Deadzoned

This is a super addicting game, it streamlines the genre into more manageable runs both in terms of QoL as well as required time investment. All 5 of the games this guy has made are amazing, everyone should try to support this solo developer so he can continue to bring us these incredibly unique experiences

Very cool. Good job Dev!

good straightforward roguelike

A super streamlined retro roguelike with simulated EGA graphics and it's a blast! An interesting bit is how the game does away with basic inventory management as it has no drop function, you just pickup everything (fortunately there are some disposal centers you can dump unwanted gear for points) without any fear of becoming overburdened or running out of inventory space. While you have a seemingly endless supply of weapons, you'll need them as all weapons have durability so you can't just rely on your 1 favorite ranged or melee weapon for the whole run. The game has a bunch of classes that determine starting stats, gear, skills, and a unique perk. The gameplay loop is scour the level for crates and terminals while taking out all of the baddies. While there don't appear to be any straight forward means of healing, most of your healing will be done between levels (the amount based on healing perks you'd taken so far in this run). Each of the game's dungeons has a set number of levels you need to clear to win, but in many cases you'll have a choice to proceed onto the next main level OR an extra nasty variant with promises of bigger rewards.

I like Caiys's games. Boneraiser is one of the few games I ever intentionally 100%ed the achievements on, been trying Void but some of those are just too f'n frustrating. And I like traditional Roguelikes more than action, been playing stuff like Nethack and *angband since most of you reading this were nothing but a tingle in your daddy's trousers. Caves of Qud is my favorite game of all time (no joke, I'm pushing 800 hours in it.). So, Caiys+traditional Roguelike sounds like right up my alley. So, the review. Its very simple for someone who spends hours tromping through posthuman salt wastes and jungles with strange mutated animals chittering at you in the trees, but thats what makes it great. You can pick it up, and play it for 20 minutes or hours. If you had played a deep traditional roguelike (especially something like Cogmind, which the terminal aspect in Deadzoned vaguely reminds me of) its pretty much pick up and play with no tutorial needed. If you had not ever played a traditional roguelike, a game like this is a good introduction without getting bogged down in the complexity of something like AdoM, ToME, Cata:DDA, Caves of Qud or any of those other extremely deep true roguelikes with a difficulty wall to get over to even get comfortable playing. But the simplicity doesn't mean its not fun. Because it totally is. Its one of those "I'm just going to do a run. Ok maybe one more...and another too." type games where you sit down to play for 15 mins and before you know it there goes 2 hours. Especially for a fan of Caiys, the graphics, humor and concepts are everything you'd expect from one of his games. And frankly, I absolutely love his color palette and art style. Its stylized and unique to the point of you can look at one of his games and see its his right away. I'm glad he finally did a roguelike, and I'd recommend it to any fan of his or someone into traditional roguelikes, beginner or not.

Nice!