Tales of Maj'Eyal Preview

Even though Tales of Maj'Eyal is technically still in beta, this piece on DIYGamer is filled with firsthand impressions of the fantasy roguelike and sounds more like a review than a preview. I definitely have to give this one a go, and soon:
For starters, you won't be finding potions or one-shot scrolls or hoards of expendable items that can be used to cheese your way to victory. Instead, TOME is skill-based. Your character has health, stamina and (sometimes) mana bars, and a range of intrinsic abilities gained on levelling up and from class choices, as well as equipment. Most of these function with individual cooldowns, although use of multiple skills will extend the recovery time for all other actions. It's intuitive stuff for anyone who has played an online RPG, or many modern singleplayer releases, such as Dragon Age.

The slog of exploring a large dungeon is lessened significantly by a handy auto-explore button (F2 by default) that will scoot you around until you find an item, exit or enemy . You don't have to worry about starvation normally the force pushing you to progress in the genre as there are no food items. TOME is a game all about the combat, and it's a much more fleshed out combat engine than most games in the genre, due to being all about your character and classes abilities, and the powers that various enchanted pieces of gear bestow upon you.