Hands of War, a top-view RPG made by AxisGames.

First of all, I would like to personally say that I DO like this game, a lot. I replayed it 4 times with different factions, classes and the like.
But to be objective, this is not something everyone would enjoy, some may even hate it.

So why do I enjoy it myself?
It's a good time-waster, all you do is go around places getting quests, killing 'enemies', getting loot and the like. Sure, there is also exploration but it's very small and boring on this one to be any worth.

But despite my like of the game, this game has a ton of flaws that make it less enjoyable for the typical players.
Let me start with the Graphics. First, the animations.
If you've played this game already and you're now looking at this review, then you might laugh at me mentioning animations.
That's because it looks like as if there isn't any, but there is...Just a bit.
Yep, don't expect this game to be...Dynamic. You will not see that many animations, EVERYTHING is static, except the shittily-drawn blobby bats in the caves.
The only animation you'll ever see is when you move, attack or so does your enemy.
I honestly did not mind it so much, but it truly makes the game feel WAY too static, like all the people in this game are some kind of nice little statues who SUDDENLY become your worst enemy, hyper-aggressive to kill you the best they can, never to retreat or forgive.

Talking about people being "statues", I'd like to mention the Factions, but that's for later.

The art-style is funny, it seems that it was made on MS-Paint itself. Yep, that old piece of crap from the 2000s, good ol' times, huh?
I do like some of the creativity though, some of the armours look very cool, especially for the Warrior class.
And the 'magic' effects are nice, at least for me. Not sure if they are good for its time, maybe it is.

Now for Gameplay? Let me start with the Factions with no discrimination; They are fucking dumb and static.
But hold on, let me say a bit of story so you can understand a bit more...
Hands of War takes place in Temporia, a country at war by an invading force, the Shadow Runners. The Alliance, the ruling faction of Temporia, are trying to defend their land from these invaders.
Meanwhile, there's a constant fight between 3 other factions, made of 'the best [Class goes here] out there'. Yep, Warriors, Rangers & Mages. These three are so arrogant that they would fight against eachother, WHILE THEY ARE IN AN OPEN WAR, just to arrogantly prove which faction, or even class, is better. The fuck? Well at least they do give you a good weapon of your class...
And then, here's the most ridiculous faction; The Mercenaries. Why are these ridiculous? Because of The Merchants.
So apparently, there is a faction, not a GUILD, of Merchants. And then there's a...FACTION...Of Mercenaries.
How in the bullfuckinghell can Mercenaries, who are generally experienced soldiers with no relation to any country, faction or the like be a goddamn faction?!
Well, here's why; The Merchants are simply not a faction, they are a bunch of merchants, traders, capitalists even, all that. Meanwhile, the Mercenaries are more like some sort of "Robin Hood Bandits", these guys hate what the Merchants are doing, they believe their trades are only for the rich and even so they ask for hefty prices.
So the Mercenaries fight against the Merchants, to kill their corruption. Meanwhile, the Merchants are just yon average capitalist; rich-lover, rich-loving, rich-wanting and rich-hunting.
I do like the Mercenaries' idea here, but I hate how their name is "Mercenaries", these are absolutely NOT mercenaries.
Let alone the fact that Merchants would go greatly with the Mercenaries; Mercenaries are looking for gold, most the times they don't care how, the Merchants will surely need protection from bandits and the like. So why can't they get along in this game?

Now, I do have to say more dumbfuckery related to the Factions...
So check this out, I'm already a citizen of Temporia, this means I should instantly be an ally of The Alliance, right?
No.
You can actually join the Shadow Runners, your very own enemies, the ones who are attacking your very own country. Is this is some kind of "Hitler is here to save the Slavs" lie?
Because of this, I instead like to imagine I'm just an adventurer, looking for mercenary work, so I can be of any faction I want to be (except for those Class-based factions, screw them).

I also heard that it's actually very hard to get full relationship status with the Mercenaries. Developer's oversight apparently.

Well, for the real Gameplay...
What you do is go around looking for quests, obtain inventory (if you are lucky enough or got the cash), kill (or defend yourself from) enemies, maybe a bit of exploration...
You have three classes to choose from; Ranger, Warrior or Mage.
They both have their own unique playstyle, but more so the Warrior, since he's pretty much the only melee class compared to the other two.

My favourite is the warrior, I can pretty much just keep clicking until somebody dies, my health is not a big problem compared with the Mage (and sometimes the Warden). Also, dealing very heavy damage in one go just somehow feels satisfying.

Anyway, each of these classes have their own inventory that they can choose from. Only Jewellry is for all the classes, but it doesn't mean all of them are good for them.
What's weird are the stats. You have these which are pretty much completely useless unless you are a specific class...
For example, Focus. All this does is increase Spell damage, nobody but the Mage uses spells.
And then, there's Strength. Nobody but the Warrior does melee.
But if there's something that grinds my gears it's Agility. It increases bow damage, nobody but the Ranger uses bow...AS WELL AS WALK SPEED.
This game tends to get boring when you have to move around and all, so it may very well be a necessity. Why couldn't they make a better system for walk speed instead?
So apparently, the class that arguably gets the best benefits is the Ranger, you only need to spend on 3 stats.

All the classes have abilities, each unique to their own, you get them from "Trainers" which you gotta pay gold for. You'll also need a specific level to learn it.
All the abilities also have levels, making them more powerful but also costier to use.

Some may hate this, they'd rather prefer SOME abilities, maybe even some abilities that are for all or so, but I myself don't mind it much, simple but effective.

All classes have HP, Energy and Experience.
HP can regenerate, even if you are in combat, I think this may even affect the enemies but I haven't tested it enough to confirm.
Energy, just like HP, regenerates, faster so than HP itself.
You can experience points by completing quests (ANY quests) and killing enemies. The stronger the enemies, the better XP.

The problem with this system is the fact that ALL Classes have Energy. Why? Why would a Warrior or Warden need it, for some magic? Alright, that's cool...But you also use energy for the BASIC, NON-MAGIC ATTACKS.
If you are a Warrior who never invested on Intelligence, your energy capacity and regeneration will be so low that, when you keep on stabbing somebody, you will lose all your energy and you can't attack, at all, not until it regenerates or you drink a mana potion.

How stupid is that?!
If the author wanted to make a 'stamina' system for the non-magic attacks, why didn't he include Stamina then?
I mean, I don't mind the magic one since it is generally very powerful, but with non-magic attacks they're never so strong, a stamina system would be dumb, yet this is what we got, an Energy system for magical or non-magical attacks.

The Quests in this game are just fucking dumb.
Go talk to an Alliance member, he will tell you to do something dumb such as attack those Shadow Runners. Do the reverse, he'll tell you the same (Except you attack The Alliance, of course).
Sometimes, you get to do a "Fetch" quest which...Well, you'll still have to kill some of their hated faction until somebody randomly drops it.
The quests are just extremely static, there is not a single quest where a Mercenary asks you to fight these Wardens because they agreed to be part of the Merchants' schemes.
The only 'neutral' quests you will ever get are from the two major factions, either The Alliance or The Shadow Runners. All they'll tell you is to get to a cave, kill a monster and grab an artifact, that's it.
Yes, all the quests are Kill These or Fetch This, so don't expect ANY good quests, AT ALL.

As for the enemies...I admit, I do love the variety they have, but the variety is mostly visual.
If you get to the "third zone" (White City), you'll get to fight some meleeists who can easily stun you. Their stun is incredibly annoying, the only way to avoid it is to somehow dodge it by moving or simply by avoiding them. For a Warrior, it's not too hard but it is very annoying. Well actually, it's annoying for any class.
And these soldiers, no matter which one you are fighting, The Alliance or the Shadow Runners, they both have different-looking soldiers but with almost-the-same Stats & Abilities.

Also, more about those "bats in the caves"...Yes, there are bats, and 'monsters'. These monsters are only a few, they're the only storyline bosses you'll ever find, as well as that one other boss. They look like badly-drawn MS-Paint garbage with lengthy arms and spikes of various sizes coming out their backs. Oh and best of all, all of them are the same, with a different color. They are actually not really that special at all...

I do have a bit of a complaint related to Controls.
It seems that with your abilities, you click numbers 1 to 6 to SWITCH between them.
Yep, apparently there is no 'use' on these, it's only a switch. You switch to 5, then press the mouse and it does what it does.
Why not make the abilities BE abilities, you press and it works? Instead, I have to switch. It's like there actually isn't any kind of default attack or so, that's stupid.
Also, the Hotkey Department must have been on crisis when they were doing them. The only hotkeys you ever get are Q&E, Health Potion & Energy Potion as well as the numbers 1 to 6, the Abilities, as I mentioned before.
But there is no hotkey for menus; You can't press M to bring the map up, can't press C to check the character menu so you can easily put points on your stats or do something with your inventory, nothing like that.

And how come I can't fast travel? It's obvious this game has magic, it would be badass if as a Mage, you could become so powerful you'd be able to teleport from cities to cities or so.
As a Warrior, you could use travelling caravans or the like. Although I can kinda understand those are not in business; there's a war going on right now...But still.
Too bad there's no fast travel, although luckily enough you will rarely if ever need it.

Overall, this is a game you'll only like in a way.
It does have many flaws, but it's not so boring and tedious you just wanna quit and never play it ever again, to each their own I suppose.
It can be fun playing it, then replaying it.

I recommend this for die-hard top-view RPG fans, but for the rest, well...Maybe try it, but don't expect to even like it.