The Kobolds Left Behind

"The Kobolds Left Behind" is a sad tale that packs a lot of punch, if one allows one's self to "get into" the story at all. Even though its ending is very sad, it's still a good story. It has plenty of lighter moments and humor, too. It also has exceptional voice acting. It is a short game, though the Dev is very clear about that. So its brevity should not be a surprise to anyone. It even has a speed run achievement, indicating how very quickly it is possible to run through the game. ;-) The lock puzzle has a "hint" that essentially gives that puzzle's solution. One simply needs to find a piece of paper stashed moderately out of the way. Same as Dragon Audit's lock puzzle, though this hint is much easier to decipher. The steam puzzle, well, that one is a bit more challenging. Still doable, though it may require using the "reset" lever a few times. I have been honored to assist in beta testing, so I was granted a free copy of the game in exchange for my time. As a result, the amount of time shown here is considerably less than the actual time I have spent playing. This comes from the same Game developer who gave us "Dragon Audit" and "So, uh ... a spaceship crashed in my yard." "Spaceship Crashed" is free, so you can try it to learn a little about what this developer has to offer. Happy gaming! :)

I'm gonna be honest, I think the game is:"okay." I knew that it was gonna be short but I felt as if there should have been a lot more added to it. Everything just felt too rushed for me. Sophie felt as if she got way too attached to the three strange kobolds that she found, I think she should have came off more unsentimental towards them, since she plays as the greedy treasure hunter, and as the game progressed and the kobolds showed some development towards one another, then she would start to care and feel for them. Erika was fine, I like'd her attachment towards the dragons and felt hurt by how they left them, and even tried to make contact to try and see if they could come back for them until being convinced that that wasn't going to work. I kinda wished that she still had her attachments towards the dragons and refused to believed that they left them for good a little longer, maybe express some more emotion as her friends try to snap her out of her futile devoutness. I thought her loyalty for Sophie was cute and I felt there could have been a more bond to their friendship. Now I'm not gonna spoil the ending on what happens but I didn't like how quickly her friends recovered after what she did for them. It felt so quick and seemed as if it didn't have the impact the dev was going for. Niels is honestly my favorite character in the game. He feels more fleshed out than the other characters and I like the humor in the recurring line: "Kobold Magic!" by him. He seemed a lot more aversion in the dragons, taking a strong disliking in them for going and even hiding an invitation from his friends, refusing to let them go until he realized he was in the wrong in doing so and expressed deep regret for it. Bomb is probably my least favorite character, it's not that I find dense but loving characters that speak in third person unlikable but she came off more annoying in the game than cute. Her recurring act in conjuring bombs in cut scenes seemed too repetitive. I know I said that I liked the "Kobold Magic" line from Niels and that was used a lot, but it make Niels hubristic and funny, like there was an ego he had and was proud in showing off his magic towards Sophie. Bomb, however, just conjured bombs and...that's it. I know someone's gonna find it adorable, but for me it was more bothersome. I think it would have been better if I was able to use her bombs in game, perhaps usig her bombs to make a clear path or destroying stuff to get items. I did like the tension she had towards Niels in that one part of the game but, even thought they already pointed it out, it was too rushed. The gameplay itself was fine too, I thought the puzzles were cool (Although I was pretty lost in that Pipe puzzle, and felt very stupid in not figuring it out and just relied on pressing stuff till something happened). I didn't like that one locked door where it required using hot sauce to open it. Now there wasn't much puzzles in the game but it was pretty obvious this game was gonna be more story-based so I didn't mind. I kinda wanted more detail in the flying castle--city--place, it felt too plain and boring. Now the artwork for the game is good, the floating islands looked fine and the character designs were good too. Overall, it was an okay game, probably not six dollars good but was worth the experience. I just felt there should be more added to it, more tension, more character development, a lot of missed opportunities here and there. If you want a quick story with not a lot to do, then this might be for you. As for the developers, I hope you all don't feel discouraged by this. I didn't regret buying this game and it had a good story to it. I rate it 5/10