Toads of the Bayou is a roguelike tactical deck-builder that I’ve been excited about since it was announced at this year’s PC Gaming Show. I mean, it combines so many awesome things! Deckbuilding! Turn-based combat! Toads! The Bayou! So when I sat down to finally get into the thick of it, and I kept dying over and over again… I knew I needed to change the way I was handling my toads.

Toads of the Bayou threw something at me I wasn’t expecting: it’s damn hard pretty much straight off the bat. I felt confused by this, as usually, unless it’s a game that loves to see the player suffer like Elden Ring, it usually builds up the player’s knowledge of its purpose and gameplay, eventually becoming more difficult the more the player becomes comfortable with it. However, Toads of the Bayou is not that at all;  from the third map location, I was already struggling to keep my toad upright. This was extremely frustrating, especially seeing as it includes permadeath, meaning that you lose all your assets and progression when you die.

Due to its location, Toads of the Bayou’s narrative incorporates supernatural elements, with the main antagonist, Baron Samedim being a “spirit of the dead.” This Baron has taken advantage of your gang of toads’ lack of a stable home and traps them in a cursed bayou. In this environment, your toads must battle the evil spirit minions of the Baron and destroy the corruption so they can escape the bayou and find a safe home to finally call their own.

The world of the bayou consists of three distinct maps, all of which procedurally generate enemies, the landscape and objectives. You will be given the opportunity to place your toad on the map after it has been generated and you have seen where your enemies and objectives are located. Objectives mainly consist of guarding supplies from the Baron’s creatures, protecting fellow toads and slicing through surrounding vines (which is usually an optional objective). I had an issue with the gold, wood or oil I had to protect as many times I couldn’t work out exactly which pixelated objects I had to guard. Therefore, I couldn’t strategically position my toad sometimes as I didn’t know exactly what the enemies would be attacking. It would be good for devs La Grange to literally highlight what you need to protect so that other players will know exactly what they need to guard.

There are three characters to unlock throughout your playthrough but to do so you must first win a run with the previous toad. “The Leader” is your first frog and is super dapper with a pipe dangling from his mouth, in his white vest, and double-breasted jacket with gold buttons. All these characters will have their own specials, with The Leader having the starting special of using three barricades that they can scatter around the battle map during their combat.

Even with these “supports” I really struggled to stay alive as a lot of the items offered are too specific or confusing. When buying items in any of the shops I was sometimes confused by the language used to explain their benefits. As your Toad only has four bars of life and some bigger enemies can do 2 damage, players really need all the extra support they can get. During gameplay you are also punished for not completing all your objectives; a ‘death’ card is inserted into your pile every time objectives aren’t met, impacting your AP and therefore your ability to fight back. Also, when you do ‘rise from the dead’ and begin a new run-through, you are allowed to purchase some additional help. Again, like the items in the hide-out’s shop, these specials didn’t help me once I was back on the battlefield, leading me to become even more frustrated with Toads of the Bayou and its inability to provide adequate support.