When comparing Hoplite vs 80 Days, the Slant community recommends 80 Days for most people. In the question“What are the best iOS games without in-app purchases?” 80 Days is ranked 6th while Hoplite is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose 80 Days is:
The way the game plays out there are many story options that will be triggered due to previous choices in the game. Being that it branches out like this it will take many playthroughs to experience all of the stories options.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Deep gameplay that harkens back to chess or other grid based games, where planning and strategy take a front seat
You must plan your movements and attacks, paying attention to all enemy positions and their attacks. This makes for a game that the player can pore over their options, for as long as they like, which can be pretty enveloping.
Pro Easy to understand the rules as any pertinent info is relayed before a move decision is needed
Someone called it "Chess, the roguelike". You have all the information before you move, every time. Enemies follow a simple ruleset, with no variation. There is almost no randomness. You know that you will die the turn before you do, and you will die because you painted yourself into a corner.
Pro Great replay value thanks to the roguelike random generation
There is a good list of achievements, which creates a high replay value. It encourages the user to play very differently in subsequent replays. Which is great for keeping the game fresh.
Pro Can be played at your own pace thanks to the turn based nature of the title
Hoplite is a turn based game, making for something that people can take their time with, deciding on their strategy for each move.
Pro Extended gameplay when you finish the title, with the fun but difficult game+ gameplay mode
Starting on level 16, the altars get replaced by a portal. The player has the choice to "win" the game by exiting through the portal, or to ignore the portal on that level and venture deeper, aiming for higher scores on progressively more difficult floors. This is great for those that enjoy more challenge and extra content past the regular ending.
Pro Well-balanced
Other, more popular, mobile roguelikes are far too random. A lot of people associate roguelikes with randomness, but a lot of effort goes into making sure that they provide consistently winnable games. When you lose a game it should be because you did something dumb, not because the RNG didn't deign it today. Hoplite nails this.
Pro Large assortment of enemies keeps the gameplay and strategies required fresh
There is a wide array of enemies to encounter and fight, which keeps encounters fresh as well as the strategies needed.
Pro Branching story that will take multiple playthroughs to experience it all
The way the game plays out there are many story options that will be triggered due to previous choices in the game. Being that it branches out like this it will take many playthroughs to experience all of the stories options.
Pro Heavily focused on reading
Pretty much a visual novel, 80 Days should interest anyone who enjoys reading and makes for a great introduction to the visual novel genre due to it being spearheaded by a big name in text adventure fiction, Jon Ingold.
Pro Supports portrait and landscape play
80 Days allows for the user to play in portrait or landscape, making for a good game across tablets and phones.
Pro Does not need internet connection to be played
80 Days does not need the device it is being played on to be connected to the internet to be played, which makes for a good game during air travel as well as other places where one does not have an internet connection.
Pro Stylish design based on Jules Verne
With the Steampunk motif and the way that the game transitions, users can see that a lot of style and imagination was used in the creation of the game. Being that it is based off of Jules Verne's novel "Around the World in 80 Days", fans of the author should find a lot to like here and those new to the author should be able to find something they like being that it is an established classic.
Pro Uncovered routes stay uncovered on next replay
Once completing a playthrough the routes that were uncovered will stay uncovered for the next playthrough, thus helping the player chart better courses the more they play the game.
Pro Very replayable
With the vast swath of options in 80 Days players will be hard pressed to replay the same scenarios more than once.
Cons
Con Short game
Hoplite does not take that long to complete as it can be finished in an average playthrough in around an hour.
Con Single playthrough is short
Lasting about 2 hours a single playthrough is pretty short, though with all the branching story triggers there is plenty of reason to play over and over again.
Con Unintuitive user interface
The inventory system in the game can be hard to understand at first and it can be difficult to control the scrolling of text in some areas.