I've been back to Tharsis a lot today. 99% of the attempts have been horrific due to 'bad luck' rolls of the dice. Every now and then there was a glimmer of good luck. I almost said 'hope' instead of 'good luck', there's no hope in this game. As for luck, The mechanic below was dealt with a massive unworkable problem. He did solve the module he was in. If only it was an escape pod. He went out fighting. Little victories. WD40 and duct tape.
Here's that full run to see the brick wall that they went into! (no game music or cut-scenes due to the hammer that would drop on the video, and I don't even monitise!):
After seeing the game through to it's final cut-scenes (number of crew surviving and if they went cannibal etc), "beating the game" and considering it 'done' I took the opportunity to unlock the remaining crew members.
It's a game that's got the gamblers hook. That one more try optimism on the dice rolls is strong with this one.
It's been a fun experience even with it's harsh RNG. I may not play the game for much longer, it is a short enough game. There are challenges in taking the game to the end via the harshest route but for me the fun gets drained faster from that option. That's not to say I wont' return to it in the future.
In playing more Tharsis I've realized that it's much more of an RNG nightmare than I thought. But I knew it was and I still bought it and I'm still playing it despite being hammered with such 'bad luck' it would make you throw real dice out the window.
It's the room effects that come with the RNG that can compound the situation. Like having a room with three void rolls; Not only are you hoping for the best of 1 to 3 (3) but you wish that you could roll a 5 or 6 to help repair that room. Only to have all your dice roll over to all go void and disappear with no hope of a re-roll. Then again if everything were to go correctly and luckily the game would be over in 6 turns....
With a sale on Gog.com a few day's ago I picked up some games for next to nothing. One of them being Tharsis(Tharsis on GOG.com). Bad move for me as it adds to the list of games to play... but fun, enjoyment and the need to try something else new yet short.....
Some destructive ends are faster than others.
The game is RNG heavy, no surprise given it's a dice game. RNG has not been kind to me so far but not bad enough to stop me from going forward. A game well worth a look.
I first saw the game two years ago with a small playthrough on Many A True Nerd's channel.
