Veiled Vents

I don't hate this game but I'm a little confused on what's going on or the theming. It needs a tutorial. There's apparently food and population? Although I don't see how to increase that. Why am I with an anime catgirl robot thing and who am I, there's clearly a story here but I don't understand it. I actually enjoyed the core concept of a dungeon crawler with resource management and leveling up talents/skills each time, the ASCII graphics mixed with the spreadsheet style were cool and made feel like I was commanding a robot and the sound design while simple was nice but I'm deeply confused what is going on or what my exact goal here is. (What is a signal cache) These things are never explained. I think this game really needs a tutorial but I don't hate the base concept. This dev should keep going.

[h3] In VENTBA we trust! [/h3] Veiled Vents is a unique hybrid Dungeon Crawler/Tower Management pseudo idler with minimalist pixel/ASCII graphics. In the game you act as the overseer of an "Ancient Megabuilding", simultaneously managing the structure while also controlling/commanding your adorable cat-girl companion VENTBA through dungeons full of treasure vaults and assorted hazards. Both parts of the game happen simultaneously side-by-side in the UI. The Tower Management part of the game is relatively simple. You're provided a stone monolith 7-tiles wide with an assortment of constructible rooms. Homes to grow your population, Gardens to grow food, Kitchens to prepare food, storage to - you guessed it - store your food, and Generators + Studios to generate passive resources. The entire monolith is connected to a ventilation system which can be a bit confusing at first but is surprisingly simple: Burn gas to charge up energy and increase temperature in your megabuilding, CHARGE to transfer the vents energy into your usable energy stock, replace the fuse for $ when it gets worn out, and throw that fan on when it gets too hot! This entire process can be automated from the beginning, just keep an eye on your funds especially early game because your fuse will be replaced automatically for a fee. The other half of the game involves navigating VENTBA through dungeons, exploring and descending deeper for more risk/reward. This is all presented in charming ASCII graphics, a throwback to early dungeon divers and MUDS that I absolutely adore. Navigate VENTBA around keeping an eye on health, picking up money, food and items and avoiding things like falling debris and hidden mines. You decide how deep to dive and how much to risk - return home anytime and give VENTBA a snack because you know she deserves it. This process can be automated as well - VENTBA will explore dungeon levels automatically based on her skill levels. Unfortunately when you reach the end of a dungeon floor you will not progress automatically, so it's not really an Idle/AFK game and requires some degree of interaction even after automation. Personally I like the lack of hand-holding in this game, I enjoy discovering and uncovering mechanics as I play games, but I do feel like this one requires a biiiiiiiit more explanation for key mechanics. It wasn't until my second hour of play that I realized my Population all has their own names and needs along with detailed information about the rooms I was building - I had been stuck in build-mode for who knows how long and I really had no idea. I also wish there was a little more information and meat to the dungeon crawling, like counters/visualizers for the items and money I have picked up and my current depth in the dungeon, maybe even some unique upgrades for VENTBA that could inspire different builds/runs and increase replay-ability. I feel like a lot of areas of the game can be improved, but as it is right now it's great fun for the price. I really look forward to updates or more content from the dev, as there's the skeleton of a really good game here, it just needs a bit more complexity and content to really sink your teeth into. I definitely recommend this one, support solo devs!

crackhead gaming but nice and cheap and fun and can be expanded upon