CloverPit is a new indie game that has struck on Steam, selling over 300,000 copies in less than 4 days. But what the hell is it all about? Our MeinMMO author Christos has tested the game.
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What is CloverPit? Developed by Panik Arcade, this is a roguelike with horror elements that may appeal especially to fans of Balatro or Bugshot Roulette. In CloverPit, you take on the role of a nameless player. You are trapped in a shabby room with a one-armed bandit and must survive.
The goal is to earn coins to pay off your debts to the devil, but he is not very patient. He sets deadlines for you, and if you can’t meet them, he tosses you into a pit and turns you into minced meat.
At first glance, the game seems solely focused on the one-armed bandit, and one might think it’s a gambling simulation, but you quickly realize that luck alone won’t get you far. CloverPit offers remarkable complexity that encourages you to outsmart the devil and defeat him by any means necessary.
Defeating the Devil is harder than it seems
What makes CloverPit shine? CloverPit is a strategic game, starting with your first deadline as you choose how long your rounds with your one-armed bandit should be. You can opt for a long but expensive round or a short and cheap one. This, in turn, influences whether you earn more or fewer coins and tickets.
Keyword: Tickets. With them, you can buy talismans, and that without buffs a total of 7 times. These items represent the builds in CloverPit, as their selection is crucial to maximize your coin earnings and increase your chances for patterns (symbol rows for higher coin wins). You can choose from a total of 160 talismans, each with different prices and effects, thus defining your playstyle.
In addition to the talismans, there’s the red phone on the wall that gives you buffs and debuffs after every deadline. With it, you can equip your talismans with additional effects or even increase the chances for certain symbols per pull. The possibilities to secure an advantage over the devil are almost limitless.
Finally, there are drawers, which you can only permanently unlock as a feature to store your talismans. They are an important part of advancing the story indirectly in CloverPit and essential when it comes to defeating the devil. So if you haven’t unlocked them all yet, you might consider your matches in the roguelike as warm-up rounds.
In CloverPit, it’s less about naively manipulating the one-armed bandit and getting lost in it, and more about developing a strategy to defeat the devil. That is what captivated me: Which talismans and buffs harmonize perfectly to outsmart the machine and escape this dingy dungeon?
For my part, I’ve already invested over 10 hours into the game and have only managed to unlock one drawer so far. I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of what CloverPit has to offer. Additionally, each round is a fight for survival, reminding me of my beginnings with Dark Souls. Every defeat inspires you to find new ways to survive longer this time and finally see the end.
But don’t expect a story with cutscenes, because there are none. Instead, CloverPit thrives on its environmental storytelling, requiring you to piece together the story by unlocking further secrets yourself. I don’t mind that at all, as all Souls games, which are among my favorites, thrive on their indirect narratives, and CloverPit is no different.
If you’re looking for a game to challenge yourself with in between, you’ll find enjoyment with this indie game… unless you aren’t into the pixelated arcade graphics from the PS1 era.
Is the game available on mobile? Unfortunately not yet. Although many CloverPit games can be found in your app stores, they are scams. The developers have already reached out to the community and warned them about these fraudsters.
You can currently only play officially on Steam. More platforms may follow in the future, and if you look at Balatro, a mobile version of CloverPit would also be a good fit for casual play.
Another game on Steam has also taken off as an indie game and involves jumping wildly through the map to defeat as many monsters as possible. The developer even nearly missed a release: He chose the worst time for the release of his game, yet still reached 80,000 players on Steam
