Zoul Dungeon

Zoul Dungeon is a flawed first attempt at what could be a neat game. I played the game for just over three hours and I think at least half of that was just trying to figure out what all the buttons did and how they worked with one another. It was extremely frustrating to lose over and over and over again because of the trial and error it took to figure out how to do rudimentary things like increase minion cap or how level ups worked. Eventually you just accept losing because you realized you aren't actually playing the game, you are just experimenting over and over to find out HOW to play the game. Once the game was "figured out", and it isn't figured out since I have no clue how the "build a dungeon" segment actually works to this day and I don't have the patience or time to trial and error all the buttons and mechanics for when I spent half my playtime already doing that for the primary mode of Zoul Dungeon. This game DESPERATELY needs a tutorial. I've played for over three hours and I still don't know things about it. And once you struggle through the process of discovering how to play the game, you find that there's a host of enemy types, monster behaviors, and other elements that still don't seem to mesh mechanically. All minion behavior is automated...so if you summon certain minions that are too slow to catch up to an enemy they are automatically targeting upon their spawn, they will chase them forever and never be able to reach them. Also, minions seem to be unlocked randomly, so you could get insanely good minions early and use them for a long time to wipe the floor with enemies. I found some strategies to work well, but it felt like I was just abusing the lack of real AI in the game and it never was satisfying...like I solved a puzzle or was clever. I simply cannot recommend the game, it's too frustrating and time consuming to figure everything out without any sort of tutorial or guide to assist you. This has "first draft" written all over it, but I would be interested in a refined version of this game with a guide, tutorial, and better NPC behavior. A lot of work went into this game. Polish it. Give the players information on enemy types and what they do. What upgrades are. What those upgrades do. There's a solid idea buried underneath what's here so far. But at least I gave this game an earnest chance instead of some ex-IGN ♥♥♥♥ who couldn't be bothered to play it for six minutes before writing it off sarcastically as plebeian trash to try and justify Star Wars: Outlaws being a 7/10.

7/10, a Lot better than SW Outlaws, alana pierce is incompetent)

10/10, would troll IGN again. For real though, this shows promise, i think there should be a tutorial, and a slower progression of missions, but other than that great. Love the fun pixel charectors, and the goofy enemy style.

If not for chance, I would've never found this game. I saw this game after Alanah Pearce recorded a video trying to explain the rampant 7/10 IGN game reviews and in extension the terrible Star Wars: Outlaws game by Ubisoft. In her video, she decided to buy and check out three of the most recently released games on steam in the effort of showing games of terrible quality, so as to justify that a major corporation's product can never drop below a 5 or 6 rating. As one reader might infer, this was one of the games. I'll admit I got a bit triggered at this, some games journo actively talking down on indie products because they haven't the resources to shower them in goodies like AAA game companies do. In her video she made deliberate attempts to not even engage in the game itself, purposefully trying to make it seem as bad as she possibly can and unintuitive as possible. As I particularly enjoy strategy games, I was determined to give this game a fair review, as I believe that a game's score shouldn't be influenced by other games, but rather how successfully the goal of the game is achieved. The game gives really no instruction, rather throwing you into the main hub of the game where you can pick your modes and upgrade your monsters and dungeon. Unlike game journalists, I actually care and possess a brain with enough function to operate a light switch, so I picked up the general gist of the game rather quickly. While there are little to no descriptions of my actions, I was able to readily understand that I have a chest and these bastard humans are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with my chest. I soon learned that clicking on the chest gave me options to upgrade my incoming money amount, how many monsters I can spawn, and their levels. Strategy game is a vague title. Not to insult this game, but it seems akin to one of those 2D strategy games like Age of War or Stick War where you must upgrade your base in order to have better and more soldiers to stomp your enemy. However there's more strategy as monsters behave differently, from different abilities to different opinions on those damn humans. Included is also a rather engaging dungeon builder, where you must survive wave after wave, slowly building an impenetrable dungeon layout the likes akin to the Labyrinth of Greek myth. Unlike Outlaws, this game only had 1 bug I have encountered so far. I was clicking wildly on the monster screen. My unprofessional (and therefore better) opinion is this game is a solid 8/10. There is a severe lack of description or instruction, favoring to have the layout be as bare bones and simplistic as possible. If not for this approach I would've been ♥♥♥♥ out of luck, and must assume this route was taken in favor of language universality. I've not played this game long and fully understand it, and that is to its credit. The artstyle is simplistic and charming, I can both count the pixels on every creature and generally identify.. most things. The sound effects were again, simple, and functional. The ai is sound and does exactly as advertised by the behaviors. Aggressive enemies really are aggressive, and cowardly enemies run away as fast as they possibly can, etc, etc. Truly this game feels like a very down to earth, simplistic game. It's not trying to do anything groundbreaking, aside from being a fun, challenging strategy game, with system requirements so low that your fridge can run it buttery smooth. For the price of $3, I can't ask for more. If I had to change something, I'd have a couple screens on first launch to quickly explain things, much like a board game does.. and that cheeky little exit button bastard...

For 3$, I recommend this game. You can tell love went into this, and I am happy to play it. It needs a few more explanatory menus, as I had trouble figuring out how to engage with the main game loop, but once figured out the game is a fun dungeon defender.

Challenging, a bit confusing at first, but fun. This game's biggest weakness is a lack of control documentation that I could find and a lack of a tutorial. To play, you select monsters for the slots at the bottom of the screen by right clicking on their icon in the list. (You also right click to remove them on the individual slots.) You start with Kob- monsters, who are okay, but get outclassed by other monsters oftentimes. With the gameplay, press the space bar to focus on your treasure chest, and you'll be given the options of Soul, Max, and Level. -Soul lets you accelerate how fast you accumulate souls, which means you can summon more monsters and increase your other stats faster. This is the most important stat, in my opinion. -Max increases the maximum number of monsters, and you will need to get to a platoon of monsters as you go. -Level lets you raise the base stats of the monsters for the battle, which becomes vital in later levels to stay ahead of enemies. Your own monsters have different behaviors, from targeting based on weakest enemy, strongest enemy, fleeing, staying in place and attacking only enemies that approach, raiding the enemy camps, random targeting, and more. Some monsters have abilities too. Monsters are cheap to unlock, but you can also unlock faster base Soul generation, more monster slots, higher base monster levels, and traps. >.> I haven't tried traps yet, but they're likely useful in later levels. Overall, this game is interesting and fun. >.> <.< >.> Also... yeah. I arrived here because the Every Frame A Pause guys (Mauler, Rags, Fringy, and their friends) covered Alana Pearce's (spelling?) video. If you're looking for a tower defense game to kill some time and give you an interesting challenge, this game is a neat option. (It just REALLY needs a controls/tutorial screen.)

A Simple but fun rogue-lite tower defense style dungeon game with many monsters to unlock. The only problem with the game in my eye is a lack of tutorial to get you going but i was able to figure it out after a few runs.