Game Review: Dungeons of Dredmor

Dungeons of Dredmor has been out for a while now, but I only started playing it this week. It's a roguelike from Gaslamp Games. This is the first major title from Gaslamp Games, though the founding members of the three-man group have worked in the field on other projects before this. There's been a lot of hubbub about this game and how it's reviving the roguelike genre, but as I've never been in to roguelikes before, I hadn't gotten around to trying it out - until now.

Dungeond of Dredmor is available on Steam for Windows and Mac, and is also available for Linux. There are rumors of an iOS version in the making.

What It Does Well

I was worried going into Dredmor that I would become really frustrated with the game immediately. I'm not an especially hardcore kind of gamer, and that's the main reason I've never been into roguelikes - I don't like permadeath. Dredmor gives you the option of turning that off, though, as well as many difficulty settings which allowed me to choose what kind of experience I wanted to have. The amount of choice available in the game makes it a ton of fun - rather than choosing from a set number of classes at the beginning, you have a wide array of skill trees to choose from and you create your own class. I decided to go for a sneaky pirate who uses swords and crossbows my first time through, but I think I'd like to try a wizard of some sort next. Planning what cool skills you want to try makes the replay value very high, giving this title a LOT of bang for your buck.

What Needs Work

Indie titles are being held to a higher bar these days. While Dredmor's gameplay certainly measures up, the overall look and feel needs a bit of polish. The actual sprites are fun and stylized, and there are lots of neat little atmospheric things such as the monsters commenting (usually insultingly) as you fight them. However, the user interface is a little awkward both in functionality and appearance. The monster text could use a background or speech bubble or something. The isometric view makes it difficult to see things that are close to the wall sometimes. Tall characters or monsters sometimes lead to very unfortunate mis-clicks since it seems like you are clicking the sprite but you actually need to click the square they are standing on. All these are small things, but they add up and detract from the overall experience.

Should You Play It?

All polish issues aside, this game is truly wonderful considering it is a three-person indie title. It fully deserves the recognition it's been getting, and has actually made me interested in the roguelike genre. Plus, it's dirt cheap, so there's really no excuse for not trying it out!

Risky Business: Into the Maw (Part1.1)

Risky Business: Into the Maw

Part 1: The Riddle of the Righteous Path

A Rogue Trader Campaign

[I'm starting a series of write-ups narrating the progress of my online campaign, the Risky Business. If you're interested in seeing a play-by-post campaign in action using the Rogue Trader setting and rules, you can check out the website for my campaign at http://riskybusiness.guildlaunch.com/. All of our gameplay is visible to non-members, so you can watch our progress as we play.]

...

The news is insulting to some and hilarious to the rest. It normally wouldn't have made it past the topmost spires of nobility, but the inflammatory nature of this change of leadership ensured that it passed from Lord to servant, and from there to all who would seek temporary escape from the tedium of everyday life.

Katyaina Florosa the twelfth, Rogue Trader of a well established but foundering line, has died. This in itself is not unusual; it's the heir to her Warrant of Trade that is making the buzz. The recipient of this hereditary document is Alphmire Florosa. Not surprised? Well you should be, because until now the Florosas were a matriarchal house, one of the only such houses in existence.

What is even more interesting is Katyaina was purportedly barren. She has no daughters or sons. At least she didn't, until the moment she died.

After some digging we shed a little more light on the story. This Alphmire fellow hails from Archaos, a hive world good for little more than their Scholariums and their press gangs. He comes aboard the Risky Business as some adjunct or servingman with a rucksack and the clothes on his back. But from then on his star shines brightly. He was Katyaina's right hand, and she was never seen without him somewhere in the room, resolving an endless flow of tedious logistics. He was well liked but never in the spotlight, even though by the end of Katyaina's life he was handling many important and sensitive tasks while she quietly deteriorated.

And then she dies, and Alphmire becomes a Florosa. Once he became a Florosa he was given the family Warrant of Trade and named Rogue Trader; neat as you please.

The gossip multiplies like the rats down under. He was feeding her small continuous doses of poison while winning her confidence. He was possessing her with fell powers. He was her bed-slave and manipulated her with soft words. Now his star dims. A few key officers have resigned their commands of the Risky Business in protest to what they call "a brash usurping of a noble line." The common crew are benevolently tight lipped about the whole thing, but new leadership always lacks substance at first; I doubt their discreetness is anything more than a waiting game, until they know who the winning side will be.

And trust me, there is something to win here. The crew may follow him, but he has numerous officer vacancies and no friends. For Alphmire's sake, I hope he doesn't have any powerful enemies, 'cause they'll eat him alive. Every position he fills will in truth be owned by a faction looking to better their lot.

Why will all of these new officers be his enemies, you ask? Remember when I said there is something to win here? The Risky Business is a worthy prize, one that the Mechanicus would hold in reasonable regard. And if the Mechanicus wants it, everyone wants it. It is an ancient and powerful vessel, overflowing with precious technology. But best of all, it doesn't yet belong to the Mechanicus or the Imperial Navy; it belongs to a House that is so weak, it's death would provoke no retaliation.

Battlefleet Calixis would ask no questions if the Risky Business were to show up on their docking ring, wrapped neatly in a bow. Merchant houses are always looking for convoy protection, and the Risky Business just went to market with a tempting price tag: one life. A Rival Rogue Trader could have the beginnings of a fleet, and all they would have to do is pluck little Alphmire from his bridge and sit on his still-warm throne. Whatever else is left of House Florosa will be passed over in favor of this crowning jewel, that I promise.

So it's really no surprise that Alphmire is setting course for Port Wander, and surely from there to the Koronus expanse. Out there, in the Expanse, vast influences in the affairs of the Calixis Sector mean nothing. Out there, the power of that little ship will make Alphmire a king among men, and a power to be reckoned with.

I hear he does have a few loyal crew members left. His Astropath stayed with him through the transition out of a sense of duty and faithfulness to the Florosa line. A Navigator stayed on as well, though I hear there was some kind of foul play and now some reckless youngster's holding the fate of the ship through the Warp. The rest of the officers have been picked up at the edge of the Segmentum in the last six months, as Alphmire dodged bullet after bullet and prepared for this voyage. It's his one shot to salvage what's left of the dynasty.

Game Review: The Unstoppable Gorg

The Unstoppable Gorg is a tower defense game, the newest game from Futuremark Game Studio. Futuremark has developed two other games before this - a zero G first person shooter called Shattered Horizon and a casual mobile game called Hungribles. They are better known for their computer benchmarking software. Given this background I wasn't sure what to expect going in to The Unstoppable Gorg, but the play footage from TotalBiscuit's WTFis intrigued me and I decided to give it a try.

The game is available on Steam for Windows and Mac, as well as on iOS. An XBox Live Arcade version is on the way.

What It Does Well

Everything about this game's look and feel is spot on. It mimics black and white science fiction movies from the 50s, right down to the cutscenes involving cardboard spaceships on wires with sparklers for rockets. The in game graphics aren't anything special, but the way it all fits together is exceptional. The story that goes along with the game is very silly but matches the theme perfectly and the result is quite entertaining.

The game isn't all fluff, though. The gameplay is somewhat similar to traditional tower defense games in that the enemies travel along a set path, and you have set areas where you can place your "towers" (satellites in this case). If the enemies reach your "base" (a planet), they will deal damage to it until you kill them, or they destroy the planet. You can upgrade or sell your towers, as well. Unlike many tower defense games, the towers (satellites) actually have health as well, and can be destroyed by the enemies if you aren't careful. But the biggest innovation comes in the orbital design of the satellites. At any time you can rotate the satellite along it's orbit to move it to a better position. This also moves all other satellites in that orbit, though. Additionally, the path of the enemies changes throughout the level, making on the fly orbit rotations not only useful but necessary. This makes for a much more active gameplay experience compared to most tower defense games.

What Needs Work

I love the innovation of the orbits and the ability to more actively participate in the battles. However, I felt like Unstoppable Gorg became very hectic very fast - so much so that it's discouraged me from picking it back up after running through the first six or seven levels. I was playing on the default difficulty, and I've played quite a few tower defense games in the past and don't usually have nearly so much trouble. Additionally, linking the upgrades you have access to later in the game to how much research you can gather during each level adds to the stress. While I'm certain there are players who can easily defeat these levels right off the bat,  the difficulty seems to me to be tuned too high by default.

Should You Play It?

I definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes tower defense and wants to try something new. It's quite entertaining, though a bit difficult if all you are looking for is something to zone out to. If you are completely new to the tower defense genre, I would recommend trying an easier game to start out - Plants Vs. Zombies is a good place to start.