THYSIASTERY

[h3]A fantastic old-school techno-occult dungeon crawler where a group of misfits brave the horrors of the labyrinth in a brutal struggle for survival.[/h3] I have always had a soft spot for the more traditional style dungeon crawlers such as Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore or lately Legend of Grimrock, and Thysiastery takes that concept and really boils it down to a smooth minimalistic package oozing with atmosphere. In Thysiastery you begin the journey as a solitary survivor breaking out of a decrepit prison filled with undead amalgamations from the last war. On your explorations you build up your party, claim loot and defeat monsters and miscreants on your way to escape the labyrinth's stratified halls. The variation of classes, skills and items are plentiful, and should you choose you can of course make your own character at the start of the run, all with their own quirks and specialities. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3741428704 The game takes place traversing a selection of floors on your way to freedom where each floor of the labyrinth takes on a different biome with different types of enemies. To properly defeat your foes you have to mix up your abilities so that you always have an answer to the next gribbly horror storming down the passageway to end your run in a mess of entrails and bloody tears. To combat this peculiar problem you have plenty of unique skills and abilities to master, and since the game's standard mode is a random character at start you never really know what toolbox you will begin the game with. The game also has a rather interesting teaching/learning system that lets your Timelost Magi to learn Femur Breaker, or your Backstreet Thug Blessing of Light, the sky is the limit when it comes to tailoring your rag-tag band of gritty survivors. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3741428355 When it comes to the atmosphere, the monochrome colours and the bleak presentation really do some heavy lifting. Each biome feels unique in its oppressive otherness and you have to constantly consider your movement, lest a terrible foe catches up with you to end your path of freedom. The graphics are really suited to this kind of game and truly encapsulates a world steeped in botanical occultism and techno-sorcery. Personally I really adore this Obra Dinn like minimalism, but it might not be for everyone. The monsters you encounter as well as the bosses you have to defeat come from a great selection of fantastical, mundane and technological sources and somehow work in the grander scheme of things. The worldbuilding is sublime, yet always lingering in the background with tons of lore waiting to be exhumed. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3741429016 [b]Conclusion:[/b] All in all, Thysiastery is a great example of the old dungeon crawling concept given a slightly modern take. As you delve more and more you unlock more and more skills and learn more about the various creatures and their stats and weaknesses giving you a slight edge during your coming run. I highly recommend this game to anyone interested in a great yet slightly simplistic dungeon exploring RPG. There is a roadmap on the storepage and the developers are active in the forums so I suspect I will return to the labyrinth plenty of times in the coming seasons. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/] Follow [b]IndieGems[/b] [/url] for more reviews like this one. [/quote]

I really wanted to like this game. It has great art and a fantastic atmosphere... but I've never played a dungeon crawler that wants you to explore less. Enemies hit like a truck after the intro level (I ran into a slime monster that almost wiped my party in seconds almost immediately after entering the first level) and they constantly respawn while you have very limited resources, meaning you're dying by a thousand cuts if you want to actually look around. And when I say constantly, I mean in a matter of minutes. Not just when your party rests. You can't escape enemies either. Once they lock onto you, you either fight them or they slowly punch you to death from behind, dealing a good 1/3 or more of your life every hit. Your characters have randomized skills that come with their class and they can teach those skills to other people, which is a neat idea but this often leads to having a lot of useless skills. Learning skills is expensive and skill points aren't exactly plentiful and even worse, learning skills takes time, which it often feels you don't have thanks to the respawning enemies constantly bleeding you out. I was left wishing this was more of a standard dungeon crawler with a bit more lore, a bit less randomization and a bit less of a focus on brutalizing the player.

Cannot recommend in its current state, due to unbalance. I started a new game, easy battles, found a couple more party members, we get great luck with loot... *spoilers below* until then the game was very easy, enemies had no time to fight back as they were killed very quickly. Then this boss, a pile of bodies, is the polar opposite. After some 10 turns or more of my entire party attacking, using the strongest spells we have, healing back up, etc, it seems like the boss got fed up and attacked EIGHT TIMEs in a row, killing my entire party without any chance of reaction. Yeah that's an easy refund.

I bought this game for $10. The description reminded me of "Eye of the Beholder", which I played in ages past. I love games that tell an excellent story, or have outstanding turn-based combat. This game has neither. It doesn't even have visuals on par with Eye of the Beholder (from 1991!), but it is a bit better graphically than Zork... - Combat is simplistic at best and lacks nuance - Exploration is OK, there are some things to find on each level, but nothing to see - Typical "Rogue-like": when the combat is unbalanced, just call it that and say the suffering is intentional. - UI is OK but a little janky. - Quickly became boring... I got my ten bucks worth before I was annihilated on my first run, which is why I am recommending it. I have paid more than $10 for a hamburger, and 7 hours of entertainment is worth that to me. Sadly I didn't feel there was any value in trying another run.

Incredibly punishing dungeon crawler that isn't afraid to punish the player. My deaths never feel like they were a result of poor balancing or RNG screwing me over, but instead they feel like something I could have predicted and overcame if I knew more and prepared better. Remember that "error" is a big part of "trial and error".

Very good game. Looks interesting, good gameplay, heavy ambiance. The balance was off at launch but it have been greatly improved.

This is such a good and addictive game! And the music and visual style = chef's kiss! "Just one more run." (￣_,￣ )

I love the graphic design and the gameplay is addictive. This game really sells itself. My main issue is that it gets extremely difficult after the 3rd floor. I am currently trying to find ways to boost my characters to a level appropriate for the enemies being thrown at you. Otherwise, its an awesome title and I am going to keep at it until I have a good flow and can proceed further.

I felt like it was appropriate to write a review of the game after beating it, so that I could ensure I was engaging with the entire experience and it felt doable. I find this game charming and fun. I have had many laughs playing this game and find the mechanics of it all engaging and interesting. I have not played many games in this genre, but I really enjoy the wacky monsters, the awesome abilities, the funny team mates, and the snappy gameplay. The randomness of the game really makes a whole run exciting to excel in. And of course, getting the dog is always a huge win. This is one of the best games I've played this year!

Its a blobber so obviously I own it. So far i like it. But idk if i can survive the graphics. I wish there was a way to smooth them out or something. Got me feeling like im playing a Virtual boy. Not sure my head can take it without giving myself a headache.