Brimstone is a pleasurable gaming experience that combines action/adventure and dungeon crawling gameplay with distinct RPG features, played from a top down point of view. It molds all these varied aspects into one very enjoyable experience that provides very addictive gameplay and keeps players coming back for more.

The controls are simple to use. As just one example, traversing inventory contents and character statistics are pretty straightforward and feel standard.

The dungeons you’ll explore are dark and particularly eerie, which perfectly fits the tone of play. The background music in each level is the same uncanny mixture of cacophonous noises that leave you feeling on edge, never sure what’s going to happen next. At times it even goes silent, which further invokes a sense of dread. The music works extremely well with the game and leaves for nothing to be desired in the way of a soundtrack.

Brimstone uses randomly-generated dungeons. Each level has a different floor plan, and this system of random generation adds variety which ultimately increases replay value. In spite of this, if you are a gamer big on story, you will be replaying the same short tale repeatedly. Every time a player starts the game your character’s stats and attributes will remain the same but the “story” begins anew. However, the game has four different difficulty levels (including the recently-added “Heroes Might” content) which increases the level of the monsters you face throughout the dungeon-rummaging quest.

Brimstone battle

There are a considerable number of different foes for you to face and by no means will you take them on one at a time. Enemies in a room will swarm you immediately if that is their normal attack pattern. Trapping yourself in a corner and being easily overwhelmed is a sure fire way to die. Enemies vary in the manner in which they attack. There are short range attacking enemies and long range, with both physical and magical damage to deal out at your character. I took the Spartan approach and stood in the doorway when it was a mass of enemies I couldn’t run in and easily handle. They’ll come at you but cannot surround you, rendering their numbers useless. From there it’s all hack n’ slash satisfaction.

The game primarily consists of leveling up your character. This includes upgrading their stats and outfitting them with multiple armor pieces, weapons and charms. Therein is where the true addictive nature of the game resides. Punchbag Entertainment strategically formed the game where character development is completely your own. Each character is essentially a blank slate and you are free to upgrade them exactly how you see fit. You have the opportunity to upgrade Strength, Toughness, Dexterity and Magic. Each attribute has a different affect and your added and accumulated points in these attributes will dictate what weapons you can wield and the particular types of armor you can wear as well. So if being a mage is an uncontrollable fetish, you have total control of how many magic points you’ll bestow upon your character whenever you level up. The ability to mold your character into whatever you see fit creates a feel of intense immersion, which kept bringing me back to play.

Brimstone Inventory Screen

The weapon system seemed to be  randomized, with thousands of different weapons to choose from. This makes the process of looting incredibly fun. Continuously searching for that next weapon or piece of armor that may only be slightly improving upon what you currently wield is every RPG fan’s obsession and provides an additional sense of enthusiasm while playing. The attributes provided by weapons also help character development in that they may add extra points to your attributes on top of what the base points are set at.

In the end, Brimstone: Heroes’ Might is a hybrid game of welded pieces that mesh together pleasantly by providing hours of character developing addictive gameplay and a large amount of content to boot. Not only can you embark on your heroes tale solo, but you can also link up with others on Xbox Live or direct link. Although the gameplay can eventually get a bit repetitive, I believe Punchbag Entertainment ultimately reached their goal of producing a solid action RPG that can be hard to put down. You can download the trial version of the game or purchase the full version on the Xbox Live marketplace.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

This game was reviewed using a copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Team Disaster have released a demo for their game, Captain Disaster In: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots. The game is reminiscent of the point-and-click adventure games of the 80s and early 90s. Captain Disaster has a retro feel to it in both gameplay and design. With 320 x 200 resolution graphics, players take a trip back to a time when adventure games ruled the PC gaming market and the console mascot rivalry was fought between a hedgehog and a plumber.

Captain Disaster was created by Dave Seaman as the protagonist for his ebook sci-fi adventure series, which is full of high antics and slapstick humour. From the demo, one can expect the game to utilize both these themes in abundance. I was particularly fond of the satirical humour that referenced other overused science fiction tropes. The Flash Gordon and Star Wars text crawl intro scene made me laugh, as did the name of the ship from The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, which Team Disaster unapologetically admits to using. And I couldn’t help feeling that the dense protagonist was a clear homage to Roger Wilco of the classic point-and-click adventure series Space Quest.

I won’t spoil the details of the demo here, due to the fact that I believe players should get their hands on it themselves. If you’re up for a sci-fi adventure to satisfy your inner nerd, or even just a promising adventure game, then I would urge you to try the demo for Captain Disaster In: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Grimind is a 2D platformer developed by Paweł Mogiła, and is his first game using the new Szamanengine engine. After watching the gameplay trailer I am eager to get my hands on the finished product.

Players control an anonymous hero who is confronted by unexplained enemies as he explores. The game’s intent is to place the player into an unfamiliar and very creepy environment where traversing through levels becomes not only a matter of figuring out what is going on, but discovering who the character is as well. Like all 2D platformers, the objective consists of traversing through stages of various difficulties and tackling new challenges as you progress.

Grimind takes place within an unmapped cave system in which light is scarce and terror is high.  Paweł creates the spooky ambiance of the game by creating very dark gameplay in which manipulation of light can cause effects that range from revealing unseen pits, to repelling hostile creatures. Grimind makes an emphasis on game physics throughout the environment and factors such as friction and buoyancy are fun to interact with and require some mastering in order to progress throughout the game. The sounds of the game bring the eeriness full circle. Random rattles and knocks lend a sense of uneasiness and angst amongst players throughout the experience. The background music can be considered hypnotic, but effectively adds an apprehensive nature to the gameplay.

Paweł has kept a consistent and informative blog for his game. The blog not only offers updates concerning the game, but also provides an in-depth look at the creative process for the making of Grimind. In addition, the blog allows players to download an alpha version of the game. I encourage everyone to check out the alpha version of Grimind before the finished product is available. The official website for Grimind has been finalized as well. While no official release date has been announced for Grimind, it is projected to be available sometime at the end of 2012 and will be available for PC, Mac and Linux.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.