Circus Electriquetasks you with managing a circus, solving mysteries, and commanding circus performers in combat against a maddened populace. It plays out like a less-intenseDarkest Dungeonwith a visual style reminiscent of the first two entries of Penny Arcade Presents: The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.
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It’s an indie turn-based RPG, but with plenty of minutiae that can trip you up if you don’t take it all in. Fortunately, a helpful tutorial pops in when a new mechanic is introduced. Unfortunately, while it might be enough to get you going, some info gets lost between the cracks or is only inferred. If you want to start your Circus off with a summersault and not a stumble, here are some things you should know before starting Circus Electrique.
8Repositioning Takes An Action
In turn-based RPGs, at least ones not run by an ATB-type system (Final Fantasygames mostly), it’s important to know what does and does not constitute an action. After all, barring some trickery or special traits, you only get one action per round.
Some actions like attacks, healing, or buffs are obviously going to take up a character’s turn. Less obviously, manually moving your characters also spends their turn; you should do it sparingly since it’s far more efficient touse abilities that also move your characterssince they have other effects as well. Oddly enough, using items does not take up your character’s action.
7Keep An Eye On Devotion
Devotion is one of the most important stats in combat, right behind health, but what it does is sometimes unclear. Though it is sometimes reduced as a part of casting certain abilities, it’s not necessarily analogous to mana in other games since it’s not depleted for most abilities. Having a high Devotion also boosts the damage of certain abilities, indicated by an electrical outline on the ability icon.
Its most notable effect is that when it’s gone, that character is gone as well (as if their health is depleted). Instead of dying, they’ve fled, but the effect is the same. This means that attacking your enemies' Devotion is a valid strategy, especially if they have large amounts of health but not a lot of Devotion.
6Devotion Effects Can Be Permanent
Devotion can be a fickle stat to manage. It runs on a percentage system, so all units– friend or foe have between one and 100 percent of it. Certain abilities can hit enemy Devotion, and in turn, your own Devotion can be hit. Both teams also have abilities to buff their own Devotion.
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Some of these changes to your Devotion last only for a few turns, but others change it in ways that last between engagements. A good practice is to look at abilities you can cast and debuffs you’re hit with and to look to see if they’ve got ‘temporary’ in the description.
In general, big changes to Devotion (15+/- percent) tend to be temporary, while smaller ones are additive. However, keep in mind that if anyone’s Devotion is brought down to zero, even temporarily, they’re fleeing from the fight.
5Go (Mostly) All-Out
Unlike more hardcore games like the Darkest Dungeon series, fights don’t happen back to back. The core loop of the game has you managing the Circus by assigning your show and then taking another group of performers with you into the city, advancing until you get into a fight. The day ends when you finish the fight, rinse and repeat.
With that in mind, you can go pretty hard into a fight since you don’t have to worry about the next one immediately. At the end of the day, you can heal injured performers or assign a fresher team to go into the city with you the next day. Remember that any items used are gone for good, and you’ll need to replace them; using the Amazemeter ability will reset it.
4Amazemeter Progress Carries Over
In chapter two, you unlock the Amazemeter, which functions like acustomizable Limit Break. It builds up when you deal damage and gain Devotion; inversely, it loses juice if you take damage or lose Devotion. It charges for three tiers, with each tier unleashing a more powerful Superskill as you build it up.
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What the game doesn’t tell you is that progress on the Amazemeter doesn’t reset until it’s used, meaning that you can keep its charge between battles and even between days. This is pretty useful if you want to hold on to it for boss fights and other tough battles. However, keep in mind that you also keep losses to the Amazemeter in this manner.
3Multi-Target Attacks For Hard To Reach Enemies
Taunt, as you’d expect, is a status effect that puts all the attacks on one target. This is useful if you want to put the focus on one of your performers who can handle the heat, and conversely, it is a tool that allows enemies to force your attacks onto their beefier units.
While it can be pretty useful, it’s also relatively easy to bypass. All you have to do is use attacks with multiple targets since you still technically target a taunting enemy, but others happen to get hit as well. As a general rule, attacks do less damage the more targets they have, but this is still a decent way to finish off low-HP enemies that you can’t directly hit. Just keep in mind that enemies can do this as well.
2The Combat and Circus Balancing Act
Combat is arguably the driving force in Circus Electrique– your days are begun and ended by it, and almost everything you do is in service of being better in a fight. However, it’s not the only thing you need to manage; you also have a circus to run! attempt to keep that in mind when hiring new performers.
Yes, you want fighters with robust stat lines and good abilities, but you also want to factor in how they’ll help out in the circus aspect of the game. Make sure you not only have a good mix of classes and positions (Opening Act, Main Event, Afterpiece, and Wild Card) but also that their collective circus stats (Fun, Thrill, Amazement, Laughs) don’t leave a hole that locks you out of performing certain show drafts. The best part is that making sure your circus is successful translates to the battlefield.
1Check The Codex Sometimes
Circus Electrique has a pretty decent tutorial, giving you the tools you need to suss out some of the deeper mechanics and allowing you to work little tricks in the game.
However, it’s not comprehensive, and there isa lotof it to learn. If you’re having trouble with some mechanics or things aren’t working out how you expect them to, you can always check on the Codex, which keeps every tutorial that you’ve done for viewing later.
