The Good, The Bad, and The Steampunk - Steamworld Dig

Steamworld Dig started life as a downloadable title on 3DS, and was later ported to Wii U, Playstation 4/Vita and PC, given upgraded HD graphics and some platform appropriate features along the way. As a game it's a little hard to describe as it takes some ideas from a somewhat random set of games, though the results are undeniably unique.

Steamworld dig is a Metroidvania style platform game, mixed with bits of dig dug and Minecraft or Terraria. Gameplay is based around digging downwards through a semi-randomly generated world in search of ore, which you can use to get upgrades that allow you to explored deeper underground leading to more upgrades for more digging for more upgrades and so on. All of this is accompanied with a simple story, that starts with your robot hero taking over a mine in a old western ghost town out in the desert.

The town is pretty empty when you first arrive

when you're not digging, the game also has a lot of side caves you need to visit to progress in the game, along with a few side areas you can visit for extra resources. These caves focus more or platforming than digging and as a platformer the game is decent. while it's not as good as a straightforward platformer, the game was able to provide a few interesting puzzles and challenges in the caves and there wasn't anything broken or frustrating about the mechanics, though it's clear the game is more focused on digging than traditional platforming.

You'd expect a game about digging downwards to be fairly boring, But Steamworld Dig manages to avoid this. There's plenty of traps and enemies hiding underground. At first it's nothing but the occasional set of spikes in the ground or small critter wandering about but as you get deeper, the game gets steadily more complex as you end up running across things like acid, or explosive barrels. right until the end of the game, you'll be constantly coming across new things to deal with in your quest for more money, so things never get old.

There's all sort of creatures hiding underground.

Of course, all the cash you earn by selling ore in game has to go towards something. and while most of your major upgrades are found in the caves underground, there's also plenty of upgrades to buy in stores on the surface. the upgrades are mostly straightforward things like more health and better pickaxes, or enhancements to things you found in the caves. They are however useful to have and there's also a lot of them, enough that by the time I beat the game there was still some things left to buy. The game also includes some consumables, things like ladders or dynamite that can help with your efforts underground. I didn't use them very much but they were a major help the few times I did.

Graphically, the game is very nice looking, graphics were improved from the original 3DS release and looks perfectly fine on PC. They even did a surprising job of making areas in the game look unique and interesting despite the majority of the game being spent basically looking at dirt.

There are plenty of upgrades to buy with the cash earned in game.

The music in the game is somewhat sparse but does it's job nicely, the title theme to the game fits the game's western setting. The rest of the music is atmospheric, and fits the lonely, almost desolate feeling of mining at an old ghost town nicely. There is a soundtrack available on steam, and while the music fits well with the game, I'm not sure it's the kind of music you can readily listen to on it's own outside the game.

What the game really does well however, is it's sound. this is a game about steam powered robots and everything clangs, whirs and hisses exactly like you'd expect it too. Underground you'll hear dirt crumbling as it's dug away or the rumbling of boulders as they fall into place. Everything is crystal clear and sounds exactly like it's supposed to. This is a very nice sounding game.

The game starts with a nice animated intro

 Everything in the game works properly and I didn't encounter any major bugs. The game does however have one major problem: It's short, very short. I beat the game in just over 4 hours. The game does manage to make the most of this time however, as it felt like there was plenty to do in game, and it quite the trip to reach the end, but it would of been nice if it could of done just a little bit more.

Still, despite it's short length I'd say the game is worth a playthrough. It's a very unique title with it's mix of digging, upgrading and platforming and while it only took a couple of hours, it managed to readily keep my interest the whole time. if you get a chance and want to try something a little different, definitely consider giving it a try.

Steamworld Dig was developed and published by Image and Form. It is available on GoG, and Steam. It's soundtrack is available on Steam. it's homepage can be found here.

Versimos School for Witchcraft and Weirdos - Magicians & Looters

At first glance, Magicians & Looters is a very unassuming game, a 2d metroidvania in a fantasy setting, full of fantasy and rpg tropes. Even it's name is unassuming: it's a game about Magicians and Looters. Straight, too the point, nothing too eye-catching. It's really a shame because past the unassuming exterior is a really good game.

While a metroidvania at it's core, Magicians & Looters does have some interesting ideas going for it. The first and most obvious is that you have to control three characters: Sword and shield wielding Brent, martial artist Vienna, and dual sword wielding Nyn. Each character has their own set of abilities needed to progress through the game, and each plays at least a little different from the others. and the game does a very good job of giving you good reasons to use each one, nobody feels too useless or overpowered.

Characters will gain plenty of abilities throughout their adventure.

The game also has an interesting approach to both leveling and equipment. You don't get experience from kills, instead, you level up by finding experience orbs scattered around the game world, as a result there's virtually no grinding in the game. There is however, no stat or skill points in the game, instead, every character gains some sort of bonus when they level up, like extra spell damage or attack speed.

Equipment in the game is based mostly around trade offs. Almost all of the equipment in the game has some sort of drawback on top of their bonuses, form something as simple to slightly less health or slower attack speed, to big things like no enemy item drops or disabling magic. The idea is that equipment is less about straight upgrades, and more about tweaking things around a certain stat or play style. While you will get stronger during the game thanks to leveling and ability unlocks, for the most part the game is less about linear upgrading, and more about opening up new options, it's an interesting approach and keeps the game form revolving around powerleveling or finding the definite "best" equipment.

Amusingly, death results in all of your hard earned loot being thrown around the room.

It's also worth noting that the game is funny, and I actually mean funny. While some games like to shotgun random internet memes and pop culture references everywhere and call it funny. Magicians & Looters, white not completely free of references, doesn't strictly rely on this and instead tries to be funny by, in a surprise twist, actually being funny. Characters play nicely off each other, the story takes more than a few silly turns and there's a few moments in the game that honestly made me laugh. I've beaten the game and even now I can still recall some of the funnier moments in it. it's a comedic game with some actual comedy in it and it's kind of sad that I have to make that distinction here.

The game has a decently sized map that goes through multiple areas, from valleys to caves to inside a castle. The world, like any good metroidvania, also has lots of little secrets and hidden areas, I managed to find all the items in the game on my own and doing it felt like an honest accomplishment. The game is also fairly challenging. There's some tricky platforming and combat sequences set in several of the rooms in the game. Boss battles are particularly hard as bosses can pull out some surprisingly nasty, hard to dodge attacks. Fortunately death doesn't cost much in game progress outside of losing some gold and being sent to the last camp you visited, camps acting as the game's save points.

Camps like this act as the games save points and are where you can change characters.

Graphically the game is nice, most of the level graphics are pretty solid, and the backgrounds in some rooms are quite beautiful, though it has a few problems. Items like gold or experience orbs are bit on the small size and can be a bit hard to see, though fortunately all of the really important stuff if it isn't simply given to you will basically drop into your hands from destroyed chests, so there's no really worries about missing important items, the sparkle effect on pickups also tends to help with this somewhat.

Sound and music in the game are also solid. The games sound has a nice, solid feel to them, weapons hit with a loud clang, spells impact with a nice loud thud, everything comes through loud and clear and sounds exactly like you'd expect it to. The music is also good. Every area has it's own distinct music and several tracks are actually very catchy, castle looter most immediately comes to mind, and worth listening too on their own.

Backgrounds in the game can be surprisingly beautiful

The game unfortunate has a handful of flaws. To start, you have three characters and can only change them at save points. Save points are usually frequent enough that it's not a major problem, but it's still a little annoying when you reach an area, then immediately have to turn back because you need a different character to handle it. The game is also a little on the short side. I beat it in just under 7 hours, I don't think that's horrible and the game makes good use of this time, but it almost feels like the game wanted to be just a little bigger.

Overall I'd recommend Magicians & looters to anyone who's a fan of Metroidvanias, especially if they want a decent challenge. The game offers a lot more than it initially seems, and is definitely worth a full playthrough.

Magicians & Looters was developed by Morgopolis Studios, it's available on Desura and Steam. It's soundtrack is available on Bandcamp.

Keurig would be proud - The Desolate Hope

The Desolate Hope, by Scott Cawthon is a very unusual game. Part metroidvania platformer, part JRPG, and part top down dungeon crawler. on paper it sounds like these three things shouldn't work together but the desolate hope somehow manages to pull it off.

The Desolate Hope tells the story of a robotic coffee maker named Coffee, it's on an unknown planet along with several robots called derelicts. It's job, along with an antivirus program it's made, is to go into the simulations being run by these derelicts to fight a mysterious virus that is attacking them. The story is actually very well done and kept me interest throughout the entire game, and there's a good bit more to it then the somewhat simple setup I've given it implies. But this is a story I feel works best if you play it and find things out on your own.

Screens like this act as transitions between the various locations in the game.

The main gameplay is broken into several parts. The station you start out in, called the Lun Infinius acts as a sort of hub, it's rooms allowing you to acces the sims being run by the derelcts during the day, or go search for supplies outside at night. most of the gameplay takes place in these sims, whick play like a metroidvania platform game, you jump and shoot throug the levels, searching for various powers-ups and stores to help either reach new areas in the levels, or gather supplies to help with boss fights. You'll also find dungeons hidden away in these levels.

The Dungeons are played in a top down perspective, and play a bit like the original Legend of Zelda. you explore the rooms, fighting monsters and finding secret areas your goal being a rift hidden somewhere in each one that acts as a boss of sorts. They control well enough, and make a nice change of pace form the platforming, completing them also gives bits, the game's currency, and unlocks abilities to help in the rpg style boss fights, making them well worth seeking out and completing.

Locations inside the sims can be very unique.

The boss battles are likely the most interesting part of the game, most of your actions in the platforming stages and dungeons are meant to gather resources and upgrades to prepare for them and they're all fun to play. Each of the derelicts fight for you in this part of the game, and each has their own unique abilities and the fights are hard enough to require some strategy to beat them. they also look great, although they can be a bit too busy at times, with stats and meters and special effects constantly flooding the screen when things are going well.

The game also has a day and night cycle, most of the gameplay takes place during the day. At night the sims shut down and you can exit the station to look for supplies. This is unfortunately the weakest part of the game. The view of the outsdie at night is quite pretty, but the gameplay is overly simplistic, consisting of waking to the left picking up items to can bring back to base to level up the derelicts. there's also a time limit, with the station only having enough power to last oh so many days, though you can eventually find items outside to help extend it.

Night time is pretty, but not very fun to play.

Graphically the game is very nice looking, graphics are highly detailed, the various environments you'll be visiting all support detailed terrain and backgrounds, and each each area looks unique from the rest. characters are also highly detailed, especially the derelicts and the bosses you'll be fighting and everything animates smoothly. it's all very impressive given that game game was mostly made by a single person.

The game also has a very good soundtrack. Each area has it's own music that suits it nicely, and the whole thing is fun to listen too. Unfortunately for those who like collecting game soundtracks, the Developer has said the music has been licensed from a third party and he does have the rights needed to offer one.

Boss battles start off simple, but can become very busy once things get going.

Finally, the game has a pretty decent length to it. It took me just a bit over 7 hours to beat it, and it feels like the right length for this game. It was long enough to both have some fun with the game's various mechanics and let the game tell it's story and it didn't overstay it's welcome.

If you like unique games that mix genres in interesting ways, I'd recommend checking out The Desolate Hope. And an interesting title with a good story that lasts just as long as it needs to do what it wants to do and no longer. At $4.99 it's a good deal for what you're getting.

The Desolate Hope was developed by Scott Cawthon. It is available on Steam.