SteamWorld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech

Writing this post my first thought was to start out with something along the lines of "this game might not blow your mind but...".

But... I don't actually want to say that, because I don't actually think it's a fair way to start a text on my feelings on SteamWorld Quest.

So let's begin somewhere else. The SteamWorld games seem to be a franchise in which the core idea, i.e steampunk style robots in a cartoony aesthetic, has been crammed into a variety of game genres. It started out with SteamWorld Tower Defense, which I had never heard of before researching for this post. I, however, started out with SteamWorld Dig, which I loved, and that brought me to check out more games in the series. SteamWorld Quest looked like my cup of tea and suffice to say, it definitely turned out to be.

SteamWorld Quest may disguise itself as a role-playing game, but don't be fooled. This is 95% a deck building game. You move your characters around and you find treasure (almost exclusively more cards) and can buy things (more cards). You can equip yourself with some gear, but other than that the game revolves pretty much entirely around cards. I didn't know this going in, but fortunately I am a closet super-fan of deck builder games. I have tried a fair few, from the regulars like Magic the Gathering (2013 is the best edition) and Hearthstone, to more obscure ones like Card City Nights and Runespell: Overture.

Making a good card game is not easy, but few things can hypnotize me like a well-designed one. Maybe it's the board game nerd in me. SteamWorld Quest dresses all the card playing up in a story that starts out with friends Copernica and Armilly out doing nothing particularly important. They quickly get involved in a much bigger story and joined by a few more heroes as you move along. The story is simple and a reason for all the card battling you're going to do. I am actually happy they put the money, time and effort on the gameplay here because I would've accepted any excuse to get on with my cards.

And the way the card playing is designed is just pure fun - SteamWorld Quest manages to get gameplay that feels both snack-sized and more-ish, it's easy to jump in and difficult to put down. It has no ramp-up time to get into, and the rules are simple to learn yet so much fun to proper dig into.

Combining cards certain ways unleashes combos and each turn is a joy to figure out which cards to play. You can combine cards between characters or try to build chains, it all comes down to what you want to achieve a certain turn. There are buffs, debuffs, weaknesses and resistances to take into account. Between fights it's fun to tinker with your decks and try to optimize combinations, there are many fun and interesting cards to play around with.

Though I rarely got game over in my playthrough on normal difficulty, I rarely felt completely safe either. There isn't a sure-fire setup, but I do recommend that as soon as you find a combination of cards that feels good, you try to keep things fresh by swapping in one of the other characters. The balance of the difficulty is pretty spot on, some times I even wondered if enemies leveled along with me, though I never grinded for levels. You can return to already completed segments of the map, but that also meant re-watching any and all cutscenes so I quickly decided against that and just played onwards.

For better or worse it is difficult to prepare for a match before-hand. Theoretically you could, since you can see your opponents on the screen before you engage with them. This means you could go into your decks and tweak the setup before starting the fight, to avoid fighting fire with fire, literally. Practically this isn't something you're going to do though. There are some foes that have really annoying skills, like despair which prevents healing or bleed which makes you take damage for every action. You might want to equip something to counteract that, and the game throws gear at you that offers protection against or boosting of a lot of different stats.

The game doesn't really provide you with much information around debuffs and what they do, mostly this is not an issue since you can deduce them fairly quickly. I would've loved more information about what the different masks of Orik do however. There are some that I am still not sure of.

None of that takes away from the fun of setting up combos and trying new cards though and it's so easy to slip into the "just one more"-mindset. I pretty much "just-one-more"-myself through this game, and it was a long time since I played a game so hard as I did this. It really speaks to the fun gameplay that it feels fresh and engaging all the way to the end, which I reached in just under 20 hours. I accidentally engaged the final boss without a solid healer and only managed by the skin of my teeth. But that only shows to the strength of the decks that no one character or type of cards is absolutely necessary, but it all comes down to the abovementioned combination and chain building.

The music is another good thing about the game, and the battle themes are even quite banging. Which is good, since you will be hearing them a lot. Apparently the composers (Erik Gudmundson, Pelle Cahndlerby, and Oscar Rydelius) are all from Sweden, which is a bit extra fun for me.

I briefly mentioned the main characters Armilly and Copernica - as mentioned they will be joined by a handful of other heroes before long and each new hero comes with a new deck of cards. They've done an excellent job of keeping each deck distinct from each other, and while I had my favorites I felt they were all useful and fun to play, if you make sure to make them work towards each others strengths and weaknesses. The characters are trope, but lovingly so. Their personalities also fit their decks and I not only enjoyed playing with all of them, I wished for more. It's almost crazy to say, but even after 20 hours I almost felt like the game was too short.

It is fortunate then that the game comes with a generous New Game +, in which you can try the hardest difficulty which not only makes enemies stronger, but also gives them new skills. I tried this for a bit and yeah... I was steamrolled immediately.

If you got this far and only end up remembering this final conclusion I am going to leave you with this: SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is a solid Deck Builder game that makes time fly. It does one thing and it does it excellently. Play it.

Top 5 Eurovision Songs 2025

I haven't done a top 5 list in a while and what better way to get back to it than to celebrate the craziness that is Eurovision. If you're born somewhere in or near Europe, you've probably not been able to miss Eurovision but for everyone else out there here is a short explanation: Every year most European, and some that usually don't count as European, countries compete and celebrate in a singing contest. This has been going on since the 50's and started careers, like ABBA's. The quality of the songs is generally quite low, honestly, when compared to mainstream music. But it often has charm. And some je ne sais quoi.

I think the European countries care about the competition to varying degrees. Some take it very seriously. Sweden is one of those countries (where I am from). The UK is usually considered not very bothered, and for some reason their entry almost always ends up in the bottom ten. Some countries come and go, depending on politics (though the competition is trying very hard to be non-political) and funding.

As someone who grew up in Sweden it has been very hard to avoid Eurovision, and though I have always loved the concept I have honestly not given it much attention most of my life. I never follow the national competition to pick an entry, and only glimpse at the end result to see if there is a song or two worth listening to. Out of 35-40 entries, there are usually only a handful that are any good. But for some reason it has grown on me. The idea that different areas compete in something as joyful and completely subjective as music, I think it is great.

Sweden is sending KAJ with Bara Bada Bastu (Just Doing Sauna) this year. I don't personally think it's very good, but it's caused a bit of an upset for being out of Sweden's comfort-zone. Sweden usually sends pretty predictable entries, and Bara Bada Bastu is at least not that. For one it's a humorous song and it's sung in Swedish which isn't something that has happened in over 20 years I think. I respect the song for that at least.

I usually joke that Eurovision songs all fit in one of three categories;

1. Ballads

2. 90's eurodisco

3. Generic pop (this is where Sweden often falls).

But let's get on with the list. If you want a medley of all the entries this year to make your own mind, Youtube will provide. Obviously this is completely subjective, and my tastes are rhythm-heavy and high energy which is probably going to be reflected on the songs I have chosen.

I've got to start with some honorable mentions though:

Azerbaijan - Mamagama - Run With You: There isn't really much wrong with this song. It's slick and makes me bop my head, this could've been made by someone close to Pharrell Williams. It gets minus for not singing in their own language.

Croatia - Marko Bosnjak - Poison Cake: The song changes up things throughout, rhythms and style and keeps itself interesting and fresh. Minus again for not singing in their native language.

Spain - Melody - ESA DIVA: It was a close call between this one and my number 5 entry. This song starts off a bit slow but has as cool breakdown towards the end and it has been growing on me.

5. POLAND - Justyna Steczkowska - GAJA

Did I mention I like rhythm-heavy and high energy? Well, this is kind of exactly what I mean by that. This sounds a bit like the UK band Juno Reactor that I quite like. And you've got to respect anyone who can sing and dance with that energy (Justyna is over 50).

4. UKRAINE - Ziferblat - Bird of Pray

Ukraine have had a few good songs the last couple of Eurovisions. And Ruslana's "Wild Dances" from 2004 is considered a Eurovision classic. Bird of Pray tells a story and I love the way it meanders back and forth between more forceful and more gentle. It also feels very sincere and from the heart. 

3. ALBANIA - Shkodra Elektronike - Zjerm

Great beat on this one. Songs that give me a glimpse of where they come from, structurally and instrumentally, often fall high on my lists. I find one of the great strengths of Eurovision (and Europe) are all the different cultures that have different ways of seeing and doing things. Albania gives me some of that feeling with this song.

2. GERMANY - Abor & Tynna - Baller

Full disclosure, I am part German. That has never made me like any song from Germany however. No, not even the Satellite one. But finally Germany sends an entry in German! Melodic and rhythmic, it fits the language great. And she has a voice you want to hear more of.

1. AUSTRALIA - Go-Jo - Milkshake Man

Ok so my number one pick is Australia this year. The fact that Australia is even competing in a competition literally called EUROvision is worthy of an explanation. But long story short, Australia have been huge fans of the show for decades, probably more than most European countries. Apparently they get up in the middle of the night over there to watch it. For the anniversary in 2016 they invited Australia to take part and it was such a success they have been invited ever since. They always have good entries, but none that have been my favorites. But this year they have it, the one I think should win Eurovision 2025. It's fun, has a good beat and I could listen to it all the way to Eurovision. 

It'll be interesting to see if any of my favorites make it high on the lists this year, they usually don't. Käärijää with Cha Cha Cha was an exception, and that song definitely should've won over Tattoo.