Really dope dungeon crawler. Very easy to pick up and play, with a clean simple UI that lets you get right into the action, but there's a surprising amount of depth hiding in the gameplay itself. It's got sweet Diablo-style loot (including spells as random loot, so really more like Diablo 1, if you're into that sort of thing), and solid skill-based combat that isn't just a battle of attrition; you can actually avoid taking damage if you're good enough at blocking and/or evading. It took a few runs for it to really click for me, but once it did, even things that seemed like minor annoyances at first gradually revealed their purpose - as a simple example, yes, there are a lot of traps, but the traps hurt monsters too, so they're there to lend a hand if you haven't found a good weapon in a while. It does that "good roguelike" thing of seeming hard at first, but really rewarding your increasing understanding of the game mechanics and effective tactics. I'm at the point now where I can win pretty consistently even as I work my way up the harder difficulties and game modes (yes, there's plenty more to challenge you even after you "beat" the game). It's well-designed and very satisfying.
Oh, and there are also about a dozen different classes that all play pretty differently, and the developer is really active and has put out several patches already with bugfixes and improvements, and the art style is really charming too (plus the artist clearly has a thing for hot dark elf vampire chicks, and hey, I'm not complaining). There's really a lot to like here.
If the game has one major weakness at this point, though, it's the dungeon generation. It's good [i]enough[/i], and you almost wouldn't even notice if there wasn't a map, but once you see it you can't unsee it. Each dungeon floor (beyond the first, smaller floor) is just a 3x3 grid of square room tiles that connect to each other on all sides, and while the room tiles themselves are handcrafted and well-designed, repeats start to pop up pretty quickly and the dungeon layouts feel very samey (since they're literally all the same interconnected 3x3 grids, just with the room tiles selected at random). I don't think this tile-based system is likely to change, but I think there's more that could be done with it to make it more interesting. For instance, how about floors that have a different arrangement and/or number of tiles; or tiles that don't always connect so that you have to find a path around (or don't always connect exactly at the midpoint, like they do now); or tiles that are larger than 1x1, like 1x2 or 2x2 tiles that would replace several tiles, so that the level designer could really get a chance to flex their muscles with some larger layouts? And this is nitpicky, but I'd also like to see more variance in ceiling heights to give different areas a different feel; there's one small "mushroom forest" side area that has higher ceilings to accommodate taller-than-one-block mushroom props, and it's weirdly refreshing compared to literally everywhere else in the game, where the walls are one block high with the ceilings directly above you (even in large boss arenas). Imagine a section that's some sort of abandoned dwarven halls, with smaller passages connecting massive chambers with vaulted ceilings and towering columns, with a real sense of scale and decaying grandeur.
The other thing I'd like to see are more unique items. There are a bunch of unique weapons with cool, build-defining effects, but I've yet to find a unique piece of armor or accessory, so I'm guessing they don't exist. I want more of that sweet, sweet loot, and then I also want a codex that fills in as I discover them. I also wouldn't mind a balance pass on some of the random non-unique effects, while we're at it. For instance, boots can roll an effect that drains 25 mana whenever you dash to shoot out some weak throwing knives. This effect would be pretty bad compared to other options even if it were free, but as it is, it's actively detrimental. I'd love to see effects like this get a pass, not just buffing them to make them "the same but different" as other, better effects (like the disgustingly good, and completely free, DoT trail that can also spawn), but giving them a unique niche. Like, what if the throwing knives were free or much cheaper, but rather than just doing more damage, they gave enemies hit an "increased crit damage taken" debuff - so that you'd want to weave in and out of combat with the dashes if you were running high crit rate weapons? That sort of thing. There's already a lot of great effects in the game, but there's room for improvement on others.
Anyway, despite these criticisms, the game slaps, and it's easily worth $10 if you're a fan of the genre. It's a really solid foundation that I hope continues to get expanded, but even if it doesn't, it's a ton of fun and I already feel like I got my money's worth (and I haven't even unlocked the final boss or tried most of the classes yet). Definitely recommended!
