Order Automatica review: May chaos be your guide

If you’re a fan of auto-battlers, chances are that Order Automatica has skulked its way onto your radar already. Coming from developer New Beings, this deliciously dark game merges elements of roguelites, auto-battlers, and deck-builders, with a unique 3×3 grid in the place of a standard battlefield.

While the game may look simple at first glance, I was pleasantly surprised to find a good amount of strategy buried beneath its flesh. Fans of auto-battlers and idler roguelites will have a lot to get excited about with this game. Here’s Kyusai’s full review of Order Automatica, completed on PC.

Simple on the surface, complex at its core

Ever wanted to use a fish-man to defeat a nasty skeleton in battle? The Steam page for Order Automatica describes the game as being similar to “chess with demons,” and I couldn’t think of a better way to introduce it.

Order Automatica is a dark roguelite auto-battler with deck-building mechanics, tasking you with building up a horde of evil minions to take down other hordes of slightly more evil minions in battle. You get to pick from creatures like werewolves and zombies at first, gaining access to more unique minions as you progress.

Battles in Order Automatica are automated, as the name suggests, and they take place on a 3×3 grid. To beat your opponents, you need to place your troops on your grid, with the numbers on each square indicating when they’ll attack in battle.

You can equip special items for each minion, helping activate abilities or provide a stat boost, enhancing attack or defense. Some items provide a quick bump of damage before the battle even gets going, which can help you gain the upper hand – but naturally, these special items tend to require you to spend more resources to purchase them.

Placing three of the same unit in a row will merge them together to make a stronger version of the original troop, acting as an evolution of sorts and making it worth your while to buy the same creatures where possible.

While you’re in the preparation stage of a battle and placing your minions on the grid, you’ll also be able to see the enemy’s grid and troops. This helps you plan ahead and get a feel for what’s coming your way in the next round of combat, along with any special effects or troops that the enemy has.

The actual combat in Order Automatica is entirely automated; you can speed it up and hit auto-play to reduce how much you need to click, but generally, the battles will unfold without you having to lift a finger. There’s an upgrade system, too, where you can apply persistent buffs at the end of a run, encouraging repeat playthroughs.

Deliciously dark pixel art

Auto-battlers can be quite divisive as a genre, but if you don’t mind a hands-off style of combat mixed into a generally strategic gameplay loop, then this game will be a perfect fit for you. The combat is visually engaging and fun to watch as it plays out, which isn’t always the case with other titles in the genre.

On top of the combat and preparation stages, you can pick up a blessing and a curse at certain milestones – these add a matching perk and debuff, layering in some extra complexity.

A perk might give you more resources or stronger characters, but deal damage to you each round or strengthen the enemies. These made me consider my actions carefully, and I enjoyed how much extra difficulty they added into the later stages of the game.

I initially dipped into Order Automatica’s demo, so it was a delight to see the game team pop back up in my inbox with the full build.

The game’s art style is what made it stand out to me at first, and it looked even better in the full version, with charming character sprites and impactful title screens. The color palette is rich and jewel-toned, and the splash screens stood out as particularly memorable, with colorful cords and beautiful puffs of smoke.

The variety of characters on offer was a big highlight for me, too. Initially, you’ll only be able to pick from standard characters, as mentioned, but new options, like an assassin-cat or a madam, will become available to you as you progress.

Each has a unique style of play and stat block, which in turn, made it interesting to try out different builds and focuses in each run.

There’s a strong selection of items to play with, too. There are standard items that increase attack or defense stats for an entire column of characters or one minion in particular, along with more niche examples, like a fairy that activates a special ability, or a fishing hook that summons fish-men.

Along with the aesthetic charm, I was impressed with Order Automatica’s performance. It ran smoothly on both my standard PC and a very old, beaten-up laptop, not throwing up any major glitches, visual quirks, or bugs during my time with it.

While I don’t think the gameplay will be for everyone – auto-battlers aren’t always popular, as some folk do prefer to be more hands-on in combat encounters – existing fans of the genre that Order Automatica calls home will have an absolute blast with this game. It’s dark and stylish, and plays like a dream.

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