Desktop Dungeons

Desktop Dungeons

This review is over a year late.

History

I initially played Desktop Dungeons for free in a browser years ago. When I saw it on Steam I decided to give the developers some money, and was surprised at the many new features.

Not a Roguelike

While some people call Desktop Dungeons a roguelike, it is more of a puzzle game. Yes, you pick a class, have hit points, level up, and suffer permadeath. The main difference is that you make fewer than 100 decisions in a game of Desktop Dungeons where a traditional roguelike requires thousands of decisions. In Desktop Dungeons, each decision is fairly important where a roguelike will forgive a few bad decisions if you have a pattern of making good decisions.

Each game of a roguelike has rich variety of options, where Desktop Dungeons has interesting analysis. I play Desktop Dungeons for the same reasons I play Sudoku and not for the reasons I play Nethack.

Overview

Desktop Dungeons is a fun puzzle game where you try to gain levels and items to beat the dungeon boss. A game can be quick, maybe between 15 minutes and an hour. There are a few classes to choose from and more can be unlocked.

Beating levels gives you coins to spend on the strategic map which unlocks things and gives more power and more challenges. 

Summary

It's been a long time since I played, but I really liked this game. The strategic map didn't quite engage me but it did offer a lot of replayability. It's a thinking puzzle game with a nice dungeon theme.

Thumbs up! Play it!

The Room

The Room

A cute, short, puzzle room.

Overview

The Room is a beautiful puzzle game reminiscent of the sorts of puzzles you would find in a puzzle room. The genre is point and click, but that term evokes a more simplistic game. The game this mostly reminds of is The Seventh Guest. 

Critique

Nice graphics and sound provide a pleasant atmosphere for puzzle solving. The pacing is good and interesting animations keep you engaged. The story is mediocre. It starts to build towards something interesting but never gets there.The puzzles are all quite simple. There would have been moments of frustration, like trying to find a patch of wood with a slightly different color. However the hint system is pretty decent and I was able to get help with the parts of the game I found tedious. 

As I said, the puzzles are pretty simple. Many can be solved through trial and error. However, I'm an excellent puzzler and still enjoyed the game. 

Should You Buy It?

If a three or four hour puzzle game sounds fun, then yes. I put the sequel on my wishlist.

Panzer Corps

Panzer Corps

Because you are nostalgic for Panzer General.

Overview

Panzer Corps is a pure turn based strategy game set in World War 2. The battlefield is a hex grid. For the most part, only one unit can be in a hex. You have core units, which gain xp and become more powerful over the course of a campaign. You can purchase reinforcements and heal your units during a scenario. There are multiple levels of victory possible for each scenario, mostly dependent on how quickly you achieve the objectives.

Fun Factor

I have nothing to complain about, really. The game is pretty easy to learn, but has a lot of subtlety. There are a lot of turn based strategy games out there but I can't think of any that are as pure as Panzer Corps. It is even true to the spirit of Panzer General. Still, it doesn't grab me. Maybe I am jaded to the genre as a whole? Maybe I need something more going on? Or maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I was playing.

Should You Buy It?

If you want a WW2 turn based strategy game, then yes. Panzer Corps has a wide appeal for the genre although complete newcomers or veterans might not be satisfied.

Kingdom: New Lands

Kingdom

Kingdom: Classic and Kingdom: New Lands are simple sidescroller RTS games. 

Overview

Kingdom is a cross between real time strategy and a tower defense. The controls are very simple and it has cute pixel art. The sounds are fine, and there is something soothing about the galloping noise the horse makes. The story is weak.

Who Would Enjoy It

Don't get this because you like tower defense or RTS. It is very light. Get it because you want an easy cute game to kill a few hours with. For me, this was not worth the time spent but your mileage may vary.

Classic or New Lands?

New Lands is like an expansion. Mostly it adds replayability to a game that doesn't grip me much in the first place. It does add a very simple but welcome tutorial, and I didn't experience any of the bugs that were bothersome in Classic. However, Classic has a satisfying ending where New Lands presents you with a series of more difficult challenges. 

If you only want to play it once for a few hours, play Classic. If you think you will want to do series of challenges, start with New Lands. If you do start with Classic, find a guide to give you the basic controls.

Stories: The Path of Destinies

Stories: The Path of Destinies

A simple action RPG with an interesting approach to storytelling

Summary

Stories is a PC/Console ARPG. You basically click buttons to kill enemies. As you level up you gain abilities to kill enemies better, but the enemies get tougher. 

Meanwhile, a narrator describes the story. At first it seems like a generic hero saves the world story with a few choose your own adventure options. However, at the end of the story you die and discover that each decision you make leads to a different ending. Each ending will reveal one of four discoveries. Once all four discoveries have been learned, new choices will become available and one path will win the game.

The Action

Action RPG isn't my favorite genre. I love me some Diablo, but 3rd person dodge/parry/thrust games make me want to play an FPS. The action in Stories is simple enough to be fun. There is just barely enough variety of enemies and abilities to keep the action from being boring. Leveling up is fun enough but not that special.

The Story

I am totally jaded to stories. I have seen them all so it takes something special to make me notice. Stories is a little bit special. The basic story is a typical "hero saves the world" trope. However, while most stories are told linearly, the full story is revealed after multiple replays. The narrator does a great job remember your past choices to influence your future choices. For example, the first time you play, the choices might be "save your friend, find the powerful artifact, or contact the rebel base", but after you learn your friend is a traitor, the first choice might be, "save your friend, even though he is likely a traitor". 

Because you see the story from so many different angles, you can't help but become engaged. 

Spoilers or No?

For most games I don't mind reading spoilers if it will save me trouble. If I die to a boss three or four times, I'll check Google to find out the trick. If I'm about to leave a zone, I might read a guide to see if there is anything I should grab now so I don't have to come back later.

In Stories there are 25 different endings but only 5 are mandatory to win the game. After seeing 2 or 3, I knew I was not going to be a completionist so I read spoilers to finish the game after about 7 endings. That was great for me because the game was at a high point for fun. There were plenty more skills to unlock, but none of them excited me. 

I would suggest holding off on spoilers for as long as the game is engaging. You can milk a lot of fun times out of this game. On the other hand, you can cheat and win, and still go back to see everything you missed. 

Should You Buy It?

Yes, if you are looking for an action RPG with a unique style of storytelling.

The Flame in the Flood

The Flame in the Flood

A cute roguelite.

I've been cleaning out my Steam backlog, so this is another game I didn't give much of a chance. It seems plenty fun, but it just makes me want to play Don't Starve. 

Endless Sky

Endless Sky

I think I missed the point of this. Take some missions, hit autopilot, deliver missions, rinse, repeat. I didn't get into combat because it looked like a big investment of time and not so fun. Buying and selling goods seemed to generate way less money than missions. 

So, basically like any quest game, but lacking the fun thing you to do complete the quest.

Fallout Tactics

Fallout Tactics

I didn't give this much of a chance. I was immediately turned off for these reasons:

• Too Slow: The animations take too long to do anything. No way am I going to sit through an entire mission.
• Poor UI: Should I loot this weapon? No easy way to find how much damage it does. I want to heal somebody. Sit though a long animation just to see a cryptic message "item missing". I can't shoot the enemy... why? Maybe a tree is in the way? I guess I'll move around a bit. How far do I need to move to have a clear shot?
• Outdated Graphics: I'm not graphics snob, but these aren't "ugly but functional". 

Conclusion

I love Fallout and I love tactical games, but this is too dated for me.