Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £14.99 (w/soundtrack, £18.98 , soundtrack £3.99)
Where To Get It: Steam

Wartile is, on paper, a great idea. Aesthetically, it is, at the very least, interesting. It takes clear direction, and some good planning, to so accurately replicate the feel of a tabletop diorama. And very pretty ones at that. But I’m going to let you in on a little tabletop secret: Beyond the cost and craftsmanship required to make said pretty dioramas, the main reason they aren’t used a whole bunch is because it’s a pain in the ass to move models around them. The prettier they are, the harder this is to do.

Similarly to trees, counting the rings reveals the experience of an enemy.

That this, also, is faithfully recreated is the first of Wartile’s problems. In fact… A lot of what feels unfun about Wartile is that very faithfulness to its inspiration. Let’s unpack that a little. Anyone remember Hero Quest? Or Space Crusade? Ahh, the heady days of proto-GMing, having a nice, dramatic blurb to read out, and then… Moving figures around the board to obtain simple objectives, like “Kill the Genestealer” or “Find Room X in Y turns.” Ahh, the grand stories that te- Ah. Yes. Was a bit basic, wasn’t it? And without the enemy cards to let you know precisely what bad news those Androids were, they were basically plastic white skullmen.

And so it is, to an extent, with Wartile. It’s taking from a rich tapestry of norse myth and creatures, but it can be a little hard to appreciate because, apart from some card abilities, they’re basically “Enemy, whack automatically [preferably from higher ground] until dead.” It tries to spice it up, even early on. AMBUSH! Yup. Yup. Two more enemies. Cool. Here, it’s not so much the individual animations (Which are fine), or any lack of impact (The enemies do react, although not always consistently) , but the fact that, beyond placement, and some card abilities (The less of which you use, the better your tactical score, and thus your money at the end of each mission), combat is very much a case of watching animations and timers go by. Turns are, you see, automatic, so enemies will move every X seconds, you’re allowed to move every X seconds. Picking a thing up? Be close enough, click. Destroying an object? Place near enough, wait.

“If I can just… HNGH… Reach under this tree, I can take my turn!”

Objectives, meanwhile, are nearly all some variation of “Collect X [sometimes plural], bring to Y”, “Kill D”, “Destroy Z”, or “Get to P” … Just like those older board games. It does get more tactical, at times, but… Yeah. The interface varies between being reminiscent of a tabletop game in progress (If, you know, you had rich tabletop friends with big-ass tables), and pictures from a tabletop magazine, complete with workmanlike, functional text paragraphs.

So, on the whole, Wartile does exactly what it sets out to do: Recreate a tabletop experience, albeit with some computer unique touches. Oddly, that’s exactly the problem… That, if anything, it does too good a job.

Ah… Fond memories of being told about a campaign’s Visrep rule. Strangely, I wasn’t allowed the twelve heavy guns my character owned…

Which is a hell of a thing to have to say.

The Mad Welshman is a nine ring creature, medium sized, with dual enchanted handaxes. Just so you know.

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Source: Review Copy
Price: £10.99 (£5.19 for soundtrack)
Where To Get It: Steam

One of the many things I find interesting about game design is how, individually, elements can be nothing new, but… In combination, the magic happens. Tangledeep is, in many ways, a traditional roguelike: On its intended difficulty, survival involves genuine consideration and thought, knowledge of its rules (The game likes to remind you, on death, that those healing potions you get don’t take a turn to use, for example), and memorisation, to an extent, of the challenges that face you. This level branches into these levels, this boss is at 6F, and so on.

With the Keen Eye perk, a frankly silly amount of information is easily available about your enemy.

However, there’s enough differences and features that, in essence, listing them all would probably fill a review on its own. Crafting food, with a recipe book in your journal. A JRPG style Job system, where you mix and match both the skills and weapon talents of classes however you feel is optimal. Pets, seeds, a mysterious machine, and, somewhat surprisingly, an overarching narrative, set in a world where climbing up the Tangledeep, and attaining knowledge (Sometimes doing good along the way) is the goal, rather than, for example, climbing down the dungeon of Somuchforthat to gain The McOrbison of Clingfilming… Or something like that.

What this means, in practice, is that you always have a good reason to come back to town through the town portal, checking in on what’s going on, that there’s a fair amount to explore, and, thanks to an adjustable difficulty where you don’t necessarily have to die, you can chill the heck out while doing so, exploring the systems and getting the hang of things before maybe graduating to single character permadeath with unlocks, or, traditionally as heck, permadeath permadeath.

It shouldn’t really be said that you don’t disrespect a birdman’s nest, even if they *are* a jerk… But I went and did it.

Or not. Nice thing about games with a fair amount to do, and adjustable difficulty: You don’t have to explore the whole thing to have fun. It helps that, as Roguelikes go, Tangledeep is pretty accessible. Here, clear menus. This is equipment, food inventory, job point stuff, journal. There, a clear map, everything tile based with a key that leaves little doubt as to what everything is. With good music, sound effects, and visuals, all inspired by SNES JRPGs, a variety of classes, unlocks, etc, there’s a lot to recommend it.

Indeed, my main complaint is one that could be levelled at, honestly, a lot of roguelikes overall: Beyond the special areas and boss levels, going through some of the levels just feels a bit humdrum, a case of “Explore as much as possible, break things, go back to town, up some stairs, rinse, repeat.”

As such, overall? Tangledeep’s pretty good for a Roguelike. It’s got charm to it, and a solid, clear design to its UI that helps make it just that important, little bit more friendly. And that makes it a roguelike well worth checking out.

Please don’t ask me to name your own pets. This is part of why…

The Mad Welshman also has a nice nest. Well, as soon as he puts his many many books in order, preferably without loss of life or limb…

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £11.39 (or thereabouts)
Where To Get It: Steam, Official Site
Other Reviews: Early Access

Well, it’s been a wee while since I last looked at Delver, and now it’s hit release. And you know what? The game’s pretty solid, for what it is: A first person, moddable dungeon crawler building levels out of pre-built rooms, with random potions and kit, and fixed enemy types per area.

G’bye, broken dagger, you were an ok dagger while you lasted, but now you’re crap and gone!

A lot of what I’d previously said about Delver remains true: Weapons degrade over time, so you’re deeply encouraged to change things up (Unless you want to be walloping things for a grand total of 1 damage over and over again), inventory management is something you generally try not to do in the middle of combat, and you’ll want ranged options, and a fair amount of them, by the time you hit the second area. But it’s the little things, sometimes, that help.

What little things? Well, bigger room variety, for a start. The game really uses the vertical element now, and so rooms feel more fleshed out, more interesting. A few extra enemy types, a bit of rebalancing, and the addition of bombs (and bomb vases… Be wary of darker coloured vases, they go boom) all go a little way toward adding a little more flesh to what was already a fairly accessible, chunky dungeon crawler with a bit of charm to it. Potions can be exploded, if you use them right, and all of this goes toward giving a little more depth to a moderately simple game.

As such, yeah, Delver still charms me. Sure, there’s no incremental play (beyond gold carrying between runs), but it’s not designed around that, more about getting right in there and delving. No one combat option is superior to another, it’s simple to understand and get into, and deaths are simply a pause, a learning experience. Oh. Yeah. I maaaaybe shouldn’t stab the dark red vases, huh. Oh. Yeah… Wands and bows are actually useful. So that’s what that Skeleton does.

With the addition of bombs, things can get a little chaotic. The Fire Bomb is both the most rare and best example of this.

Another addition is that there are more… Sssseecretssss. Doors that don’t seem to be openable, locked areas, little branching paths. While I haven’t found the key to unlocking them yet, it is there, and the rewards, from what little I’ve been able to see, are pretty juicy. The sound really helps to create a living dungeon, and some monster noises echoing from further away really helps hit home that no, you are never safe.

The price has gone up since I last reviewed it, but I still feel, so long as you’re aware this is a pick up and play game, rather than The Big Roguelike of Complexity And Nuance (or something) , then I would still recommend this as a fun experience with a consistent, well put together aesthetic. And, of course, it’s got a mod scene. Not a big one yet, but the game is moddable.

A room? Just devoted to this elaborate patterned spike trap? Oh, you *shouldn’t* have! <3

The Mad Welshman gives this game the Sheev Palpatine Award for Health and Safety. Can confirm that handrails are mostly lacking over bottomless pits, and explosives are placed wherever the heck. Keep it up, villainy’s proud of you!

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £14.99
Where To Get It: Steam
Other Reviews: Early Access 1, Release

Last time I looked at Book of Demons, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Despite there being more content now in the game… I am, sadly, still not impressed. In fact, I feel rather annoyed.

Why? Whoppers, among other things. No, not whoppers in the sense of big lies. Whoppers, in this context, being skeletons. Skeletons that I’ve come to hate for their two, linked abilities: Summoning monsters when hit, and being invulnerable for a short period… When hit. Each enemy, individually, is weak. But when not letting enemies get close enough to wallop you is a valued survival strategy, Whoppers are a big middle finger.

A good example of a Whopper being a massive jerk. Time to take damage!

To recap a little before I continue: Book of Demons is part of a planned franchise called the Paperverse, recreating older games with a more casual style to them. In the case of Book of Demons, that’s Diablo, right down to the sanctimonious priest, Deckard Cain lookalike, and even some of the bosses (Who have been renamed, but are still clearly The Butcher, The Fallen Priest, and, of course, Diablo, Lord of Terror.) What does more casual mean in this case?

Restricted movement along set paths (which monsters can block. Easily), and making it so that while you auto-attack, if you handle it like a clicker, you attack faster, and do more damage. Mouse over money and items to pick them up (Occasionally left clicking.) Number keys or right clicking for item use (preferably the former), right clicking to use spells or special abilities.

The problem being, this restriction along fixed paths is still, a lot of the time, a massive pain in the neck, and creates some frustratingly nasty encounters. I have yet, in the current Rogue playthrough, to die (Which is a point in its favour difficulty wise… For the Rogue), but oh boy, have I gotten angry. Oh look, going through this door into a restricted room with poison enemies has landed me… Past the poison enemies, who blocked my way out. Welp, time to take damage for no reason other than being blocked off!

Seeing as none of these monsters will leave this room, most of them have poison AoEs on death, and *one* of them will rage, heal, and poison burst if I smack it too quickly… Time to take damage!

In a way, that I’m even frustrated with the Rogue (who, unlike the Warrior of my last playthrough, has ranged abilities as standard) is somewhat of a testament, honestly. Archers and mages can snipe me from well out of my normal range (so shift clicking to attack out of my normal range is mandatory), and invulnerability tricks to increase difficulty abound, from shielded enemies (invulnerable to everything except poison until you break the shield by… Hammering the left mouse button on the shield until it breaks) to Mages being invulnerable while they cast spells. Which, call me old fashioned, is kind of against the spirit of mages, who tend a lot of other places to forget their complex magical formulae due to being walloped, or at least can be hurt while they’re summoning all enemies in the area to my location, getting ready to… Hem me in again. Time to take damage!

Some enemies you can’t actually kill anything but slowly, because they heal and burst fire when damaged rapidly. Gargoyles can’t be damaged at all in statue mode, and heal if you let them go back to it… Not to mention that I know you’re an enemy, gargoyle. I’ve killed a hundred of you up to this point. Just sodding turn into a gargoyle already, and save me waiting.

I know you’re not a statue, I can see words over your head. GET ON WITH IT.

Writing wise, it hasn’t improved at all. The Fortune Teller is still a terrible stereotype, mocked and hated by every other character except the Barmaid, who… Hey, Barmaid, I remember that time when, hey Barmaid, I remember that time when… Her dialogue gets ever so slightly repetitive, for all that there isn’t all that much of it.

I wouldn’t be minding so much if it was an interesting world, or had anything but its papercraft aesthetic to back it up, but… No. Aesthetically, it looks alright. Mechanically, enemies rapidly become types that are more tedious than challenging, that don’t give satisfaction when killed, because you just know that there’s more Whoppers ahead, or Mages, or things that just… Won’t… Sodding… Die without damage. There are now three base classes (Warrior, hits things; Priest, casts things; Rogue, hits things from afar) , but, in the end, the core play makes finding what makes each tick and unappealing prospect.

The Mad Welshman doesn’t remember Diablo having that much mandatory damage. Then again, he also doesn’t remember getting hemmed in much either.

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Source: Cashmoneys
Price: Planned to be free to play, but Early Access buy in ranges from £30 to £72. Microtransaction currency £6 and up, and yes, you will end up with spare currency.
Where to Get It: Official Site
Version Reviewed: CB 0.3.4 (Jan 16, 2018)

Monster hunting is fun. And honestly, up until the announcement of MonHun World, there really hadn’t been enough of it on PC. So when I was informed of a game that’s planned to be Free to Play, with an Early Access buy in, I bought in.

“Er, why are you posing?”
“For the invisible people watching… Aaaaalways watching…”

What I’ve found has me conflicted. Dauntless is, at the present stage, a very streamlined game, almost minimalist. But also with the second currency (The F2P’s main income) already implemented and balanced around. It’s… An odd feeling. Let’s start with the actual hunting.

Actual hunts are very simple: You sign up to a hunt, either waiting for other players, playing with friends you have or have made, or going solo. Up to five minutes later (plus a small loading time), you’re dropped onto a floating island, for lo, part of the world is that everything is floating islands, and you’re only hunting monsters that get too close to the settlement of Ramsgate (Or so the quests would state.)

There are three things on the island: Resources (One item per resource spot, for potions, lanterns, and other useful gubbins you’re going to need), goats (Contain, as with resource spots, one item, but can also ram you if you annoy them), and the Monster. Monster Hunter fans will already be scratching their heads: Wait, what about areas? What about wildlife, what about?

The current wintery aesthetic of the floating islands is perhaps apt, considering…

Nope. You (plural or singular.) And the monster. Ramsgate is filled with people to talk to, quests to consider, things to buy or make, but once you’re there, it’s you and the monster. Successfully kill the monster in the 30 minute time limit, and you get resources, especially if you broke parts from it. Fail, and you get bupkiss. Nothing. Zilch. And you’re out of whatever resources you used. There are plans on the roadmap to make the world a little more thriving, but that’s very much a wait and see thing.

It’s a little more than that, of course, as you have, at the time of writing, five weapon types to choose from, but this minimalist approach is what sticks out the most with Dauntless. That, and the resources. Streamlining, similarly, has hit Dauntless’ crafting, and nearly every monster based item requires precisely one kind of resource, that only drops on the “Normal” (read: Group recommended) monsters: Their skins. Or nails, or claws… What’s important here is that it’s a single resource, and, generally speaking, you get up to three of them. And if you don’t get them, you get Archonite, some mysterious, Plotanium substance that is also used in crafting, er… Everything of substance, from weapons, to armour, to lanterns with special abilities.

This, in essence, is its biggest problem, really. In a real sense, it’s too streamlined, to the point where hunting the monsters in question is so very core that it’s the be all and end all, and for that to be sustainable, the monsters have to stay interesting, or players have to be moved onto new monsters, new experiences, quickly.

On the one hand, the mid poly aesthetic works for the game. On the other DAMMIT I AM WHIPPING YOU IN THE FACE, REACT!

Sadly, neither happens. It’s interesting to compare with other monster hunting games, because it’s taken me a few hours to move up to the next tier of armour, whereas elsewhere… That few hours, I’m usually a few armours in, and experimenting. Once the parts from a monster have been hunted, well, going back to them feels a bit pointless, and once you know their tricks, there’s nothing in the world to add spice to the fights, with combat feeling limited in impact. Sure, numbers come up, but staggering is an occasional thing, interrupting rush attacks a matter of excellent timing on a heavy attack (even then, you may get damaged), and…. Well, the fact that once a creature’s armour and weapons have been crafted, there’s no incentive to come back feels part of why, with the “weaker” monsters, I have trouble finding folks to fight them with.

After a fairly early point, yes, finding folks to fight them with, or, more accurately, divide the monster’s attention is pretty much mandatory. When they hit, they hit hard, and learning weapons becomes a pain when you have a triple hit point jump between the first hunting area and the second. As such, having someone, anyone else to lighten the load feels extremely important, if not, as I’ve said, mandatory.

Hunting solo, unless over-equipped, is a very bad idea. This will be your inevitable result. And no, you get jack and squat for collecting things beforehand.

Right now, Dauntless feels like it’s in an awkward place right now. It’s trying to streamline, but not all of that streamlining is good. It’s free to play, and as such, has microtransactions to feed it once it’s out in the wild (As well as, during Early Access, Founders Packs of three tiers), and, minnow that I am, I’m genuinely not sure how impactful they are right now, but the grindiness is definitely there. The worlds are an interesting idea that works with the Monster Hunting genre’s general map design philosophy, but currently feel rather empty, with little beyond need to recommend exploration, and the monsters… Well, they’re there.

The Mad Welshman doesn’t have a lot to add this time. He’s busy recuperating from the porking he got before the review.

Filed under: Early Access Releases, Game Reviews by admin

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