Steam,PC & Mac
Released July 2011
Main Game: $4.99 (summer sale now $1.99)
DLC: Realm of the Diggle Gods $2.99 (summer sale now $1.19)
Main game with DLC: $7.49 (summer sale now $2.99)
Appx 500MB harddrive space.
"A comic fantasy roguelike dungeon crawler game from Gaslamp Games for Windows, MacOS, and Linux"
Do you like exploring randomly generated dungeons, killing monsters, collecting loot, completing random quests, or crafting items? How about creating your own skillset from a set of 35 skills and abilities (haven't you wanted to try out the Mathemagic or the Necronomiconomics skills, or maybe an all-powerful Vegan?). Haven't you ever wanted to give offerings to the god of lutefisk? Want to find out how destructive a bolt of mass destruction really is (trust me, it's destructive!).
Well now you can! A hilarious yet still old-school dungeon crawler whose randomly generated levels combined with whatever skillset you wish to try out create a new game every time. Kick down doors and explore rooms. Kill those diggles with their weird drill noses who make cutesy "squees" when they attack or die. Did that dirt just look at you dirtily? Stumble upon a monster zoo and crap your pants while you wonder how the hell you'll deal with that. Accidentally set off traps you don't spot in time; take an adventure onto a teleporter to who knows where. Do heroic vandalism of enemy statues for xp and profit. Pray for a quest at the statue of the goddess of inconsequetia, or offer up some lutefisk to the lutafisk god's statue and hope for new items. Place an item on the anvil of krong and hope he is pleased with you. Most dungeon levels have all this and more for you to play with on your adventure.
The controls are simple, and everything is turn based. ASWD is your movement, and each movement/spell/attack is one action. You go, then the enemies go (if applicable). Move a space, the enemy moves somewhere. Move next to the enemy, enemy will attack you. Attack an enemy, then they'll counter-attack while other enemies move or cast a spell. Simple really, and very fluid, just shy from being real-time. You can set the option to automatically pick up items by walking over them (and set what types of items to auto-loot), auto-kick (or lockpick) door just by running into them, auto-attack by running into the enemy, etc. Point and click is an option too. Normally I just use ASWD and only use the mouse when I need to arrange skills or sort loot and whatnot.
There are three difficulty levels, and the option to enable permadeath. I always play with permadeath, it's just more fun that way. Yes I do get pissed when I die stupidly after spending a few hours on a character, but part of the fun is trying to make it to the bottom level (level 10 in main game, level 15 in DLC) without dying. The game also keeps a list of your character and score and what floor you made it to so your hard work is not for naught. The first few games you will most likely end up dying on the first level. The third floor also tends to step up the difficulty. Each level though is huge so if you're even somewhat a completionist you'll have already spent an hour in the game before you get to the third floor, and by then after having explored and killed and looted you'll do fine if you're careful.
This game features a multitude of references to many popular games and books (horadric lutefisk cube remind you of anything?). The monsters talk smack at you. You're bound to come across a few things that'll make you chuckle. I have spent a lot of time in this game - there's always one more room to explore, or you just want to find the stupid demon shopkeeper and sell off your crap, or perhaps you just want to reach the next level before calling it a night. Best part is that it's small enough to fit on your laptop's tiny hard drive so you can start it up whenever you have a spare moment, only to realize that hours had passed. It's such a simple game, and yet so very addicting. The humor does get repetitive after a while, but I still get a chuckle. This is certainly an entertaining, addicting, game that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Buy it now, while it's still cheap!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/A monster zoo, or an "OH CRAP" moment.
An example of a random quest
What'd you just say to me? Die beast!
This tends to happen a lot, but at least they put a positive spin on it! Right?