DROD RPG 2: A Courageous Rescue

An excellent game in a relatively barren genre. Drod RPG 2 has IMO some of the best level design in Magic Tower-style games, is plenty large enough to justify the effort and fixes the problems the first game had(the biggest one being extended puzzle sections. They kinda added character to the stages but were a pain during replays; and this one sticks much more closely to just resource management). Perhaps most importantly this game hits the sweet spot between complexity and readability; there is a lot going on at any given time but the mechanics are simple enough to fully understand and keep in mind. The numbers stay manageable and all that. The DROD "engine" is also exceedingly user friendly and just pleasant all around thanks to years of development. The visuals and audio/music are refined, whimsical and easy to read in the best way. This is not an infinity-game like Tactical Nexus but for me that's just a positive; and there is a good amount of replayability both through challenges and score hunting if that's your thing. So yeah great game is really great. (for the record I have like 30+ hours of playtime off steam)

Absolutely amazing Magic Tower game, just like the original. Great music, great voice acting, and a lot of content with the optional challenges. Go play the original if you haven't already, then come play this. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

This game was a total joy to play. It has all of the classic DROD charm, but with a significant amount of polish. I have 100% completed the game, and I must say that every challenge and achievement was very enjoyable to accomplish. Here's what I liked about the game: - The mechanics are extremely simple and easy to grasp, but the puzzles are deep and challenging. - There are several challenges that add a ton of replayability. Each run feels entirely unique because you have to adopt a new play heuristic depending on your end goals. - The new music tracks introduced in this game are among the best of the DROD series. (Please put the soundtrack on the Steam store!) - The characters, especially Tendry, the stock keeper, and the crypt keeper, are very likable. - The game has a highly adjustable level of difficulty. - The game is broken into chapters, each with an appropriate and manageable length. Unlike DROD RPG 1, softlocks are uncommon, and much easier to avoid. Here's what I didn't like about the game: - The story is a little light, and leaves the player with more questions than answers. The final scenes felt rushed, but that may just be because I haven't played DROD 3 or DROD 5 yet. - Chapters 2 and 3 involve a significant amount of backtracking. Even with the new rapid travel tools at your disposal, this feels somewhat tedious, especially on replays. - While some of the voice acting extremely good (like the crypt keeper and Beethro), and some of the voice acting is campy yet charming (like Tendry, the stock keeper, and the engineers), there are several NPCs that have subpar voices or voice clips with significant background noise. - Some of the sprites from the classic DROD games have scale issues. For example, most NPCs have heads several times larger than the Stalwart. The visual styles of classic DROD and DROD RPG usually blend well, but sometimes they stick out like a sore thumb. That being said, I STRONGLY recommend this game. It just might be my favorite installment in the entire DROD series!

DROD RPG 2 is the sequel to DROD RPG 1 and it truly improves on it on every aspect. For those unfamiliar with the series, it's a "magic tower" spinoff of the puzzle game series of DROD. I bought the game on their own storefront so my steam playtime is low, however the game is probably somewhere between 60-100 hours for a "normal" clear of all content. With that disclaimer out of the way, I will highly recommend this game to puzzle lovers and magic tower fans. Similar to games like desktop dungeons, Tactical Nexus or Soulestination, it provides a multilayered puzzle with many solutions, and you can even compete for who gets the better solution due to that!. Unlike more traditional puzzles like those found in Mist or the Talos Principle with a single solution; these puzzles allow for multiple solutions, which makes the game's replayability value quite high. It also plays a bit like a RPG, killing enemies and powering up, but your resources are limited. If you're not familiar with the subgenre, DROD RPG 1 and 2 are probably the most easy to jump in for newcomers. Not much more to say, this kind of game you either love it or you bounce off pretty quickly, so give it a try yourself and see how it goes.

A really good sequel! Much longer and harder than the first one.

Well this came as a surprise for me, I was a big fan of DROD RPG 1 and the "Magic Tower" concept (which I won't go into too much detail in this review), and I had no idea they were working on a second game. I'm currently in the third zone and I'm having a blast. While the concept is the same, there are some new mechanics that require some extra planning and thinking. The graphics are pretty dated as it runs on the same engine as the original DROD RPG, but they have a certain charm to them. The soundtrack includes both old and new tracks. Personally I really like them. The in-game cutscenes are a fun touch too and made me laugh more than I'd like to admit. Finally I'd like to say that I don't think this is a game for everyone, but for the newcomers to the genre I'd like to ask of you to give it a chance, even if it seems frustrating at first (you can do things in the wrong order and eventually soft lock yourself, forcing you to load an earlier save or even restart the entire game), but once you start learning what mistakes you made it becomes very satisfying as you get stronger and you can 1-hit enemies that were too strong earlier. All-in-all, from what I've seen so far, it's a solid sequel!

Maybe the best game to release in 2025

I've been playing all the DRODs for the longest time. And the original DROD RPG is actually how I found the series over 15 years ago so it's crazy to see it again. It feels like in the mean time they've improved a lot in terms of the design of the level sets and introduce some cool new mechanics. Easy recomendation for anyone who wants a polished magic tower game and it's a fair and good introduction for players who aren't familiar with the genre but like puzzles. There's even an easy mode to help out with hard parts or scouting.

Its basically a puzzle game

I've been a fan of the DROD series since before JTRH was released. When the original DROD RPG was released, I was initially disappointed to see it wasn't a direct continuation of the puzzle game series. However, after trying it out, it became one of my favorite entries in the series. Tendry is a bit of a pompous douche, but he is still a fun change from playing as Beethro. While this is a RPG, the entire game is in some ways a giant optimization puzzle to try and work out. I am only a little ways into this sequel, but already there are a lot of nice little tweaks that make it more user friendly and I am enjoying the characters and plot. I will update this review after completing the game.