The Guild of Dungeoneering is a playable dungeon creation game that is currently in alpha. Being developed by Colm Larkin, with original art provided by Fred Mangan, the game is an interesting take on the dungeon exploring genre. There have been games like Dungeonland where you play the dungeon maestro trying to kill the heroes or play as the hero, but this game is something else. The Guild of Dungeoneering has players controlling the dungeon creation, enemy placement, and trying to help the poor adventurer get through their own dungeons.

You have no control over the adventurer in this game; instead you must guide him to victory by placing down rooms one by one, and choosing when to place monsters and treasure. If you place too strong of a monster down before the adventurer is strong enough to deal with it, he can end up dying, resulting in you losing. Treasure, enemies, and rooms are all cards in the game that you can use for the cost of hope (in the case of treasure) and fear (in the case of enemies). You gain hope by killing enemies and thereby fear every turn. Expanding the size of your dungeon, however, costs nothing. Every turn you draw three cards and are forced to play or discard three cards.

The art style of the game is simplistic; black and white, except for the occasional blue and red thrown in to add to the cards and characters. While I do appreciate simplicity and I don’t think the game looks bad, I do think it needs more color and maybe a few more detailed drawings. But the art style isn’t my biggest gripe with the game in its current state, though it does add to its biggest problem.

Currently, the worst thing about the game is that there doesn’t seem to be much incentive to play. There is only one endless level of you continuously placing cards that all basically do the same thing. All the land tiles provide more space for the adventurer to walk, enemies are basically a way to lose the game or get hope, and treasure just ups the basic stats of the adventurer. Scenery doesn’t change and there is no apparent goal to be had. Because I wanted to give the game a fair chance, I played for a long while. Right up until the devil came off the side of the screen and into the level, by which time I only had one life, so I ended up simply dying to him.

The Guild of Dungeoneering is in an early state and has a unique concept going for it, though it does have its problems. If it can separate the gameplay into multiple levels with different themed cards for each level and new end bosses, I think it could end up being a great game. Moreso if it did something else that gave the player better motivation to play. Vote for it at Greenlight now because I am excited to see what the developers do with the game.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Magicians and Looters pays homage to old Metroid-esque side-scrollers and does it well. It has a beautiful 2D high-definition pixel artstyle, real time map system, items to discover, and skills to unlock. You play as three apprentice sorcerers aiming to save their mentor from the ominous castle Looter. In Magicians and Looters you switch between  Brent, Nyn and Vienna. Each character has access to the same magic abilities, but also have their own personal abilities. After the epilogue is finished you are able to switch between the three at any save point.

Brent using in-game map

Brent is a classic warrior type, toting a sword and shield. He is the slowest of the three, but can use his shield to block incoming melee and projectile attacks from any direction. He later gains the ability to wall jump, a useful skill for solving puzzles, gaining loot and reaching hidden areas. Brent’s personality is very straightforward. He has good intentions but is very oblivious at times.

Vienna is the sister of Brent, and she’s a headstrong fighter type who specializes in speed and hand-to-hand combat. She is by far the fastest of the three and her only weapons are her fists. She can also equip the most accessories and has more abilities at her disposal than the other two. Vienna is my personal favorite because she has an “in your face” attitude that matches her fighting style. She has abilities like a high jump, wall run and a falcon kick (a likely nod to the Blue Falcon). Nyn and Brent occasionally mention that Vienna may have a screw loose. The fact that she unlocks abilities from her talking cat isn’t helping her case.

Nyn is a hardened ex-child mercenary that doesn’t back down from a fight, and she would be considered the rogue of the group. She can equip two swords, is speedy and has an evasive roll. She later attains the ability to slide, furthering her usefulness in evasion and obstacle clearing. She was my least favorite to play as, but I loved any of the dialog involving her. She is sarcastic, quick-witted and doesn’t pull punches when it comes to her opinions.

While I did find the game’s dialog funny, the actual plot lacked a bit. The story played off the popular cliches of older successes. A majority of the game’s talking has a satirical undertone that I loved, often taking jabs at current games versus the older ones. In one instance, two sorcerers converse about how sorcerers nowadays always use tutorials and teleporting instead of backtracking. I found this hilarious and spot on as today’s games have a tendency to spoon feed players. On random occasions and at save points, the main characters might have a chat with one another. This would at times provide backstory to one or more of the characters in a witty fashion.

King of Looter

Exploration is encouraged and necessary. Rather than grinding to gain levels you must collect a certain number of orbs. These orbs are usually well hidden, and each time you level up the number of orbs required increases. This is a nice reward system for completionists and makes backtracking that much more worthwhile. Orbs aren’t the only things you will discover while exploring; weapons, accessories and even the occasional dungeon wall chicken are out there, ripe for the picking.

The gameplay is easy to get a feel for, and fans of older Castlevania games will feel at home here. For this review I played the PC version and used an Xbox 360 gamepad. The controls are pretty standard with jump, attack and ability buttons. The ability varies depending on the character selected; a block for Brent, back dash for Vienna, and roll/slide for Nyn. Activating the map is done in real time and fills in as you discover new areas. Holding down the right trigger gives you access to any magic abilities that you’ve unlocked including shooting fruit. Yep, in this game rapid fire fruit is a magic spell, attained from defeating the devious Fruit Magician.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Magicians and Looters, and I honestly hope that Morgopolis Studios puts out another one. With a $7.99 price tag it’s well worth the money. Magicians and Looters is available for PC and Xbox 360, and you can purchase your copy here.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

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

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

I’ve seen some things, man, things you wouldn’t believe. Things that would make you run home crying to your mama. Fortunately, Red Hook Studios’ Darkest Dungeon isn’t one of those things.

Shot in the same vein as most dungeon crawlers, Darkest Dungeon is portrayed as a satisfying blend of strategy and micromanagement, sporting the ever-popular “I’m going to kick your ass” difficulty level made famous by games like Dark Souls.

So what’s the hook? Well your party members are portrayed as real people who feel real consequences, not just wooden mannequins wearing armour and weapons. What they experience down in the depths will cause both positive and negative mental shifts in their psyche, which will have an adverse effect on how they react in certain situations. Fear, mistrust, stress and anxiety can all become very real conditions for your roster of heroes, and managing this psychological battlefield in tandem with the actual fighting sounds like a clever evolution of the genre.

The psychologically disturbed Avengers assemble!

A great example of this evolution is when your Man-at-Arms becomes an alcoholic. Sure, everyone likes a pleasant drunk, especially if he becomes stronger in his drunken rage. However, his inebriation is a double-edged sword, as he becomes unpredictable and can sometimes endanger the party with his drunken whims. Do you choose to leave him behind when you set off on your next trip? Or do you simply hope this time won’t end in bloodshed for your team? It’s these decisions that are shaping up to be the bread and butter for Darkest Dungeon.

It’s important to note that while we know the premise and general idea of the gameplay, it’s still unclear as to how the player will interact with the game world, or what kind of art style we can expect to see from the finished product. My best guess at the moment is leaning towards a Legend of Grimrock-style labyrinth crawling perspective, where ghouls spring forward and are dealt with from a viewport/battle screen.

The game is still in a very early stage of development, with plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the future to help support development. This means the game will likely be launching sometime next year, with confirmed releases for PC, Mac and Linux already announced. For more information on the games progress, head on over to the official site.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

There’s not much in the way of an introduction to Diehard Dungeon when the main character wakes up within a dungeon cell. After a couple of minutes spent in two or three different rooms, players learn that they must travel from room to room to escape. To proceed, each room has a hidden key or goal that will open up the barred gate to the next area. The main character is accompanied by a sentient treasure chest that holds all money collected and can eventually attack the enemies that mill about. The action unfolds through an isometric view, only further leading to a Zelda-like feeling.

As the game progresses, players will rely heavily on their trusty sword and a few other obtainable weapons to defeat a variety of enemies and bash open about a million containers (some of which contain money or other items). In another likening to the Zelda series, a life meter sits atop the left corner of the screen and is represented by hearts. The life meter is extended by collecting hearts that appear within containers or by defeating enemies. In true roguelike fashion, when your life meter hits zero the game is over. There are no retries or continues, only permadeath, which seems to be getting increasingly more popular among the hardcore players. After a few attempts navigating the dungeon, players will likely be familiar enough with the enemy types, the traps, and the weapons that health will rarely be a concern. That’s not to say the game is easy, it’s just manageable with a bit of patience.

Diehard Dungeon has it all. Combat, treasure, and a million or so crates.

There are a couple of ways to beef up your character, which I really liked. For instance, treasure chests are periodically found that offer players a chance to win zero to three spins on a slot machine. Each spin on the slot machine has a completely random chance at earning the player a stat boost, a special combat or defense ability, extra loot, and more. Occasionally it can mean the difference between life and death when the player is low on health, or it can make a strong player powerful enough to wreak havoc. The chests are also spaced out enough during the game that it doesn’t make things too easy for the player. At one point in each level, the player is presented with a maze mini-game in which they play as the treasure chest. Players must collect 100 flames spread along the paths of the maze without being touched by one or more roving enemy treasure chests. The more flames the player collects, the faster the enemy chests move. Reaching the flame goal causes an item to appear on the map. If reached, it adds an extra ability to the sword attack. While not vital, obtaining one of the three possible abilities can make combat less of a slugfest for the player.

As with many roguelikes, randomness plays a key role in how Diehard Dungeon unfolds. The map layouts, enemy and object placement. and loot drops change with each playthrough. Because the game is relatively short, this dynamic is an absolute necessity to keep players coming back even if they’ve already made it through the dungeon alive. Branching paths offer up slightly different environments and boss encounters. There’s also a bonus goal of collecting 10 hidden golden keys in order to unlock a different ending. Completing the bonus goal also allows players to have an impact on the games played by other players, but I won’t ruin the surprise. There’s nothing really revolutionary in terms of the structure of the game, but it’s really well done. It never gets frustrating, the power-ups and weapon upgrades make the game even more fun, and it’s just long enough that players can get good at it without getting bored.

Branching Paths = Replayability Win. That’s math, people.

As enjoyable as the initial game is, tricktale has also included a second game mode: Mayhem. While tricktale admits this unlockable mode is a work in progress, I actually found it to be almost as engaging as the main adventure. In Mayhem mode, the player takes on the role of the treasure chest, fully packing an unlimited amount of spikes to shoot. Over the course of three minutes, the player needs to take out as many spawning enemies as he or she can while avoiding enemy attacks. The longer the player can keep the killing going without taking a hit, the higher the point values that will be earned for each kill. It plays very much like a twin-stick shooter with one analog stick for movement and the other for directional firing. The reward at the end of the three minutes is a chance to make it onto a global leaderboard. Thank you, tricktale, for including the leaderboard. It’s such a fantastic addition and has me itching to see if I can climb up the ranks. The guys from theXBLIG.com and Clearance Bin Review still have me beat! It’ll be interesting to see how this mode changes over time with updates, but I feel like it warrants the purchase price even by itself.

Diehard Dungeon is a downright fun time waiting to be had, even for players who aren’t necessarily fans of dungeon crawlers or roguelikes. The game is short enough that the combat doesn’t get repetative, but with a random factor that will likely entice players to give the game another go if they didn’t experience all of the potential endings. There’s even a secondary mode for the competitor in all of us that allows players to see how they stack up against friends and the rest of the world. Diehard Dungeon is a polished package, a fantastic flagbearer for the Indie Games Uprising event, and a must-buy for 80 MSP ($1). Check out our video review below, then go try it.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

Additional Diehard Dungeon coverage:

theXBLIG.com Diehard Dungeon review

Clearance Bin Review Diehard Dungeon review 

IndieGamerChick Diehard Dungeon review

Indie Theory Diehard Dungeon review

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