RoguedexPart 2 (May 2024) · #12 of 13 in that tierWatch the moment (2:23:46)
Tales of Maj'Eyal
- Developed by
- Netcore Games
- Published by
- Netcore Games
$3.49
Tales of Maj’Eyal is a roguelike RPG, featuring tactical turn-based combat and advanced character building. Play as one of many unique races and classes in the lore-filled world of Eyal, exploring random dungeons, facing challenging battles, and developing characters with your own tailored mix of abilities and powers.
Consensus
A76/100
Steam players94.4% positiveVery Positive7,475 reviews
Metacritic ↗Users: 7.3/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈477K copies · ≈$2.2M gross
What creators say
Ranked Jul 2026 · #2 of 6 in that tierWatch the moment (0:26:17)
Ranked Feb 2024 · #38 of 48 in that tierListen to the episode
Scored 6.48/10 · tier derived from the score
What players say
A free, open-source (with paid Steam/GOG builds) tactical turn-based fantasy roguelike RPG by Netcore Games (Nicolas 'DarkGod' Casalini) with a huge roster of races and classes, cooldown-based talent trees and optional permadeath.
Players regard it as one of the deepest and most replayable roguelikes available: Steam sits at Very Positive (about 94% of roughly 7,500 reviews) and GOG at 4.5/5, and Wikipedia reports the wider community rating it very highly. Metacritic is thinner and cooler: the critic score is not yet formed (only 2 reviews, 100 from USgamer and 80 from GameGrin) and user score is 7.3 from 71 ratings, with about 21% negative. Critics and fans alike praise class design, build variety and the forgiving life/difficulty options, while detractors cite a steep learning curve, UI-heavy play, balance spikes, long runs and instability on some setups. It is not early access; core content is complete (three expansions through 2018, version 1.7.6, seasonal events such as Pikataclysm in 2025), but Steam reviewers describe balance and bugs as untouched for years and some keep asking for the long-promised Lost Land content. A late-2025 YouTube video sparked a wave of new and returning players.
Players love
- Class and race design: dozens of classes (10 races, 27 classes per GOG listing) with distinct mechanics, e.g. time-controlling archers, psionics dual-wielding with mind and hands, slime mages, and well-liked necromancers
- Enormous build variety and synergy space, so two runs rarely play the same; many reviewers have 500 to 1,500 hours in it
- Tactical cooldown-and-resource combat that sits between slow classic roguelike and action RPG, and enemies use the same classes and rules as the player
- Loot with unique effects plus a meta-progression of unlockable classes, races, arena and endless dungeon modes
- Flexible difficulty and lives: multiple difficulty levels, roguelike permadeath, or extra lives/unlimited save options, so both casual and hardcore players are served
- Passion-project feel: free official version, strong QoL features like auto-explore, autotravel and item transmogrification, modding via Lua addons, and an active community
- Surprisingly good lore and writing for the genre, plus about 1,800 achievements that reward unconventional play
- Cheap: Steam price around $3.49 and a free official download, making it very high value
Common complaints
- Dated, minimal graphics and animation; some tilesets are confusing on dense vegetation maps, and music and sound are described as repetitive
- Steep learning curve and a cluttered, unintuitive UI; the tutorial covers only the basics, so new players struggle with item and talent knowledge
- Balance is uneven: players describe easy cruise-control through trash mobs, then sudden deaths to a unique or boss with a nasty CC or percentage-damage ability they cannot see coming
- Stability issues reported on Steam: crashes on zone load, freezes at loading bars, and corrupted or lost saves (only one save slot is kept)
- macOS build reported as problematic, with screen-setting and cursor-lock issues
- Steam vault (item sharing between characters) is locked if you run non-whitelisted addons, which some see as unnecessary always-online restriction for a single-player game
- UI scaling bugs: increasing font size can make interface elements overlap
- Runs can be very long (reports of 20 to 30 hours per full campaign), which makes failing late very costly
Can feel tedious
- Auto-explore-and-one-shot loop: many players say most fights require no thought, with real tactics only mattering at bosses or dangerous uniques
- Sorting through large amounts of mediocre loot, and optional escort quests that players call frustrating
- Very long runs and heavy knowledge requirements, so dying late or to a counter-build feels punishing
- Losing progress to one-shot deaths from enemies you cannot see or understand, and a perception that luck plays a large part
- Achievements that do not register lower-difficulty versions once a higher-difficulty one is earned, which annoys completionists
- Fighting the interface and absorbing huge amounts of ability detail, described by some as the main enemy of the game
What's unique
- Hybrid of classic roguelike depth with RPG-style skill trees, cooldowns and resource management rather than pure tile-based bump combat
- Lineage from Angband/Zangband/PernAngband/ToME 2 and 3, rewritten in 2009-2012 as an original high-fantasy setting, using its own T-Engine (C plus Lua) with shaders and particle effects
- Lives system and difficulty options that let you choose permadeath or a gentler mode, with an achievement-based life economy
- Enemies that play by the same class rules as the player, making their talents readable and sometimes exploitable
- Free official download with donation-unlocked online features (character vault, chat, stats), alongside paid Steam and DRM-free GOG editions with Workshop and addon support
- Won the ASCII Dreams Roguelike of the Year award three years running (2010-2012)
Players want
- Better onboarding: a deeper tutorial and clearer in-game explanations of talents, status effects and why a monster is dangerous
- Clearer feedback on enemy threats and deaths, such as easier inspection of abilities and readable danger indicators
- Enemy and boss balancing pass, including fewer hard-counter or percent-damage spikes and more consistent threat throughout a run
- Reduce junk loot and the sorting burden, and add shorter run options or mid-run pacing improvements
- Stability and save safety fixes (multiple save slots or automatic backups), plus better macOS and UI scaling support
- More content and new updates: fans keep hoping for the long-awaited Lost Land expansion or at least a dev update, and want more animation and visual polish
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Traditional RoguelikeRogue-likeTurn-BasedDungeon CrawlerPerma DeathDifficultRPGProcedural Generation2DTop-Down
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65 consensus76% Steam
TraditionalTurn-based
Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Tales of Maj'Eyal is a classic turn-based, traditional roguelike that plays like a huge RPG with many classes and a great deal to do. He says it is a cult favorite and that he understands why people put hundreds of hours into it. His own first run was overwhelming, and he says it demands real knowledge and dedication. He would not recommend it widely, but for fans of traditional roguelikes he calls it a must-play and says it is phenomenal at what it does. He admits he has not played many hours, and notes he forgot to cover it in his earlier 80-plus-game tier list.
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