisfying ramp
- Expansion content adds more variety and strategic options
Cons
- Balance can skew toward certain heroes (cleric and wizard) in early balance passes
- Memory/unremembering layer can be punishing for new players until familiarized
Thematic elements
- memory manipulation, front/back positioning, summoned allies (stuffies)
- fantasy dungeon-crawl cooperative boss battler with memory mechanics and minion battles
- episodic dungeon delving with boss encounters and memory upkeep
Comparison games
- Slay the Spire
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- bubble tokens — Bubble mechanics protect a target from a set amount of damage and last beyond a single turn; powerful defensive tool when combined with other actions.
- front/back positioning — Characters can switch which hero is in front, changing who is vulnerable to attacks and which bonuses apply.
- Memory — Minions and bosses have memory tokens; until tokens are removed, powers are inactive, and memory management drives pacing and difficulty.
- memory/unremembering — Minions and bosses have memory tokens; until tokens are removed, powers are inactive, and memory management drives pacing and difficulty.
- minion powers vs. memory — When memories are unremembered, minions gain or activate powers; removing memories makes those powers active and affects boss combat.
- summoned allies (stuffies) — Ally tokens that can attack, tank damage, and provide bonuses; they are integral to damage soaking and chain combos.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Small Time Heroes... it's a card game, sort of boss battler, survival, dungeon delving, slay the spire-ish game
- the wizard is a ton of fun
- this is one of my favorite cooperative and solo games
- If you haven't played it yet, check out the Small Time Heroes campaign running right now
- The best defense is a good offense, right?
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–6 of 6