July 17, 2011

Dungeons of Dredmor : First Impressions

I picked up a game called Dungeons of Dredmor from steam, because i heard its good, and I'm a fan of Rogue-like dungeon crawlers. So i booted it up to see what's what. I decided to actually do the tutorial for once, very un-manly i know, reading instructions, but its a rogue-like, and they tend to hurt. A lot. Much like this might (see screenshot below)



One of the first things i noticed about the game was its sense of humor. I noticed one instance where it was explaining resistances, and it says that fire resistance is particularly useful for witches, and that i should think about getting it in case I'm ever around a witch or other flammable substance. This was literally what it said in the tool tip. A very good sign. The controls are nice and simple, and it has selectable difficulty, which is always nice. Since I'm so awesome, I went right to 'Going Rogue, because losing is fun' and promptly got disemboweled by a very friendly group of Diggles. If you are a sadist there are ways of increasing the difficulty even more, such as a Perma-Death mode. You'll definitely need some 'Wizard Juices' as the game puts it, or Potions, or at Least some moldy Cheese or Steak.

As in any dungeon crawler, there is a lot of loot and stats to memorize and collect to help you to not die. At one point i found Three 'Uberchests' in one small area, which was cool because it got me searching the entire level for the way to open them.



The Game itself tells you that Winning is not the point, getting as far as you can and getting further in time is the point, and i kind of like that, it makes you learn from your mistakes and allows you to find skill combinations that work. As far as i can tell, the dungeons are randomly generated, which adds to the re-playability immensely.

If you go idle for a little while, like when i was writing this guide, your character gets a handheld console out and plays it while he waits, which is a cool little touch. The combat log can be hilarious too, with what i presume to be random area names, like 'The Rhombus Dungeon of Death' and 'The Triangle of Trousers'. And  when i examined a patch of dirt it apparently looked at me, Dirtily.

Some of the buff pictures are really quite amusing too, like Invisibility, where your character is pictured as a Ninja. Also, apparently its a very good idea to upgrade equipment, or i might be stuck with Wooden, or even Spaghetti weaponry. That's a scary thought, especially when everything that moves seems to want to tear out my innards and decorate their hovel with them.

Between reducing enemies to piles of Fluid and Flatulence, and chuckling at this games amazing sense of humor, i managed to upgrade a few of my weapons and then die horribly. Ah well, i can be sure that this game is one that i will spend hours on indeed.The System reminds me a little of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, in that your enemies don't act until you do, adding a nice level of strategy.

The graphics style is charming and retro, and aids the humor somewhat. Literally the only bad thing i can think about the game is that items don't show up on your character. No funky Fedora for me *sadface*


And son of a bitch! this 'Lil Batty' (i kid you not) just called me a 'Troll-Whoring Sheep-Buggerer!' How did this game know I'm Welsh? Crafty bastards.

There are 36 different skills to choose from at character creation, which is pretty awesome, as they change the way you play completely. They range from the usual, various weapon proficiencies, schools of magic and crafting too, and then there's archeology, which says that it gives you a Fedora and it makes you daring and roguish, which cant be bad. All in all, its a very nicely done and well rounded Indie title, made by Gaslamp Games, available on Steam now for around 7 Dollars, or £3.49. Go check it out, its definitely worth buying.

Also, this was quite terrifying. An example of what is known as a Monster Zoo. Dear God.



Till Next Time,
Have Fun