99 Levels To Hell

meh

I am 32 years old. My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old. When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand I desperately needed to ensure I could continue providing. Upon learning the severity of the self-inflicted damage, I became almost suicidal. Keep in mind that just a few months before this, I was the happiest man, with no history of depression or anxiety. I had never experienced anger outbursts, nor was I the type to break down and cry, but I was in a tough situation that truly prevented me from seeing the light on the other side. With nothing better to do, I looked for a game I could play WITH ONE HAND while recovering. Somehow, I stumbled upon this game and read some of the comments. I decided it was worth a try... I must admit I didn't beat the game, nor did I play as much as some of you. In fact, I may have played this game for only a day or two. That being said, after doing so, I had a new joy and hope for life. I managed to leave behind the pain and suffering that had been thrust upon me. I could experience the joy and happiness of other people. I relaxed for 5 ♥♥♥♥ minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay. After realizing this, I turned off the game and went back to work. My hand hurt a lot, but I was motivated. I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and became the father I needed to be at that moment, not the weak boy I was behaving like. Today, I am close friends with the mother of my children. We don't fight, argue, or say hurtful things to each other. We are parents and friends. Now I have 3 children. My third child is, wait, ALSO 4 YEARS OLD. The woman I am with was going through a very similar situation at the time of my separation, and we just unexpectedly stumbled into each other's lives. We have been dating for a year and are very happy together. Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today. This silly little game helped me realize that. Thank you.

The game that asks the question, "What if Spelunky sucked?"

A bit hard, but good.

It's rare that I think I have a good grasp on a game after (checks Steam time played) 31 minutes. I don't remember how I got 99 Levels to Hell - it was probably through a bundle somewhere. The roguelike mechanics here turn what would otherwise be a perfectly acceptable 2d action platformer into a gigantic slog. Essentially, the player begins armed with a shotgun, and can randomly (I believe) obtain upgrades and alternative weapons for a particular playthrough by finding them in a level or by purchasing them using gold found in levels from randomly-spawning shops. If you spend too long in a level, you are given a warning to get out (which entails finding a key and exiting a door), but you always have plenty of time: while I imagine that the ghosts chasing the player out result in heavy damage and/or death if caught, you have plenty of time to traverse the whole level and back if needed. The problem is that the levels themselves, while to some degree procedurally generated, don't feel in the slightest bit rewarding to get through: they are a device merely to waste the player's time before arriving at the boss. I'll be open, I didn't beat the first boss, and gave up grinding through the levels after my third death to it, but it's a single-mechanic enemy that, while more enjoyable than the rest of the first 10 levels, isn't exciting enough to justify the gigantic time sink associated with failures. Moreover, there isn't the build variety aspect of a good roguelike; even on the one run where I was fortunate enough to find another gun, it didn't feel like it affected my strategy at all. My enduring impression is that you've probably got an ok action platformer here which was initially designed for a miniclip-like internet game host without capacity for save games, limiting the need for the ability to retain progress. It'd probably be the talk of the ICT class for about two weeks while everyone compared hiscores before people went back to Jumpers For Goalposts. As a paid product, the roguelike aspects add nothing and turn what would probably otherwise have been a fun few hours into a gigantic waste of time and energy. 3/10

quite literally an unfinished roguelike