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| Oh no! Giant grape jellies! Run for your lives! |
- Developer: David Amador
- Publisher: David Amador
- Release Date: 26 March 2014
- Time Played: 3 hours
Being friends with such generous people I managed to get a free copy of Quest of Dungeons (thanks Mix-Master) which is apparently a roguelike, dungeon crawler with retro graphics. I guess what interested me most about the game is that it's apparently turn-based and I do have a soft spot for turn-based games, maybe because I'm old or maybe because I have a baby daughter to take care of nowadays. Nah it's probably because I'm an old fart.
Plot (5/5)
I honestly don't remember much of the plot since it's a pretty basic one. Some evil guy steals something I think and goes to the lowest level of a dungeon which is where you come in. You adopt the role of one of four heroes and then make your way down the dungeon, fighting your way to ultimately face the main villain.
If there's one good thing about the writing in this game is that it's pretty humourous, I mean the game is a parody of the dungeon crawler genre to some degree... oh I found the description of the game's plot and it looks like the actual description is shorter than mine:
That thing people usually skip: An unspecific evil Dark Lord has stolen all the light, so your mission is to enter his lair and defeat him. That's it, now go get him.
There are also quite a few pop culture references when the monsters taunt you. Besides that though, the main focus of the game is the gameplay.
Gameplay (3/5)
You can choose one of four characters to take with you into the dungeon: A warrior, a wizard, an assassin and a shaman. As you'd expect, each have different strengths and weaknesses. Left-clicking in the game uses your primary attack while right-clicking uses your currently selected skill or spell. You'll learn new skills and spells as you collect books throughout the game. Killing monsters gets you experience points which level you up but it just automatically boosts your stats up for you (you don't get a choice). As you kill monsters you get all sorts of random loot like armour, weapons, health potions, food and gems (no, you can't craft any of the gems, you can only sell them for gold at merchants). The aim of the game is to reach the bottom floor and defeat the final boss.
And that's about it in a nutshell. It's your typical dungeon crawler really although simplified somewhat because you don't have crafting or skill trees. And you know what? I kind of appreciate its simplicity, its purity. This game isn't ashamed to go for the basics of what make a dungeon crawler great which are randomised dungeons and the ability to acquire lots of loot. Also, since the game is turn-based you can take the game at your own pace. Leave the game and make a coffee if you feel like it, or go and take the dog for a walk. The game will still be there when you get back (the game, obviously, saves your progress if you leave the game too).
Sound (3/5)
Basic sound effects but they suit the retro style of the game.
Music (4/5)
Okay, since this is an indie game after all you can't really expect the orchestral overtures you would hear in games such as Diablo III; in fact the music happens to be free music courtesy of Aaron Krogh. However, despite this fact, I'm really digging the music and find the tracks quite catchy. So thank you for the music Mr. Krogh (no I'm not going to start singing ABBA).
Graphics (3/5)
The game has graphics similar to FTL (except for a fantasy setting of course). That means basic, low-res, retro style graphics viewed from a top-down perspective. The game won't be winning any awards for graphics but they're functional.
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| Once again the game mocks my failure |
Replay (3/5)
You should be able to get quite a few playthroughs of this for a couple of reasons: Firstly, each time you start a new game it randomly generates new dungeon layouts, just like the Diablo games. Consequently no two games are ever going to be the same. Secondly, the game is a roguelike and happens to have multiple difficulty levels. So even if you manage to complete the game on easiest difficulty (and I've found that a challenge in itself so far) there's always two more difficulty levels to try.
Polish (5/5)
I encountered no serious game-breaking bugs although I wouldn't expect that to be the case from such a simple game. I also quite enjoyed the fact I could play the game with just the mouse - no need for a keyboard or game controller - which is a refreshing change. Kudos to David Amador for releasing such a well polished game since it's hard to find such things nowadays!
Score – 7/10
Quest of Dungeons is an unpretentious and fun retro dungeon crawler where forays into a dungeon can be completed in under 30 minutes. It obviously doesn't have the bells and whistles when compared to many other games but there is beauty in its simplicity.If you want to get the game, you can get it on Steam or directly off the game's website
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[ LINK: Official Quest of Dungeons website ]
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