ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)

ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)

Ancient Domains of Mystery… what a name. Truth be told, of all games I have played on my PC in the last 15 years, ADOM has surely been the one I keep returning to most often. And if there’s anything that hasn’t changed since the first time is that, whenever I do start up a new character, I can hardly keep myself off the game until the character dies… or until I win. Today the game is officially released on Steam, and the least I can do to repay ADOM and its team for hundreds upon hundreds of hours of fun is to review it.

Real player with 1030.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best CRPG Traditional Roguelike Games.


There’s a lot I could say about ADOM but I’ll try to keep this brief:

Positives

  • The fact that the base ASCII game is, and always will be, free (it’s included in the Steam version, but you can download it stand-alone from the official website)

  • The new graphics update makes it much easier to see what’s going on and control your movements compared to the base game (i.e. if a monster is hostile to you, health bars, dots above sprites denoting status effects, the ability to click on things is especially helpful in your inventory,

Real player with 660.7 hrs in game

ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery) on Steam

Alien world Millionaire

Alien world Millionaire

does this game come in english

Real player with 0.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best CRPG Strategy Games.


Alien world Millionaire on Steam

Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition

Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition

This is Baldur’s Gate 2. You wouldn’t need something else to say.

But 2.0 update came out.

It did bring some improvements with it. Some spells and abilities were tweaked, a new class was added, some bugs fixed. Changes were made into a save system - now there are 4 slots for quicksaves. Cloudsaves and achievements were enabled. Off-hand weapons became equippable with launchers and two-handers, preventing constant jumping into inventory. Further zooming is enabled. That’s a good thing.

Some of the graphics was changed. Outlines were added for sprites, for instance. This gave the game a cartoonish look, turning them off replaced thick lines with thin ones thus retaining cartoon style.

Real player with 325.8 hrs in game


Read More: Best CRPG Story Rich Games.


Baldur’s Gate II is the best role-playing game ever made.

It is everything that so-called RPGs of more recent times have forgotten: not defined by skill trees, vapid dialogue, time-wasting errands or how big the world is, but by its unparalleled depth, insane replay value through class variety and actual choice and consequence throughout the world.

“Ah, the child of Bhaal has awoken."

Awakening to a cold cell deep beneath the city of Athkatla, far to the south in the nation of Amn, you find yourself in over your head once again. It seems that no matter where the Bhaalspawn goes, fate and the latent power in your blood has a way of catching up in the end. After escaping, your path is set to figure out just what brought you into contact with this “Irenicus” you keep hearing whispers of… and what exactly the powers that be have in store for you.

Real player with 225.9 hrs in game

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition on Steam

Dice and the Tower of the Reanimator: Glorious Princess

Dice and the Tower of the Reanimator: Glorious Princess

This game is a part of The Reanimator Saga. Some of the same characters appear, but the stories are independent of each other and can be enjoyed separately.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1294380/_/

This work and Case 02: Paranormal Evilwere co-developed by MaouCat Studio and Sounding Stone. These two games share similar gameplay elements but have completely different worlds and stories.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1662340/_/

In this game, you play the role of a warrior who enters the Tower of the Reanimator to search for an elixir. You must use your dice to fight enemies. It tests your decision-making skills…and your luck! Collect equipment to increase the number of dice you can roll. Develop your own strategy and embark on an amazing adventure!

You have a certain number of destiny points (DP). At times when your roll is not good enough, you can make up the difference with DP. This allows you to change your destiny in a critical situation. However, DP are a precious resource: you must use them carefully!

There are many different ways to get through the same stage. You can use strength to defeat enemies, or you can use agility to dodge traps. Choose a gameplay style that works for you, depending on your equipment and preferences.

What conspiracy lurks in the tower and how should you deal with it? There are two different endings available that depend on your behavior in the game.

You can select “Hard Mode” where the dice will only roll below 3 or “Extreme Mode” where the dice will only roll to 1. Prove how good your strategy is when it doesn’t rely on luck!

Dice and the Tower of the Reanimator: Glorious Princess on Steam

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

I hesitated honestly to recommend it, but Beamdog has been doing bugfixes still in 2020-2021 (!), so that certainly deserves respect and appreciation as such! (Beamdog is the company responsible for the Enhanced Edition. The original was developed by Black Isle Studios [Fallout 1-2, Planescape].)

Though it looks like Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 (same engine, though not the same designers), the design and story are very different. I highly recommend playing BG1 and 2 in priority. IWD is much more linear (though I like the ambiance), with very little choices, and the AD&D rules used in BG1 and BG2 were butchered a bit in IWD. Although the rules are very similar, many of the character statistics have changed. The game balance (difficulty) is sometimes very odd in IWD. Many creatures can hit -15 AC easily (beyond rolling natural 20 which are always automatic hits in all those games). In terms of being linear, it is more of a dungeon crawl, from point A to point B, and so it is not a region to explore in an uncertain order à la BG2 or Fallout. And, really, sometimes your party is crawling forward under waves of creatures to slay.

Real player with 155.9 hrs in game

Having never played neither D&D or an Infinity engine game before, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much value was put on the table in Icewind Dale: EE, not just as a videogame, but also as an introductory of sorts to D&D for new players.

Right of the bat you’re given the option to create a party of six (though you can choose to roll with a smaller party, or even solo the whole game) with a ludicrous amount of customization at your fingertips. For those new to the whole thing such as myself at the time, the options available might seem too overwhelming at first with all the different races, classes, weapon proficiencies, etc. Needless to say I’d spent the first few hours just to setup my party. This is a good thing.

Real player with 129.7 hrs in game

Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition on Steam

TaleSpire

TaleSpire

This tabletop will change the way you play your online sessions forever.

If you are a DM and felt at any point that your sessions were “flat”, that combat was lacking the 3d aspect, or that your maps were not detailed enough, you need to get this.

If you are a player and you appreciate when the DM had a table with an impressive set of walls, traps and miniatures waiting for the game session, you need to get this.

If you at any point looked at your game board, and said. I’d love for it to be as impressive as videogames, with animations and lights, you need to get this.

Real player with 160.3 hrs in game

This program is amazing, and it has allowed many in our group to get into D&D that never would have before. We’ve been running a campaign for a few weeks now, and it has been a blast using this program. We all live far away from each other, so getting together was not an option, but the visual aspect of this game has helped some of our players enjoy D&D that never would have enjoyed sitting around a table and playing.

This game is also a huge money saver. For $25, you get to create all these maps and have access to so many minis, which would cost a fortune getting real ones from Dwarvenforge (for example, an unpainted cottage stone set on there is $40, that’s just the cottage).

Real player with 110.0 hrs in game

TaleSpire on Steam

Two Die

Two Die

This is such an awesome addicting and rewarding strategy game! It has good old school 8 bit graphics, similar to fire emblem with a dungeons and dragons feel at its core giving a more personal character experience.

My favorite aspect of the game is once you clear a level you can either pick from three items that either give a stat bonus, new attacks, or fully heal. This gives you the ability to make very diverse character builds, while also adding an edge of difficulty since you cannot heal if you decide to improve your characters build after each level.

Real player with 10.4 hrs in game

Very nice!

Real player with 3.3 hrs in game

Two Die on Steam

Case 02: Paranormal Evil

Case 02: Paranormal Evil

Case:02: Paranormal Evil is a casual story driven game about a guy that wakes up in a hospital amidst a zombie outbreak spurred on by cultists in the area. The game features very well done pixel art as well as some anime art of the characters in the dialog cards. Just well executed for the game and gives a charming essence to the experience. The game has you do skill checks of Willpower, Firepower, and Dexterity and items that you can equip will increase the number of dice you can use against these checks against any paranormal evil beings you may come across.

Real player with 5.6 hrs in game

Story

You play as Marty, a boy woke up from a coma only to find himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Marty befriends a girl, Sally, who looked after him while he was comatose, but then she gets kidnapped by the Cult of Gla’aki. Despite being an ordinary guy, Marty has to fight his way through the undead hordes inorder to save Sally and escape the hospital.

While the story stands well on its own, it feels a lot different from the other games in the Physical Exorcism games thematically. For one thing, Marty and Sally are written as traditionally sympathetic protagonists, unlike Brucie, Jade, and Lucy, who are written as darker protagonists that most people wouldn’t cheer for. Also, while Loser Reborn tried to deconstruct the wish fulfillment of Isekai stories, I feel that Case 02 plays the wish fulfillment of the zombie apocalypse genre straight.

Real player with 3.5 hrs in game

Case 02: Paranormal Evil on Steam

Cultist Simulator

Cultist Simulator

I’m a writer, and I fell in love with Alexis Kennedy’s imagery and lore. I was never into videogames, but the storytelling and atmosphere really spoke to me. I recommend it to dreamers and problem-solvers alike.

Real player with 1273.0 hrs in game

This game has to be the single most difficult game I’ve ever played, I wont lie.

Like it’s one thing if a game is hard as balls, but this game physically hurts to play.

It’s not even a matter of frustration or anything like that.

All I have to do is look at the game board, and then my head starts to pound.

No game I have ever played before has had me slam my head down on my desk after winning because winning means I don’t have to torture myself anymore …until my brain decides that starting a new run is a good idea, that is.

Real player with 90.7 hrs in game

Cultist Simulator on Steam

Quiver Dick’s Terrible Tale For Terrible Parents To Read To Their Equally Terrible Children

Quiver Dick’s Terrible Tale For Terrible Parents To Read To Their Equally Terrible Children

When I first saw the preview for Quiver Dick’s (hehehehh well played steam…) Terrible Tale For Terrible Parents to Read To Their Equally Terrible Children, I knew I needed to play it. This game has dark humour, hilarity, a thirsty fairy, awesome music and is dripping in both in-your-face smut and innuendos.

This game is so well put together with incredible art throughout and has the capability of three different possible endings. There are easter eggs as well as nods to music, film and video games throughout with the game clearly being self aware.

Real player with 2.7 hrs in game

First off, if you read the title you already know what kind of game this going to be, and if you already know what kind of game this is going to be your expectations will be high…this game does not disappoint. Off the rip in the opening credits I was enjoying a Monty Python feel (which for me is always a belly laugh kinda experience). The names in the game, the dialogue, the situations encountered..everything about this game felt like it was directly tailored to my idea of humor. The game in and of itself is well made, crisp, and nostalgic in its craft. The laughs will come a plenty and it actually has replay value (which for me as a completionist is awesome). Highly recommend this game for streamers who want to have a good time with their chat and go on a comedy filled journey that will have a lot of “lol’s” “wtf’s” and “LMFAO’S”. Well done Crankagegames…well done.

Real player with 2.4 hrs in game

Quiver Dick's Terrible Tale For Terrible Parents To Read To Their Equally Terrible Children on Steam