Minerva Labyrinth

(Full disclosure: I know the creator of this game and have briefly tested pre-release versions) Minerva Labyrinth is best described imo as an indie interpretation of Operation Abyss combined with a healthy dose of western DRPG design sensibilities. For example, dungeons themselves are brutal and have thoughtful puzzles, and all skills and abilities have detailed minutae and often secondary effects. [Note: Every line of code*, every pixel of visuals, and every note of music was created by one person. No commissions or assets were purchased, no outside help was given, and absolutely no AI was ever used even once. If this intrigues you, read on.] *outside of the Godot engine core ;) The game begins with having you create a party of 5 by choosing a primary “aspect”, or class, a secondary which determines a powerful passive, and stats, which determine what equipment you can wield. The aspects themselves are fairly varied; even classes which share healing abilities tend to play quite differently (for instance, Love is a more reactionary healing class, while Sun is an active one). You will find you will mesh better with some aspects than others. I tend to enjoy Water and Hunt for their combat flow affecting abilities, but others may prefer War and Destruction for pure damage output. You can’t respec, so you might even want to start a couple new games to try out all the basic abilities to get a feel for everyone. (If you wish you can skip the tutorial level and you will be placed at HQ at level 2.) The general game loop is: Go to dungeon, explore as far as you can or until you kill the big baddie, retreat and rest. Each “area” has 3-4 floors or sub-areas each, making them a decent size, and they house the occasional secret and at least one major thinky-based puzzle. Exploration is generally rewarded with unique pieces of equipment that can usually fill power gaps that may exist in your party. Combat can be quite tough, especially at first before you are accustomed to your class skills and before more options and spells open up. Save in dungeons frequently and retreat when you must - but not too often, else you’ll find yourself out of money from resting too much. Bosses will always test your party makeup and endurance and often have you breathing a sigh when they finally fall. The bottom line is, if you’re looking for a DRPG, this will scratch the itch. If it looks like you’ll enjoy it, you’ll enjoy it. It’s been thoughtfully put together from absolute scratch and the care is tangible. There are no bugs or crashes. It plays well with gamepad, keyboard, mouse, or kb+m with fully customizable controls. The interface is easy to read, and even supports colorblind options. Expect about 20 hours, 15 if you’re a good crawler. Worth the admission.

I find Minerva Labyrinth a very good and interesting game. I'm not an expert in the genre, but I've played a few titles, like the MT (NES), SMT (SNES) and Wizardry series. The game lets you build a party of five fully customizable characters. You can choose one of twelve classes for each character, choose one of fourteen passive skills for each of them, customize their appearance and base stats, and equip them with a weapon, three pieces of armor and two rings, allowing for a variety of strategies. Combat is fun, with both melee and magic, and there’s a range mechanic (melee attacks can only hit enemies within the reach of your weapon). The game is designed so that you can't just rely on overleveling, you really need to think about strategies when facing bosses. I really enjoyed the puzzles scattered throughout the dungeons, they give the game a charming medieval touch on top of the already varied dungeon composition, with poison floors, teleports, spinners, dark zones, one way doors, and more… plus the way each area introduces its own mechanics, like the water section or the meteors in the museum's prehistoric area. I also really liked the narrative part of the game, the voice that guides you or describes everything like a tabletop RPG dungeon master. I love how it leads me through the adventure and helps me enjoy the game even more. The dark, cruel atmosphere is another element that enhances the experience, it blends perfectly with the eerie sense of loneliness and with the music, where the composer did a great job, it fits the game beautifully. I played it on Linux and it runs great, no bugs, well coded and well designed. Also, you can save at any point, so you don't need long play sessions, you can enjoy it playing sessions of a few minutes. It took me 41 hours to finish. If you like turn based RPGs, I definitely recommend it. If you liked Minerva Labyrinth, I recommend trying Magic and Metal Zero: Tower of Metal, another work by the same developer.

I haven't played many dungeon crawlers and was a little worried it would be difficult for me to jump in. I was very wrong. The game is extremely intuitive and gives you all the information you need. That being said, it doesn't feel overly simple either. All of the abilities seem to be unique and I found myself really enjoying just seeing what options my party had. The music is great and fast paced and I adore the art style. Menus are snappy and everything just feels right. Very excited to dive into this more as my introduction to this genre but didn't want to play any longer without leaving a well deserved positive review.

Neat dungeon crawler with a fun, inclusive magical girl setting!

I wasn't super familiar with this type of game, having only really played the Wizardry series many years ago. But Minerva Labyrinth strikes a really good balance between approachability and complexity. The lore is a total vibe and I found myself totally lost in the game play by time I wrapped up the prologue. If you're already a fan of this style of RPG, then this game is like a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae. But even if you aren't, it's still worth checking out. The fights can be quite tactical when you began to dig in, the exploration is seamless, and the puzzles feel so good when you sort them out. Highly recommend.

I installed the game planning to play for a few minutes before bed, and now it's 2am. I've played a lot of different types of RPGs, but this particular style-dungeon crawl-is a new one to me. I feel that Minerva Labyrinth is a good introduction to the style. The quality of life features, such as the automap, make the game very approachable. It didn't take long to learn how to play, but I can tell there is a lot of depth to the game. Overall I like the presentation. It's done very well.

Easy recommend for any DRPG fans out there.

If you're a fan of oldschool dungeon crawlers, check out Midnight Spire's Minerva Labyrinth. It's well-made and well written, with some great retro artwork and lots of detailed text passages describing scenes. Party-based combat's fun too. Fun modern settings (subway, hospital). For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/ Want more honest niche & indie reviews? Check out: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming

If you like a different game that emphasizes substance over flash, thoughtful engagement over reflex, and complex progressive character development, this little gem may be for you. This game is amazing in one respect, according to other reviewers, it is totally from one person's mind. Coding, graphics, music, storyline, and combat mechanics were created by one individual developer, and what a smart, engaging, thought-provoking game emerged. "bent's" review of this game (first review) persuaded me to give this a try, and I'm glad I did. A deliciously complex and challenging game for fans of crawlers -- a retro graphics style reminiscent of the SNES; game play design and combat influenced by RPGs; a sense of humor i.e. "Chocolate Kisses" weapons or "Land of Infusion Tea Shop"; and very nice labyrinth design and room function. This is not an easy game. Combat becomes challenging with success relying on your ability to build successful character aspects (nothing new here) but it is based on many interconnected factors. It is especially so if you choose to build your characters from scratch, (an option at the beginning of the game). Character development can be complex, so thoughtful special consideration of the many factors presented to you is the key to your success in combat. The developer gave a great deal of thought to gameplay/combat. With the intricate development of the characters and a complex system for combat success, the result is a game that demands careful attention. This is no ordinary crawler: the engagement it asks of players, the thoughtfulness required for success, and the delightful retro style make this unique game a treasure. Definitely a must try, especially at such an affordable price.

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