Depthbound Descent

As someone who loves JRPGs, this fusion with a Roguelike twist is fun and addictive! It hits hard at first, but the moment you figure out how to stack skills and create a powerful synergy, the game completely opens up. I managed to adapt after each battle and use monster weaknesses to counter them and that eventually got me to the final boss on my second run! Loved the comedic approached of the NPC's in the game, wish there's more?

A tough turn-based 'classic RPG' with some nice pixel work. I say tough, as I was convinced this had rogue-like elements to it, where I was supposed to die and reloop with the added experience/items/abilities, etc. Truth is... I'm probably bad. The idea is to make your way through the cave system, where you pick from 3 options which encounter you want for the next level. The encounters are tough if, like me, you don't invest your starting gold correctly and buy revive items. £5 seems more than fair price wise. One I'll keep an eye on and try again on Steam Deck to see if I can get past encounter 4! Native controller support. Plays fairly well on Steam Deck. Ideal for Deck: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43052238-Ideal-for-Deck/

As of writing this review I have completed my very first run of the game, and I am liking the game but I am hoping they are able to flesh out systems a bit more. The concept of the game is simple, you have 3 premade characters stuck in 1 "job" each. Each character has their own specific skills they can learn with a small handful of skills that can be learned by all 3 characters. Each floor you go through you are generally offered one of three options, most typically it's 3 combats but you might get lucky and have a merchant, a free room or a rest area appear. Sometimes you are only offered one door but you have an NPC to interact with. Once you figure out the response for the NPC, you can milk them every time you see them since it is set rewards/responses with them. When you finish a run or die after a boss, one of your skills that you have learned will randomly be unlocked permanently for that character every time you load into a run. This is where I start to feel less excited for the game; the characters do not level or gain stats naturally, it's all based off very rare and random gear drops. My winning run felt like it was decided more by the fact that I had Excalibur drop early on in the run before I had my skills set up than actual tactics. After finishing the run I found myself wondering why I would want to do another run; sure I could try out other skill sets, but being locked to 6 total skills with no 'basic' attack (You are given a 0 mp attack that does neutral damage, but if you get silenced you are unable to use it due to it counting as a skill...oh yeah Silence doesn't care about magic/physical in this game, everything counts as a spell). I found myself comparing it a lot to JRougePG since they are both JRPG Roguelikes, this game is great for just sitting down and getting a run in but I feel like that's all it offers on the surface. If you've bothered to read all this yap and wonder why I still recommend the game despite my complaints? The game is well done for an RPG maker game, it scratches a one more run itch and it has promise to grow and evolve. Obviously what I would find ideal is not easy to do or even realistically what would vibe for this game, but I think the systems could evolve or be tweaked in ways that allow for better replayability and tactical depth.