Equin: The Lantern

[b][i]Equin: The Lantern[/i] is a strange game from the quite underappreciated indie dev Del Duio.[/b] Now, straight off the bat I will say that I 100% highly recommend [i]Equin[/i] to anyone that likes roguelikes proper. Don't confuse this with roguelites - we are talking turn-based gameplay of delving into a dungeon with permadeath. The difference between a veteran and a novice player is knowledge of the system, [i]NetHack[/i]-style. [b]Now with this recommendation comes the caveat that there are many [i]many[/i] rough edges in here.[/b] So many that it can be a bit frustrating at times. Perhaps the rough edges are holding this title back from more universal praise and greatness. I'll list it all below for the potential customer, as well as Del Duio. [i]Essentially, this has all the underpinnings of a classic roguelike.[/i] There are several character builds you can choose from. The usual suspects are all here; the tank, the wizard, the thief, etc. You have hit points, stamina (used to take actions or fight), 20 inventory slots, gold to buy stuff at shops, and experience points to gain levels. The goal is to try to get down to dungeon level 50 (I believe). The shtick of this title is the lantern colors. They change every so many turns. The colors alter the mechanics to a certain degree. It doesn't feel as potent as it should, to be honest. Figuring out what these colors actually do is a bit frustrating. The game has nice artwork, animation, and perhaps best of all - the humor. Finally, the actual combat system is an interesting hybrid of turn-based (think early [i]Final Fantasy[/i]) and bump-to-kill. Basically, low level monsters can just be bumped, while higher level go into the full battle system. [b]Pros:[/b] +As with any roguelike, after you choke down a few hours of learning the system - the whole thing is dangerously addicting. +Let me tell you that the humor in this game is just fantastic. +Controller support is always a welcome touch with roguelikes. +The system has complexity, but it never felt overwhelming like in other classic roguelikes; I never needed a Wiki or anything. +Price point is wayyyy too cheap [b]On the fence:[/b] -When first loading it up, it instantly smacks you in the face with how zoomed in you are to the character. It just feels wrong, BUT, after playing a few hours I don't even notice it anymore. So, what I'm saying is that this is initially off-putting, and takes some getting used to. [b]Cons:[/b] -The resolution options. This is debatably the worst part of this game. You either play in a window, a large window, or a stretched fullscreen that makes my eyes bleed. I wish there was fullscreen with black bars - but the bars have nice artwork on them (heck, make unlockable art to change it up over time; or even better, the bars could change with dungeon level). -[strike]The digital pad on the controller doesn't work, which is quite annoying.[/strike] Fixed! -Once you start playing the game (in the dungeon part) you cannot change any options. You have to save, quit (exit the game), and load it back up to change options (like volume or window size). -You cannot exit out of the game during the first few loading screens. Why? -For the game being about how the lanterns alter the gameplay - even after 5 hours I really don't have a fundamental understanding of how it all works. I do buy all the tips from the shops. So as of now, my conclusion is that the lantern changes are just not potent enough to force me to care. [b]Overall, I have a lot of love for [i]Equin[/i].[/b] With all it's rough edges comes a metric ton of charm. The game is [i]seriously fun[/i] once you get into it and start learning things. A must-have for fans of the genre.

[b]A brief review based on the first impressions after a couple of hours in the game. A complete, detailed review will follow up in the (hopefully, not so distant) future.[/b] Equin: The Lantern is a top-down dungeon crawler, where player as a brave fellow with rabbit ears should descend into the dungeon to locate the mysterious Lantern. No one knows what it's for and what it does, but it's certainly evil, it worries the townsfolk, and therefore it should be found and dealt with asap.  First thing I should mention is that the game won't use fullscreen resolution, there are only two graphics option - small window or slightly bigger window. The pixel graphics, however, looks nice in both of these. The game starts with selecting one of the four classes - Warrior, Thief, Wizard and Cleric. A pretty standard choice. Differences between them will become more and more significant on a later levels. The mysterious fifth class  will be unlocked later, its identity is not revealed until later, but you'll find plenty of hints during the game. As you choose the class and gather your gear - the adventure begins. The dungeon that you've entered is a huge multi-level underground fortress. The goal on each of the level is to locate the ladder that leads to the next one. Sounds easy, right? But actually doing this might not be that simple, as the life and health of your adventurer will be in constant risk. Levels are filled with powerful foes and deadly traps, and navigating on the level might become tricky, absence of the mini-map can turn the search of the ladder into a difficult task.  The Lantern adds variativity to the gameplay by changing the rules of the game. Some changes are more obvious, like affecting the character's abilities, and other are less obvious. It even can spice things up by adding a special event to the level. For example, an event where you'll need to locate the ladder and leave the level as soon as possible, otherwise a huge explosion will kill you, no matter how tough your character is. Fights with enemies are turn-based, you and enemy take turns trying to deplete each other's HP. Every hit cost stamina points (SP), and while your character is not exhausted - he can fight well. If enemy is too strong - you can try to run for your life, but real heroes never turn their backs to the enemy! Defeating the hostiles will get you money and experience. Money can be spent in shops to buy a better gear, and in taverns to get a nice mug of cold beer or rent a room to get a good night sleep and replenish HP and SP. Experience, when you'll collect enough of it, will get you a new experience level, with improvement of stats, new skills, and increasing the amount of HP and SP. Besides the common enemies, there are Champions, which are stronger, has more HP, and drop better loot upon death. And there are numerous Bosses, the strongest enemies with significant amount of HP and devastating attacks, and they have the biggest chance to drop epic loot if you'll manage to defeat them. But your worst enemy is not monsters, lurking in the darkness, or deadly traps, or fire and poison. Your worst enemy is hunger. You have to eat, and you should always collect food from surrounding barrels and chests, as well as have some emergency reserve of snacks always with you, at all times. Because if you don't have food and you'll endure hunger for long enough, your character will start to lose HP and will certainly die from starvation. All in all, after almost 12 hours of playing the game, I feel like I haven't see anything yet! In my longest run, I've only reached the 18th floor of the dungeon. Then my lvl.10 half-god warrior, my brutal and merciless killing machine, has been brutally murdered by a kung-fu chicken who hatched from the egg I carried around as an emergency snack. Descended into the dungeon a couple of dozen of times, was busy collecting loot, fighting and drinking in the tavern, all while vibing to nice electronic tunes. Only to die in a dumb way and start it all over. It's beautiful.  Note for Linux users: Equin: The Lantern can be played on Linux, but there are minor graphical issues like text being to big and when it's in multiple lines they might not display correctly, or indicator of taken/inflicted damage during the fight is displaying distorted, stuff like that. Nothing too serious, at least as far as I've seen. [table] [tr] [td]OS[/td] [td]Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon x64 / Windows 10 Home Edition x64[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Proton version[/td] [td]6.3-6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Processor[/td] [td]Intel© Core™ i5-9400F CPU @ 2.90GHz × 6[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]RAM[/td] [td]15.6 Gb[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]GPU[/td] [td]Palit NVidia GTX 1660 6Gb[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]GPU Driver version[/td] [td]470.57.02-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 / Game Ready 471.68[/td] [/tr] [/table]

A super fun, thoroughly charming & bite-sized roguelike! It's quite addictive and feels very complete, there's a surprising amount of depth that's only going to reveal itself through multiple runs. While the viewing area is rather tiny (you only see two tiles ahead in any direction), the game received a most welcome "widescreen" update awhile ago which afforded more space for displaying text. The dev's attention to detail shows, this game is an obvious labour of love like the rest of the DFX Games catalog. It continues to receive substantial updates, one of the most recent being the addition of calendar-specific special events. Definitely recommended! :)

FFS there's no Game Over tune... on the other hand, it was 99p. a substandard Dragon crystal but it has some funny jokes and is cheap and isn't anathemic to all creation. the music is OK when it's there.

크롤링 로그라이크의 바닥 이것보다 바닥이 있으면 게임이 아닌데... 꼴랑 5직업. 의지는 있는건지 궁금한 몬스터 디자인 별 개성없는 아이템들. 숫자만 터지는 전투애니메이션 그리고...한 화면에 고작 25타일.. 로그라이크 장르에서 9x9타일이 용납이 겨우 가능한 수준은 리얼타임 액션 장르나 행동 애니메이션이 있을경우인데.. 그것도 애니메이션이 뛰어나거나 외관상 변경이 가능하거나 아트가 엄청나게 뛰어나거나. 이럴때지... 정지 도트는 11x11이 마지노선이고... 이정도 도트+게임 수준이면 21x21해도 고민할수준이지. 뭐? 50층이 어째? 울티마 4랑 5사이에서 비비는 그래픽으로 뭘하겠다고... 울티마5조차 11x11인데... 레트로를 무시해도 정도가 있지... 물론 예전게임들도 잘나가던 게임은 개발비용 많이 들어간것도 사실이지만... 이 게임 출시일 기준으로도 31년전 게임이랑 비교가 될 정도고 그 수준조차 떨어지면 좀 문제가 있는거 아닌가? 어떻게 음량조절도 없냐 진짜....

Hello Im Skill Incarnate and Welcome to My Games Review Series. My reviews cover indie games that i have bought, had gifted to me and have been provided by developers for review. In This Episode i am doing a review of the game Equin - The Lantern Equin - The Lantern is an indie RPG game with Roguelike Elements and Permadeath developed by DXF Games. In this game you will play the part of young adventurer who is on a quest to find the mysterious lantern in a dark and dangerous dungeon comprised of 50 deadly levels filled with traps and enemies. Disclaimer: I was not paid by for this review. Game was provided for review purposes. Review Score 6/10 Recommended to purchase. ================================================ Equin The Lantern - Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rgkiBg6p6k Skill Incarnates Gaming Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/SkillIncarnate Twitter: https://twitter.com/skillincarnate Equin The Lantern On Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/547980/Equin_The_Lantern/ ================================================ A randomly generated deal, each game is different! Story: You're a kid. Who's gray. With rabbit ears. People have been grumbling about the goings-on below town. Seems there's some sort of magic lantern that's throwing the whole joint into chaos. Yeah, that's what I said too! Full of it, they gotta' be, right? Turns out- not so much.. So.. What's it you do again, kid? Warrior? Thief? Wizard? Cleric??! OH! A lawyer!? Hahaha, well you sure had me fooled there for a while.. little jerk.. Here's what you're gonna' do: Head below town, JUST FOR ME, and see what the hell that Lantern's on about. They tell me it turns all kinds of colors, and each color changes the rules. How so!? What am I, an electrician?!? That's up to you to find out! And so you did! --- Equin: The Lantern is my fun little roguelike with some wholly original ideas. Conquer the 50 floor dungeon and its evil inhabitants in a quest to the bottom of the joint to find the mysterious lantern itself. With features like a turn-based 1st person battle system, Auto Killing weaker enemies, an XP Hit Streak bonus, hundreds of weapons and armor to find, diabolical floor events to shake things up, a lantern who screws with the rules, and oh yeah- PERMADEATH BABY, this is the game for those who like a good challenge. STRATEGERIZE by slamming doors in your enemy's face to lock them in a room, or lead them into a web and trap their stank @sses. Watch out for stronger champ versions though and much stronger bosses at every turn! NOTE: This time around I got some help from the fantasic Rocco W and his sick 8-bit tunes! They were so good I decided to scrap all my own music except for the title theme.

I am writing this review after just one journey into Equin the Lantern. I am hooked. My initial impression after loading the game was not good. The crude graphics of the menu did not fill the screen, and the interface with arrow keys, spacebar, tab etc did not impress. As I started exploring (turn-based), however,I got immersed in the things to find and understand, realizing there is a lot of depth here. What does it mean when the lantern changes color as I move around? I can open those trapped chests with my warrior but take damage. That aluminum ax I found does additional damage but lowers my magic resistance. I purchased a hint (number 70) from a shopkeeper which will become part of an on-going accessable list as my I discover more of the game's secrets. At floor 8, my level 4 Warrior got wiped by a killer plant. The game left a detailed memorial to my departed hero. There is also a 17 page list of game items (100's of items) with the detail of discovered items changed from greyed-out to color with detailed descriptions. After reading the helps and hints written by the developer, I am ready to explore again. I am going to pick a campfire starting kit this time as one of my warrior's 3 starting items.

Not very pretty on the outside, but make no mistake, this game is a labor of love. ♥♥♥♥/10

Hi fellow gamers. So I've been thinking about reviewing this game for a while now and since the Steam Award Nominations are here, I guess it might be the right time. TL;DR: Minimalistic yet fun and randomized indie roguelike dungeon crawler which is still getting updates since its inception in 2016. Setting/General: "Equin: The Lantern" is a kind of minimalist roguelike game in which you're playing the role of a brave rabbit which ventures deep below the surface to find - a magical lantern. The introduction to the game is kinda brief so don't expect to know everything anytime soon. Character generation - like most of the game - is pretty minimalistic; you can choose between five different classes (Warrior, Thief, Wizard, Cleric and the secret class which I won't spoiler here). That's about it. The differrent classes of course feature different stats and ways to do combat. The thief of course is a very handy chap which will have few problems picking the locks of chests, while the warrior of course has the best chances in close combat. There's different merits and weaknesses which will be assigend automatically. You can view those in the "Special"-Tab while in game; warriors for example usually have "butterfingers" meaning they'll suffer more damage from trapped chests. Setting/Level design: The dungeon is randomized every time and you'll encounter some changes in scenery the deeper you get. You'll see the first few floors a lot because the game really isn't too easy. Those feature a dirty, earthy look, like what you'd expect from a typical medieval or fantasy dungeon. Brick walls, a few tufts of grass and the likes. Since I've yet to finish the game, I haven't seen the deepest floors, but I know that there are icy floors for example. Each level can contain different types of enemies (you got the usual bats, goblins, snakes, rats but also stronger foes like evil sorcerer-types) including bosses. Bosses usually are a variation of a common monster, being much stronger and 'outlined' a bit so you can recognize them. Aaaand... each floor has different loot, usually placed in chests or found in shops. Some chests are locked and as such the locks need to be picked, which will most likely succeed if you're playing a char with high dexterity and most likely will fail if you're playing a big oaf (the warrior). There's different items that can help picking aforementioned locks, there's stuff that can help you heal or recover stamina (food, potions), of course there's weapons & armor and more. Regarding the shops: There's different types of locations. You can enter a bar and pay for something to drink or some information, there could be cultists which will grant you different bonuses in exchange for some of your lifeforce, there might be the good old peddler of weapons and other items. Graphics: Really pixelish minimalistic but somehow charming (at least to me, but I'm old, I've played the Atari 2600 back then haha). I'd recommend playing it in windowed mode, since fullscreen seems overwhelming with pixel-styled games. Don't expect any special effects (can I still talk about 3D accelerated FX?); this game keeps it really simple. If you can't handle retro style graphics, you might not want to play the game. But if you do, be my guest. Sound & Music: The game usually resorts to "retro-styled" sound effects; bleeps and bloops, whooshs, some short "innuendo mini-melodies". No problem for me; it fits the retro atmosphere. When it comes to the music, it's catchy but there's not too many tracks. The beginning of the first battle theme bugs me a bit, because those bleeps seem weirdly placed. However, when playing the game I sometimes find myself humming along to the melodies. Still, some people might mute the music after hearing the tracks a few times. Controls: Simple stuff. You are using the arrow keys to move or navigate the menu(s), space the confirm or attempt an action and TAB to open the in-game menu. The steam store page also promises full controller support, but I haven't tested that yet. Story: Hmm. I don't know what to write here. I guess there isn't too much story; however since I haven't finished the game yet there might be a lot I'm missing. There's bits of information to find especially in the taverns but other than that, it seems to be kept rather straightforward. For example: The magical lantern has differently colored "phases" which feature different effects, but you'll only know that once you've got that part of information. Mechanics ("special bonuses"): Your character can choose one of five bonuses once you're almost done with the creation. Take a pick between finding 25% more gold, having 2% more attack power, gathering 15% more experience, gaining +3 magic defense from the get-go or having all stats increased by one point. Additionally there's the Xtoli-points which have only been added recently (this review is from the 22nd november of 2018 - take that into consideration). You gain those after you've finished a run; so most of the time once you've died in an earlier attempt at beating the game. With those points you are able to influence your stats and starting equipment, hence giving you a better chance towards making it to the end of the dungeon. Special (holi)days also grant specific bonuses. Mechanics ("the lantern"): The lantern has differently colored "phases" which grant you OR the enemies different kinds of boosts. So there's a bit of strategy involved. Would you rather attack that enemy now or try to wait for a bit until it's weaker again? Fighting: The fighting is turn based; you complete an action, the enemy completes a type of action. No "isometric strategic board game"-type of fight; it's reminiscent of the classic (J)RPGs of the 'olden times'. Are you acquainted with the basic RPG Maker 2000 fighting style? It's pretty much like that. Depending on your weapons (or spells) you have different attacks, but you also can try to flee or even tackle a monster (which isn't really the way to go and only should be used in emergency situations). Your stamina will deplete faster or slower depending on the type of attack you choose. Enemies also have their own stamina bar. Updates: Even though the game originally was released onto Steam in 2016, the game is still getting updates and changes. It seems the Dev is really fond of his creation and is nurturing it every now and then. That sentence is weird. Gotta take english classes again; I guess you get the meaning. The Dev: The developer is active in the games forum and to me is a nice guy who likes to have a chat with the players of his game. My subjective opinion: I like the game. It's fun to pick it up every now and then and try a new run. Once I've got one of those super rare armors and made it pretty far down the dungeon - but still, some monster caught me during a weak moment and that's that. I'll gladly fire it up from time to time and try my best at beating it once again. So there's a good deal of motivation I guess. There's also some players who share the logs (and stories) of their runs in the forum if you want to see what's going on for other gamers. DFX Games managed to put out a sweet little gem that feels like a short trip back to the past which still doesn't feel like it's aimed at hardcore gamers exclusively. Thanks for reading! - Osselpi -

You have to play this game! Constant Dev support btw. No issues running on Win 10 or 7. This is just a whole bunch of FUN. Play at lunch or down time or anytime. Multiple level types plus terrain variants. Cheap at twice the price. Pixel graphics zre clear NOT muddled clumps of dots. Sorry, I'm cutting this short so I can try to get past level 20. See you there you won't be disappointed.