Table Battle Simulator has launched into early access, and we took a look at it—there’s still a lot to do!
Table Battle Simulator is primarily a simulator in which we run our own store that revolves around tabletop figures. But instead of a simple store simulator, we can also create decks with our figures and play against NPCs. That sounds like a nice twist, doesn’t it? The game is being developed by Kiki Games, who have already released a few simulator games on the market. We took a look at the title at its early access launch and will tell you what we think.
The store
Of course, we don’t have a big store at the beginning. Instead, we start with a cash register to generate new capital and a shelf that needs to be filled. However, at the beginning, we can only buy a type of “blind box.” These are boxes with random contents, similar to loot boxes in video games. With the first boxes on the shelf, the first customers come to our store to get their hands on the coveted boxes.
But instead of “real people,” we are visited by a series of anime characters, who very quickly start to look very similar. What is positive, however, is that they are given a name and a rank. The rank indicates how strong they are in the tabletop game, so we know who will beat us and who we can defeat.
Feel the… anger?
Of course, we can also adjust the prices of the products we put on the shelves as we see fit. We always keep an eye on the current market price and how much profit we would make on a sale. However, if we set the price too high, we don’t get a clear indicator that this is the case. Instead, people simply go to the shelf and then leave the store. No angry smiley face above their heads, no snide comments. That doesn’t make things any easier.
What does make it easier, however, is the fact that people don’t seem to get angry in general. If we play a round of the tabletop game against an NPC right after the store opens, leaving people waiting at the checkout for hours, nothing happens. Instead, they stand obediently in line and wait until they have been checked out. This is a bit of a shame, as it doesn’t matter whether we open the store and simply go AFK, or whether we take exemplary care of our store.
The battles
To counteract this a little, we can hire a cashier to help us from level three onwards, which we reach quickly. This takes some of the work off our hands, but also reduces the fun of the game, because from that point on, all we have to do is fill the shelves regularly and watch for the rest of the day. Of course, it is also possible to battle NPCs in tabletop mode with our own deck, but even that is not enough variety to be convincing.
To win such a battle, we have to defeat the opponent’s hero by inflicting enough damage on them. The basic gameplay is similar to TFT. Each round, we have a budget of coins that we can use to buy characters from our deck. Three identical characters are needed to level up. The number of characters that can be on the field at the same time is limited. We can also use the coins to upgrade the shop and thus increase the chances of getting rarer characters.
More tedious than entertaining
If the battles were at least entertaining, it would definitely be more enjoyable to start a battle. Instead, the Table Battle Simulator has the problem that the battles simply take far too long. A battle in the game lasts about a third to half a day, which means that not many battles can be fought. And after the first battle of the day, we usually didn’t feel like starting another one. After all, we’d rather earn more money so we can offer more products and expand the store.
Unfortunately, earning money to make progress is like pulling teeth. It feels like we’re barely making any progress and can only afford to buy something other than product supplies every few days. This means we can hardly save any money to unlock the warehouse or new licenses. It’s just no fun. Running the store is actually our main task.
Conclusion
“Table Battle Simulator has only just launched in Early Access, and it shows. There are still a few things that need to be improved and adjusted. Starting with the shop simulation, where it currently seems almost impossible to make any real progress because you simply don’t earn enough money. Then there are the battles, which take far too long and are simply no fun in the long run – even though the basics are rock solid. Currently, I can only recommend the game if you want to actively help shape it, or if you don’t mind spending days earning money in the game to generate minimal progress. For everyone else, I would advise waiting for a few updates until the gaming experience has become much more polished. The title isn’t bad – just a little underdeveloped at the moment.“
