The next game in my A-Z is a little rogue-like dungeon crawler by the name of Delver.
This game came to me in a Humble Bundle only a couple of months ago! Not the subscription, but in one of the packages that you buy where the proceeds go to charity. It was the Humble RPG Heroes Bundle! In which I received:
Delver
Swords & Souls: Neverseen
Tower of Time
Dreadlands
Slasher's Keep
Quest Hunter
I was debating between Delver and Dreadlands for the letter 'D' and decided to go with Delver.
You can find it on Steam Store here!
Delver introduces itself with:
Delve into the shifting dungeons on your hunt for the Yithidian orb, but getting it might just be the easy part. Delver is a single player first-person action roguelike dungeon crawler, just like you wished they used to make.
And honestly, that's the only reason I know what I'm supposedly supposed to be doing.
In the game, at the beginning and from what I've experienced so far, there is no mention of this Yithidian orb and I just assumed I was going into the dungeon for random treasure to sell for massive amounts of gold. If you play it without reading the description on the Steam page, you wouldn't even realise there was tiny story in the background.
The game starts you off in a little area which has the purpose of introducing you to the game.
One thing of note -- the 'jump' button isn't automatically set in the keybinds, you'll need to set it yourself. Spacebar was automatically set to 'attack,' which seems a bit silly since clicking the left mouse button also attacks, so I just set that key to an arbitrary 'f' and made the spacebar my jump like it should be.
I also made Tab my inventory, so I didn't have to reach alllll the way over to 'i' all the time to check what was in my bag. (Normally I like I for Inventory! But in this, Tab feels a bit better.)
This part of the game isn't really important. You find a couple of things, break down some doors, meet a couple of enemies. And then, when you die....
...you begin the game!
The area you are reborn in is the area you will always be reborn in whenever you die. There is a magical scroll vendor, a potions/weapons/armour vendor, an old man NPC who likes to talk and a quiet musician NPC who refuses to speak to you.
There's also a puppy you can pat!
By the looks of things, the two vendors have a random assortment of goods each time you come back to speak with them.
You find money to buy these things via going through the dungeon and finding gold or finding objects worth gold. When you find a worthy object it'll automatically turn into gold when you grab it, no need to come back and vendor it. That actually confused me at first -- I was wondering why these things weren't showing up in my inventory and how do I sell them? It's all good -- it auto-sells!
Let's begin our dungeon journey!
We go down the ramp and into the door and emerge into randomly generated dungeons. You start at Dungeon Level 1 and slowly make your way down, down, down into the depths.
You will find random weapons and armour and things. Sometimes on the floor, sometimes inside smashable jars and crates and kegs, sometimes they drop off the corpses of your enemies!
There seems to be quite a few enemies in the dungeon. There are bandit-looking people who wield daggers and swords, and some who wield magic! There are dangerous bugs, flying bats, jumping slimes, and zombieeeees.
But those aren't the only dangers within these depths.
There are a few spike traps, teleporting traps, and as you break open jars sometimes bombs will fly out! Some of them are inactive, but a lot of them will start flashing as they come out and you'll need to quickly grab them before they explode, or run away.
It also turns out that as you remove stuff from you inventory, say, an old pair of pants you no longer want because you found some better pants, sometimes they'll explode when you drop them.
There are also potions you can find and drink! And you have no idea what these potions are. Some of them are beneficial, others are poisonous, and if you happen to heave a dangerous potion out of your inventory? It will splash everywhere and hurt you as well as your surroundings.
And, of course, throwing bombs and things out of your inventory will activate them so you'd better run after you dump it!
As you progress through the dungeon and kill things, you will level up! Unfortunately, being a rogue-LIKE instead of a rogue-LITE, you don't keep these level ups when you die. The only thing you keep when you die is the gold you spend at the vendors in order to give you a slightly better chance the next time you go through the dungeon.
The level up perks seem randomised also. You'll get a choice to upgrade your magic, attack power, defence, health, accuracy, etc, but you can only choose one perk each time you level up.
When you die you'll get a nifty little stats screen informing you of the time you spent alive, how much gold you earned, and various other informations.
I'm mostly concerned about the gold earnt...
...so I can visit this guy and buy a weapon or something to give me a better fighting chance right off the bat as I whip open the dungeon door and rush back in.
This game seems alright for a little time-wasting rogue-like. Actually having a small story embedded in it would help immensely. I don't feel like I have a purpose. What is the point in constantly going back into this dungeon? What is my goal? The game doesn't tell you.
In most other roguelikes and lites you have a reason for doing what you do... in this, there's nothing. Unless you read the Steam store page. That information should be upfront in the game. It might pop up in a bit? As I get deeper in the dungeon? But it really should be mentioned at the start.
Combat feels a little slow, except the magic wands -- those are quick and spiffy, and bats are the most annoying enemy as they flap around above you and divebomb you and you can't swing your sword at them properly.
Most of all, as I'm playing this, my largest thought is: "Hmm, I want to play Skyrim again."
I just get those Skyrim feels from it, somehow. First person, very slowly swinging a sword around, feeling like I'd get more out of treasure-hunting in Skyrim caves I've already been through a hundred times than this.
Overall, I'm feeling pretty neutral on this game. It's good for a small time waster, but it doesn't feel very rewarding and you probably won't spend much time in it unless you're pretty bored. 🤷♀
The game has a lot of positive reviews compared to the small amount of negative reviews, and a lot of the negative reviews were written when the game was still in early access... but I'm still feeling a lot of what the negative reviews are saying.
While there's a lot to like about this game, I have to say I'm largely disappointed by its shallowness.
When I see a game like this I'm tempted to say it's almost good, but not quite. It's just shy of a rewarding experience.
It's... okay. The game could use some actual classes and maybe a bit more depth to the combat; every fight is just "run up to them, poke them a couple times, then back up when they decide they're going to attack.
That's basically what I'm feeling.
I really feel like "more reward" would make things a bit more positive. I really don't feel rewarded enough to keep playing, and I probably won't open this again unless I get a few mods from the workshop. By the looks of things there's quite a few that address my personal issues...
There are some mods that add new armour, weapons, expanded areas, more loot. Those additions just might make this a little more fun to experience. 🙂
Until next time! ⚔️