OREBLAZE

The reason I don't like this game is a personal one. The reason I'm leaving a review saying I don't recommend it isn't. The fact there is a constant running timer, that's a thing I don't like. If you like it, awesome, I personally don't. The reason I'm leaving this review is that nowhere in the trailer do you see that there is a constant unstoppable countdown. I couldn't find a way to turn it off, so it's obviously a core feature of the game. Now the video doesn't show the UI/HUD at all, so it could just be that the creator didn't want to clutter the screen, fine, but it is a core mechanic in the game and it seriously impacts the gameplay experience. So in essence, you might really enjoy this game, as long as you don't have an issue with rushing against a countdown. It was a refund for me.

Cool small indie game. PROS: Movement is smooth and satisfying. Tips strike balance between clarity and space for own exploration. Price is suitable for game size. There are couple of mechanics and run endings to discover which is fun. Achievement gives some alternative goals to do, so that whole game doesn't drag on too much before completion. CONS: Don't get me wrong, the game is still fun for its size. It is just that it looks like some mechanics are going for a little bit more complex game, which orebleze is not... but it COULD BE with a bit more polish and additional content. So here are my more detailed thoughts, criticisms and ideas to make this game better. [spoiler] Make Ruby drop a bit less stones, but worth a bit more. Jades seems like not worth collecting within 2 minutes of the game, which is fine as it is first valuable, but after that it is currently more worth to go straight for Gold and skip Ruby all together, as it clutter our backpack. Goblins treasure is a cool idea. Early small danger with sigil and treasure as a reward making it common point for both money and intact core path. But I have an issue with having mainly Jades inside and some Ruby mixed in. That is a lot of stones which as all Jades / Ruby clutter backpack fast. It takes about 2 backpacks (without upgrades) to bring it to the surface. It is more worth to go straight for Gold. Which is a shame, as going for Goblin treasure could be nice risk / reward if there were all Ruby with some Gold mixed in instead. Mushroom cave is also cool. More dangerous than goblins. Harder to just run through only for sigil and no treasure chest. I like it, no notes. Hidden sigil. Hardest to find by accident. Cool addition, no notes. Relics. Hidden on different map level. You have to remember on which depth to look for it. Bit too many of them for my liking, but when going for all achievements its ok. Vault is also a cool idea, that could make early dynamite worth buying. But there is the same issue. Current reward is not worth it. 2 backpacks of low grade stones worth a bit more than dynamite cost. Hidden low enough than its better to skip it for Gold / Adamite unless very starved of Dwarf Coins late game. Different run endings are also cool. Core shards, fractured and intact core. Having relic or not. Shards are fastest. Dig deep, look around and you should find the core quite fast. Two dynamites and you are good. Best for speed run and saving coins for the guild. Intact core - Light up sigils in Goblin cave, mushroom cave and hidden sigil (best to do in order so that sigils pointing the way are most useful). Find core, dig vertical tunnel to excavate it. Help yourself with rope if needed. Fractured core - midway between previous states. Achieved when breaking cover instead of finding sigils. Not worth as gameplan unless you need an achievement. Spiders. They can pick up and steal stones. You can destroy their nest to prevent that. Spiderweb can slow you down. Cool addition. King gifts after each other tribute. Cool rougelike idea. Teleportation cooldown is too rough. Better think though how we place tunnels to have fast way up. I picked it once and never again. Elven Boots for less fall dmg is ok when going for Intact core or if you want to dig straight down fast. Farsight is great as it makes looking for adamantium and other things much easier. Best gift for me. Frenzy mushrooms. Fine I think, needed for one achievement, but otherwise skippable. Chainmail, haven't used it as on later runs I pretty much skipped combat, but seems like a fine addition if combat was a bit more important. Friendly Spiders, cool idea. I am still not sure on execution. I am not sure if spiders actually stole something from me in the end, but I usually came back to them quite fast. Having them bring stones to me was quite nice as its like having bigger backpack. Double jump - surprisingly not broken, but still very useful. Cool addition Others - when going fast for all tributes you are later offered crossbow, beer and dynamite, which is cool. Crossbow. Cool addition, but massively underutilized. Make crossbow cheaper. 1500 is a tough ask in early / midgame. And when late game hits, there are only so many usecases left making the purchase not worth it. Make it 500 or 800. Rope would be much more useful with more and bit larger natural caves. Explosive arrow would be better if there was a bit more combat. Map A bit too repetitive after couple of runs. Like mentioned above. It would be nice to add a bit more and larger natural caves especially on lower floors with a bit more enemies wandering around. Something to make crossbow, rope and chainmail more useful. Achievements Nice variety encouraging exploration of different mechanics. Gives something to do on later runs before retirement. [/spoiler]

Good if you're looking for a fun, simple game to spend a few hours. Core gameplay loop is solid, but not much replayability due to limited content. Hopefully the devs add more content, because it has a lot of potential.

Nice game. I cleared everything in 7 hours which for the price I consider excellent value. I appreciated that there was no time-wasting 'filler' to bulk out the core gameplay - each run is tight and successful runs can be done in under 10 minutes. In most cases you'll want to hang around longer to mine more stuff :) I saw some reviews / threads saying they didn't like the (idea of) time limits. These only apply early on in a run, after that the king lets you chill and generally bimble about. I feel it adds an important urgency, and is a key game design element. I found the game via a gamedev YouTuber - he was surprised the game didn't have more reviews. I am too. I hope the developer will continue to update the game. That said the existing content is a beautifully tight package. My only suggestions would be that the less useful items (crossbow) and situational items (explosives) could come into play in additional levels - maybe with the king less on your back so you can experiment.

Not enough variation for a roguelite and too simple + easy to really be worth a purchase. For a game where full completion takes many runs, the core gameplay loop should be fun and engaging, but it's not. Instead, all you get is to hold a direction and dig in a straight line over and over again, and about 2 mini dungeons each run where combat is just walking up to a mob and pressing CTRL once. Once you know how this game works it's basically impossible for you to ever lose, and all the excitement and danger disappears. The timer is irrelevant and all the upgrades besides the double-jump cloak are OK at best. All that you really can do in this game to spice things up is to try to speed-run it, which isn't very fun. Collecting the artifacts is a chore and so is saving up for retirement. The grappling hook is basically worthless so long as you don't soft lock yourself by digging stupidly. Treasure vaults are hilarious; you'd think they'd have a lot of money in them, but most of the times it's just some jadestone and rubies, making them a waste of time to even collect considering how much more efficient it is to just mine as much adamant as you can and as quickly as possible. By the end of each run you end up with so much money you can bank roll the entire kingdom's expenses for a few decades. The 44 second trailer on the Steam store page is basically all you get. There's nothing more to this game than what you see in that small trailer.

This game has some serious "depth". An underappreciated gem. The only thing that threw me off the first couple of runs is the font; It's oddly wide compared to its height. 8.5/10

Yes, it's playable on Steam Deck. The Settings menu doesn't work properly, but the default settings are fine. Gameplay is fully functional. This is a well balanced game. You're constantly choosing between upgrading your kit or paying the king before his patience runs out. Do you upgrade your pickaxe first so you can mine faster, or use the money to pay your taxes before they're due? Do you dig deeper to obtain more valuable ore, or stay near the surface so you can get back in time? Do you accept the king's bonus item gift, or give yourself more time before the next tribute? It's a small game and could probably do with more content, but it's good value and a lot of fun.

Very solid little mining game, reminds me of Dome Keeper but Dwarf! Definitely worth the price!

Worth to pick up on sale. PROS: - A fun little game were a run doesn't take to much time to complete or fail. - The upgrade speed when you reach the final ore is so satisfying CONS: - I really, really, really don't like the fall damage. It feels like you fall way to fast and have to play so slow to avoid this. Most of my runs failed because falling damage. - Also disapointed that the ancient relics don't give a passive buff for your next run. Doesn't feel worth collecting - Took me 3 tries to even start the game and it crashed once. But when you get it to run it seems to be more stable to exit out and run it normally instead of the OpenGL version

TLDR: A genuinely good game, With a very low price point, absolutely worth picking it up. Gameplay is similar to what you would find in Steamworld Dig or Dome Keeper, that is; dig for resources, then return to base for upgrades to more efficiently collect resources. The loop is fun, the physics and movement feel markedly good, and the combat, while very easy, feels interesting for this genre. My only complaint is that the game seems to have been designed... Oddly? I'll explain; there is a depth of mechanics with some of the items you can pick up, that just feels wholly unnecessary for anything. I had assumed that the existence of the crossbow would mean eventually combat would increase in difficulty to the point of it being necessary but... It just doesn't. Combat is linear and quite trivial, after you first encounter with each enemy type the odds of taking damage against them are near zero. So it seems odd to me that time and energy was spent into adding that to the game, when the things to use it on are so... Unworthy of it? In addition, several of the 'treasures', the things that make this game a roguelike (though I'll note I don't think the dev(s?) have actually claimed this is one), just seem utterly useless. They are very cool, don't get me wrong, and I would rather have them than not, but... They aren't 'run defining', in the way that items can be in the big name roguelikes like The Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon are. Just a very odd situation to find a game of quality like this to be in, and I can't really speculate on how things ended up like this. Still, the game is absolutely still worth playing. And I would and do recommend it to anyone.