[table]
[tr][th]GOAL[/th]
[td]Collect the required gems in each level while dealing with gravity-oriented objects like boulders, and navigate through mechanisms and obstacles both non-living and living, in a square tile-based environment movement and layout-wise.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]EXPERIENCE[/th]
[td]20 years of experience playing Boulder Dash and Boulder Dash-like games on and off, including later on designing levels.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]SETUP[/th]
[td]Played it while windowed and with audio on for both sound effects and music, but eventually turned off the music while in the middle of the tenth levelset, "Deeps of India", the final levelset, mainly because of the lack of Japan-themed music.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]CONTENT[/th]
[td]260 levels that can be played in any order from 10 sets of levels in order from top to bottom:[list]
[*]Tutorial - 15 levels
[*]First Steps - 24 levels
[*]Egypt Adventures - 25 levels
[*]The Pyramids - 27 levels
[*]Eye of Horus - 27 levels
[*]Sun of Japan - 23 levels
[*]Kali's Wrath - 24 levels
[*]Mythic Japan - 32 levels
[*]Rise of Azetics - 32 levels
[*]Deeps of India - 31 levels[/list]
There's a level editor that's marked as a beta feature that lets players create and share levels that lacks Steam Workshop support.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]BOUGHT[/th]
[td]Bought it on 2021 July 02 during the 2021 Steam Summer sale for 2.09$, which as of this review, if not discounted is currently 5.99$.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]ENDGAME[/th]
[td]Completing the tenth levelset with 31 levels, Deeps of India.[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]PLAYTIME[/th]
[td]936.5 minutes overall, or 15.6083 hours playing all of the game's content.[list]
[*]Tutorial - 7.5 minutes.
[*]First Steps - 21.5 minutes.
[*]Egypt Adventures - 12.5 minutes.
[*]The Pyramids - 61 minutes.
[*]Eye of Horus - 164 minutes.
[*]Sun of Japan - 78.5 minutes.
[*]Kali's Wrath - 71.5 minutes.
[*]Mythic Japan - 122 minutes.
[*]Rise of Azetics - 103.5 minutes.
[*]Deeps of India - 294.5 minutes.[/list]
Playstyle consists of linearly playing through levels and aiming to not temporarily skip levels since levels can be played in any order. I took longer on levels with a lot choice and steps to consider and execute, compared to more straight-forward levels, thus temporarily skipped a couple of levels.[/td][/tr]
[/table]
[h3]MY POSITIVES[/h3]
[list]
[*][b][u]The quick save and quick reload is essential in getting through more difficult levels that involve a lot of steps;[/u][/b] without it, this would be tedious having to re-do certain parts of the levels, potentially increasing mental fatigue. Additionally, it's helpful on quick restarting instead of manually pausing and restarting the level like that.
[*][b][u]Unlike most Boulder Dash-like games, the game's levels focuses more on having to make bridges from existing objects and bringing the required objects from one side to another;[/u][/b] the first levelset being a tutorial gives a indicator of what later levels will play out, additionally indicated by less enemy focus and more on objects relating to the bridging goal concept, bearing some flavors on the more thinking aspect with Supaplex, a distinct Boulder Dash-like released in 1991.[/list]
[h3]MY NEGATIVES[/h3]
[list]
[*][b][u]The level editor feels janky and unpolished in that: moving the level layout viewpoint can only be done with arrow keys and not also WASD keys, the level layout viewpoint can't be moved while the mouse cursor hovers on a button, there's no dialog confirm when existing level overwriting or loading another level while having unsaved level changes, and the keyboard controls can only be found on their website and not self-contained in-game;[/u][/b] I enjoyed making levels from it and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/505400/discussions/0/597414725121213945/]posted them in the Steam forums[/url], but there's tedium using the editor. Even though level editor is labeled as a beta, sadly, the game hasn't been updated since almost 10 years. Annoyingly, there's a bug where my mouse cursor sometimes continuously places down objects within the level editor and I had to unstuck it and fix my level.[/list]
[h3]MY EEHS/NEUTRAL FEELINGS[/h3]
[list]
[*][b][u]There's a mouse-only option when playing the game;[/u][/b] on one side, it's pretty neat for those who prefer playing it in this manner, but on the other side, there are levels that I feel require some quick reactions even with the slower speed the game moves.
[*][b][u]The logic of various objects sometimes do not match visually and requires some suspending disbelief[/u][/b]; the glass blocks can be broken from the top, left, and right side, but not the bottom side; enemies can die from joker blocks from the top side only, 8-balls break weak walls regardless of rolling on the ground or while in the air, and glass full of acid can be used on iron walls while in the air. While I can make levels definitely designed around these quirks, the lack of visual indicator or clue can make this a bit of a mental hurdle. The joker blocks being able to kill enemies is definitely not intentional, not used in any of the 10 levelsets.
[*][b][u]The game looks to be squished as notable by the individual tiles not being exactly square[/u][/b]; the earlier versions of the game from [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0wM-YCwwo]some of the early level solution YouTube videos from the official channel[/url] didn't have this problem, as there was no resolution squishing.
[*][b][u]The game window screen can be resized arbitrarily;[/u][/b] the only limit is the size of your screen.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3588349019
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3588349098
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3588349914
The window size can be fixed back to normal by turning fullscreen on, and then off, or closing, and then reopening the game.[/list]
Diamond Joyce and the Secret of Crystal Cave is a pretty fun Boulder Dash-like game from start to finish. Although it is a bit slow playing through the first levelset being the tutorial, I was quite intrigued by the bridge building puzzles, a break from more action-oriented or arcadey levels of other Boulder Dash-like games. After game completing, I fancied myself to check the YouTube video solutions on the official channel of Rake in Grass and looking at the ones I had the most difficulty out of the rest, I did those levels in a more complicated way than what the official channel did. I thought I had to do some timed actions, which would've made since since the tenth levelset is the last one in the game, going all out with the most difficult levels, and the levelset took longer than the other levelsets.
Levels I consider tricky and difficult are:[list]
[*]The Pyramids: level 15, 20, and 27
[*]Eye of Horus: level 15 and 19 (extra difficult!)
[*]Sun of Japan: level 21
[*]Kali's Wrath: level 8, 11, 15 and 23
[*]Mythic Japan: level 19 and 32
[*]Rise of Aztecs: level 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 32
[*]Deeps of India: level 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 (extra difficult!), 17, and 23[/list]
I didn't had trouble at all on level 31 on the Deeps of India, it took 10 minutes to finish instead of 3 hours that someone else was having problems; the most difficult part is the small section containing glass blocks in order to reach to the long part of the level, only flipping the level twice. Those extra difficult levels meanwhile took a lot of time, but it really good to mentally carve out what I'm supposed to do, as if unwrapping the level's contents to find the solution within the carefully crafted mess, as looking up the solution would ruin that feeling.
It's a shame the game didn't sell enough to be supported more, as [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/505400/eventcomments/1633040337753435367/]I talked to the developer regarding the level editor and wondering if new levels are still accepted[/url], as I feel it's worth making new levels with those quirks.
