Golfie, developed by Triheart Studio and published by Yogscast, is a roguelike, deckbuilding game of…minigolf?
Yes, that’s right, minigolf. When first presented with this game, I wasn’t sure all those words went together. I wasn’t even 100% sure what roguelike meant. Would there be pirates?
Roguelike
No, it turns out roguelike does not mean pirates. For the other noobs out there, roguelike describes games that are typically associated with dungeon crawls. Levels in roguelikes are procedurally generated, turn-based, and dying in a level means all progress gets lost.
Golfie is definitely roguelike. When players start a new run, the 18-hole course will look different every time. There are actually more than 18 holes available since developers have designed the course to have many paths to the same destination, a feature I honestly didn’t pay much attention to. I usually just played the bottommost course, and I don’t think it affected my experience much since there were only three types of holes to play, a beach hole, a windmill hole, and a dungeon hole. Within each of these levels, were themed challenges, such as sand traps, water traps, and lava traps.
Procedurally generating levels means that players can’t just memorize a course and speed run through, but the procedural generation, at this point in Early Access, doesn’t actually add much variety. Hole 1’s beach level and Hole 9’s beach level contain pretty much the exact same challenges. Hole 9 is just a longer version of Hole 1.
The roguelike aspect that has the greatest effect on players is that dying means losing all the coins and level-run perks you picked up. Which I found frustrating because that was me treasure! I understand why this mechanic is in place. Still, there is some serious potential for shenanigans if players were allowed to keep just 50% of the perks and coins gained in a previous run.
Deckbuilding
The game’s deck-building piece directly affects how players tackle levels, much more so than the roguelike aspect.
Golfie’s deck consists of different powerups to help players navigate course obstacles. For example, a Balloon Card will levitate the ball into the air for roughly five seconds. Players can then hit the ball while in the air, bypassing the twists and turns of a course. Lesson learned, don’t play two Balloon Cards in the same turn, that will levitate the player into outer space, effectively ending the turn.
Players begin with three basic cards in their decks, the Power shot, Curve Shot, and Lob Shot, and then unlock more cards as they level up. Right now, there are 47 cards that can be unlocked, meaning that a thoughtful gamer can unlock a complete deck with just a few hours’ investment.
My only criticism of the game’s deck-building feature is that…well, it seems unnecessary. What I mean by this is that the three basic cards a player begins the game with are enough to tackle about 80% of the levels. Yes, as the player gets farther along the course, the holes become longer, meaning that it is helpful to have cards like Secret Stash, which allow you to draw additional cards, but then all you really need to do is just layer up Power Shot cards, and there you go, Bob’s your uncle, the level is beaten.
Even though I had nifty-sounding cards like Glider and Jet Pack, I only used those when I was messing around to see the card capabilities. I didn’t rely on those cards when I was focused on completing the level. In response to this critique, developers have argued along the lines of, “Just use the wacky cards because they’re fun. It’s cool to see how difficult a trick shot you can do.” This argument makes sense if a player chooses the Free Play option in the game but not so much when tackling the rest of the game. I just felt a lack of motivation to try something wacky for the sake of being wacky.
For me, the most frustrating aspect of the whole game is that once a player selects a card, they can’t undo it. The developers said this was an intentional choice, as it adds to the learning curve for mastering the game. But my choosing “curve shot” when I meant to choose “lob shot” wasn’t intentional; it was an accident. It kind of sucks that this leaves me with the option of hitting my ball where I don’t want it to go or just ending my turn, both choices which add to my run ending. Maybe the developers could add a card or a perk that, when equipped, would allow a player to undo their choices? Maybe? Please.
Minigolf
Yeah, that’s what this game is. It’s minigolf. I have to admit that I have never, in my life, sought out a mini golf game, not even when Nintendo Wii first came out, and the only games were tennis, bowling, and golf. So the truth is, I don’t have anything to compare Golfie to, except maybe pop culture references to mini golf from 90s teen movies and Tiger Woods. And in that comparison, I think I just expected a wider variety of content.
I do want to acknowledge that the developers have since released a Multiplayer feature for Golfie, and while I didn’t get a chance to try this out with me fellow pirates, the clips look fun and engaging. It makes me wonder if Golfie, like real mini golf, is better with friends rather than playing solo.
Overall
Goflie looks finished. While there are bugs, the game plays well, and the learning curve for cards is challenging without being infuriating.
But, the lack of level variety, the lack of incentive to get really crazy with cards, and the lack of purpose just left me dealing with existential doubt, questioning, why am I still going? This, combined with the seeming high price tag of $17.99, and I’m going to have to give Golfie a 6.8/10.
Check out the Golfie Review Trailer:
Golfie is available for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Michelle Jones
I'm a completionist gamer who just needs to find that one last object and clear that final dungeon. I love all video games, from open world sandboxes on a console to a mindless match three on my phone. In addition to gaming and writing, I am a graduate student working on a thesis about the ancient Icelandic Sagas. Feel free to ask me anything about Vikings.
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