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.

King Arthur’s Gold lets you build and destroy castles. There are a variety of game modes: Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Take the Halls (which involves capturing points). Players can choose from three classes: builder, archer, and knight. Builders can mine resources and build structures while protecting objectives and creating tunnels under enemy defences. Builders can place blocks, doors, traps, ladders, and various workshops. Workshops allow other players to buy siege engines, heal themselves, and build tunnels.

Archers are armed with a bow and arrow and provide long range damage. Aiming shots requires timing and precision as the flight of your arrows will vary widely depending on how long you hold your shot. Knights specialise in melee combat – they start with a sword and a shield, but they can also use bombs. The shield can be used for protection as well as a parachute when held over the head. Sword attacks require timing to deal maximum damage, and if you properly time your clicks, you can create combo attacks.

Rounds in King Arthur’s Gold usually start with allocated building time. During this time, players cannot advance too far toward the enemy base; instead, they must focus on creating defences for the oncoming attack. At the start of the game, defences can be very well organised. However, things get more chaotic as you go further into the game. Blocks are destructible, so neatly organised defences quickly lose their structure – especially when they are hit with a boulder. Classes can be changed at any point by returning to the home base so that bases can be repaired by builders.

The pixel art in King Arthur’s Gold gives the game a retro feel, as does the music. The lighting effects add to the mood, so that when you’re underground, you do feel hidden, lost, and slightly alone.

King Arthur’s Gold creates a good combination of combat and creative building. The need for correct aim and proper timing makes the combat difficult for beginners – but overall the game is forgiving for new players, as there’s always something fun to do. If you’d like to find out more about King Arthur’s Gold, click here to visit the website.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this rating mean?

A PC review copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

There are a range of classes, each with their own abilities. These are activated by pressing 4 keys, which along with the fast paced combat, makes Risk of Rain similar in ways to a MOBA game. You can win fights through a mix of clever positioning and quick reactions. As you learn your class’s strengths and weaknesses, the game becomes easier and combat feels smoother. As your character levels up, you’ll be able to cope with more difficult enemies. This is good, because the longer you play, the more difficult the game becomes.

Risk of Rain is different from a lot of games with randomly-generated worlds. The pace is much faster and the increasing difficulty means that you’re encouraged to go through the game as quickly as possible. There are times when I wanted to step away from the combat to explore the levels more – but the randomly-appearing enemies make it difficult to explore. Hopefully as the game develops there will be potential for more varied gameplay, and the pace will relent slightly.

Much of the atmosphere in Risk of Rain is created by its soundtrack, which is both eerie and forceful. My fellow Indie Mine reviewer Jennifer Roger has written an excellent article about Risk of Rain’s soundtrack, which you can find here.

Multiplayer co-op has recently been introduced to Risk of Rain. I haven’t had a chance to try it out – because I can’t find a server. As yet there isn’t a fully developed server browser, and the game requires you to connect directly to an IP address to play multiplayer. This will work fine if you know people who have the game, but you won’t be able to jump straight into a game with strangers. Hopefully in the future the game will also feature a full server browser.

Risk of Rain has a lot of potential. At times it feels too combat-heavy, but the randomly generated elements of the game mean that each playthrough offers something different. Risk of Rain is only going to become more varied and interesting, and I hope that the developers allow players to really explore all it has to offer. If you like the look of Risk of Rain, you can purchase a copy here.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.