Sonucido: The Mage - A Dungeon Crawler by Daniel da Silva
Find your way through the depths of Sonucido in this turn-based Dungeon Crawler RPG, where every decision has an impact!
Sonucido: The Mage is inspired by recent Dungeon Crawlers but instead of a party you control one character.
Your goal is clear: Find the mage!
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Turn-Based Combat: Easy to learn but hard to master. No battle-dancing!
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Slay Enemies: Defeat a variety of enemies with different weaknesses and strengths.
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Replayability: Discover multiple endings and different paths through the depths of Sonucido.
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Exploration: Look around and find potions, optional side-quests, secrets and more.
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Bold Game Design: No inventory management, no novel-length text walls, no 30 minute tutorial.
Der Geisterturm / The Ghost Tower
Der Geisterturm is a game i could only describe as “hostile”.
It’s a grid-based, first person dungeon crawler not unlike say, Warhammer 40k’s Space Hulk, except you’re piloting a mecha - and i don’t mean the “protagonist” kinda mecha. You’re essentially stomping around in the kinda grunt suit that gets oneshot by the Gundam 5 seconds into a battle setpiece. You know, a Zaku I basically.
Now, while nothing in the game will actually oneshot you, what this means is that combat is often going to be an extremely risky endeavor, as to even have the slightest chance of survival you’re going to have to learn to:
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game
The spin-off sequel to the mecha dungeon crawler Das Geistersciff. Der Geisterturm improves on every aspect of the original title. Like the original game, an emphasis is placed on moving with purpose instead of slowly farming experience for levels. The player must manage limited resources such as ammo and the overall durability of your Robotic Combat Suit through the use of repair stations scattered around the tower. The player also has to worry about the health of the suit’s pilot as durability decreases, putting a heavier emphasis on avoiding enemies and damage whenever possible.
– Real player with 16.9 hrs in game
Dungeon Of Dragon Knight
If a casual, grid-based, well-done dungeon crawler would have its standards that every other should follow or be better at - it would have been this one. Everything is done alright in the way we expect from the genre. And it is tasty, and it is good, and it is in a brand new dungeon. Incline!
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Simple but not stupid character generation that allows even for experiments such as 4 archers. Good enough real-time “side-stepping” combat. Exploration and finding secrets means meanigful rewards. The atmosphere is very good and brooding. Puzzles are kinda simple but not without the charm (I especially like how they intertwine with traps). Death is not around every corner, but things can surprise you quickly if you don’t pay enough attention. There is very likely no grinding here, all monsters are hand placed - or at least after 10 hrs of gameplay I haven’t encountered a respawning point or whatnot. The same thing goes for the treasures and the only thing that’s random is the gold amount found. You can spend gold in the shop (wo)manned by a lewd, humorous she-shopkeeper ‘:3
– Real player with 36.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dungeon Crawler Adventure Games.
SHORT REVIEW.
Dungeon of Dragon Knight is a good solid dungeon crawler. If you like classic dungeon crawlers then this game is definitely for you but if they are not really you’re thing then probably best to give it a miss.
LONG REVIEW.
Dungeon of Dragon Knight is a good solid dungeon crawler with a decidedly “old school” feel despite being quite a modern game. The graphics and sound are up to modern standards and at the time of writing (about 18 months after release) the game is still being supported and updated by the developers.
– Real player with 33.3 hrs in game
Legend of Grimrock 2
Legends of Grimrock 2 is a Dungeon Crawler with real-time combat, lots of riddles and secrets, magic and potions, all wrapped up in gorgeous graphics. I’ve just replayed it after a couple of years and it is still fantastic, the best dungeon crawler out there.
Highly recommended!
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77 secrets, 11 buried treasures, 17 “epic items” to find in 34 different areas
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Lots of different enemies with various attack types and weaknesses
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The game looks fantastic, the enemies and the different areas are very unique and memorable
– Real player with 157.9 hrs in game
Legend of Grimrock 2 is one of those games that improves upon the prequel in (almost!) every way, and I can’t do anything but whole-heartedly recommend it – Even for people who haven’t played the first. As it stands right now, there are several problems, but I’ll address what I liked about the game first.
The combat is just as fun as the first game, though now with arguably more strategy involved as most enemies are keen to your side-stepping ways and will have methods to counter them. Most enemies can now be countered by simply walking backward, as they lack lunging attacks save for a few smarter enemies, but at least that involves knowing the area and not simply moving into a 4x4 grid and keeping combat in that small, controlled area. Some enemies can still be conquered with that strategy, but they are few and far between.
– Real player with 80.9 hrs in game
Legend of Grimrock
I just finished the game and I can’t say I really loved it. It has good and bad sides. Overall though, it was mostly bad. I will still recommend this game because I might just be getting too old for this type of game. I was curious and once I started I just had to finish it but it was mostly not fun to finish. More like a chore.
I felt that the game was difficult, even on normal. Luckily, you can save in the middle of a battle and the game persists the HP of the monster you are fighting. So you can abuse this. The game did not reward me for being patient and efficient. In the end, I had tons of potions but never really had time to use them. I also had tons of bombs but similarily, the action was too fast for me to really make use of them. I am saying this because this is an ARPG. ACTION role playing game. You need to click fast on your screen to be good. There are no hotkeys to attack or cast spells - on purpose - and combat is real time.
– Real player with 60.0 hrs in game
Grimrock plays like Eye of the Beholder with better graphics and actual depth of field. If you liked EotB, that’s a good thing. If you hated it (or have no idea what EotB even is), this game is PROBABLY not for you. It doesn’t feel like a modern game. It feels like an upscaled version of a game from the DOS era. The puzzles are vague and cryptic, there are no “directional arrows” pointing you where to go, very few map notations, you have to memorize (or write down) spells and recipes, and your supply of… everything is limited. If you do stupid things, you will die.
– Real player with 42.9 hrs in game
Ruzar - The Life Stone
TL;DR: Its not quite as good as LoG 1/2, but its still good. Graphics and ambient sounds are nice. One thing, the female voice’s “oof” when you get hit bugs me, especially when you get hit with a DoT and it “oof"s every second. MAJOR flaw is theres no alternate weapon sets, making ranged weaps useless - you actually have to go into inven and re-equip everything to switch ranged/melee, suicide since the game doesnt pause in-menu. Combat & magic is simple, the magic system is just a click to cast, instead of runes or whatnot. Still, in a genre that hasnt seen many decent games recently, Ruzar is a breath of fresh air and worth picking up. Longtime fans of the genre will enjoy it, but its also accessible to new players of the genre.
– Real player with 73.8 hrs in game
I was really impressed with this game the moment I started playing it. It’s something between LoG and MMX which I loved both so it’s not suprising that I’m very pleased with Ruzar-TLS also!
Pros:
-NPCs
-Quests
-Shop(s) with different approach than usual
-Hard when you begin and before you start figuring out elements of the game since there is no holding hands from the tutorial aside some basics
-Nice and easy UI that helps you in combat, etc.
-Interesting and promising skilltree
-Well thought of using stones/torches etc in the game without going to inventory first and needing to place them in hand to use them
– Real player with 52.1 hrs in game
The Deep Paths: Labyrinth Of Andokost
I come to Steam everyday with the hope that a decent dungeon crawl will be waiting for me… today I see “The Deep Paths” and knew it was going to be a good evening of exploration and battle, I was not wrong.
Fan of Grimrock, Ruzar and of course Dungeon Master will find some entertainment here, it’s well done, it has all the elements we know and love, and the price is right.
** Update: I finished the game and here are some thoughts… There are no multiple mobs, meaning you never encounter more than one face-to-face, keeping that in mind, I have 4 well geared party members, one rat should be no match, nor one mole, it seems unbalanced in that respect. Floor holes are harmless, you can’t step in to one and fall, you can fall if a trap door opens under you. No food, no water, no skills, no death unless your whole party is disabled. Secret buttons are everywhere as bricks, never saw a ring or chain with a ring that was activated. In comparison to other dungeon crawls the final boss somewhat weak, I found the game as a whole was neither too tough or too easy. The save positions are wonky, if you get too many the autosave can lockup the game and even go in a save ‘loop’, try to keep the number of saves to four or less.
– Real player with 43.0 hrs in game
Not DM, Not EOB, Not LOG.
Pros:
Looks Nice. The environment is dungeon like, while the walls are fairly nondescript and repetative they still crafted well enough to keep the atmosphere intact. The same can be said for the tiles, chains, torches and other asthetic adornments. The monsters are smooth, well articulated and rounded with an ounce of cuteness that gives a warm feel to the game, even when being gouged to death.
Simple. I don’t mean that in terms of depth but in ease of use, as in a few clicks and you are away. The character generation is neither bogged down in comnplex choices nor overly cumbersome. While I do enjoy character creation that is complex and deep, I don’t feel it is necessary to the enjoyment of a game every time. Games like Wizardry 8 for example, while in this genre, would terrify someone not familiar with such games, whereas this one would not. Sometimes all that is needed to build a bond between you and your party are names that mean something or are fun. I went with ‘Bob, Robert, Bobby Sue and Bobette.’
– Real player with 23.4 hrs in game
The Quest
So, I’m not super far into this game just yet, but, I’ve just binged 3+ hours in one sitting, and it’s now 4am, and I have to be up for work in 2 hours. So. I think I can pretty safely give this a thumb up just now.
As other reviews have covered in great detail, it’s essentially Might and Magic 1 with a single character instead of a party. Overall, despite being a clear throwback to old gameplay and design styles, it’s pretty solid in the playability realm - I do wish they’d improved some of the interfaces slightly, however; buying and selling is kind of a pain, because you can’t really compare what you’re using, to what you’re looking at buying on the same screen. Repairing items at a shop is also somewhat inconvenient, as it’ll list every item that you have, without designating which ones you’re actually using. The map feature is also not really great, in that only terrain features are marked; if you want to keep track of questgivers, dungeons, etc, you literally need to make notes on the map. Kind of a waste of time/effort to have to label everything; I understand fully the value of having the player involved in keeping track of locations, etc, but I think they really swung the pendulum a little too far in the wrong direction. Stuff like signposts are marked on the map, but you need to actually visit them to see what they say. Again - I get it, but it’s not really 1200 AD in a fantasy world, I’m playing this on a computer, and not wasting my time on something pointless is just a nice feature. Regardless, though, it isn’t attrocious, and I’ve only had to look up a couple things to save myself time, and time wandering around aimlessly trying to remember where some stupid goblins were was fairly minimal.
– Real player with 77.8 hrs in game
The Quest captures perfectly the look of old grid-based first-person RPG’s like Eye of Beholder or the Might & Magic series, but not their feel. I started playing the Quest with a gleeful joy and in long stretches of time, but as I discovered the game’s many glaring faults along the way, my impression dwindled to mostly positive status. It looks great, sounds great, the combat is okay, but the writing and the quests are quite bad.
Always Welcomed
The Quest starts with you being the new and untrained King’s Agent, while you discover the mysteries of the lonely archipelago and who are the enemies of the Kingdom. And the world looks beautiful: for a 2D game, the Quest looks life-like, with vibrant colors and sharp, detailed sprites that look great on a widescreen monitor. As you stroll through the sandbox design of these islands, you’ll stroll through the dark and foreboding forests, bustling medieval cities mired in stone and wood, fossilized woods that were terrorized by volcanoes, snow covered valleys and icy lakes, and the dangerous dungeons that taunt you with a promise of dazzling riches. The sound of fight and the chirping birds in the distance help solidify your belonging in this meticulously hand-crafted world, and the music, while simple, effectively enchants your travels in this world. When you enter the houses, castles and vendor’s places, you are greeted with nicely crafted portraits of NPCs eager to engage in a chit-chat about how they’re in trouble and need your help with some minor thing. From beggars to the King, everyone needs YOU to solve their problems, and you are at the center of everything that’s happening in the archipelago.
– Real player with 49.8 hrs in game
7 Mages
Yesterday the “final PC version” has been released and 7 Mages left the EA on Steam. I am very disappointed with the PC release.
First disappointment - I expected a full PC game
The game never left Android! It’s still wrapped in a clunky emulating software, it still looks like a mobile game and it still controls like a mobile game. The added support for keyboard isn’t worth much, because the menu is still made for mobile phone. In terms of gameplay, you’re actually better off controlling everything with your mouse, because it’s faster and gives you an advantage vs. monsters. And I’m not mentioning bugs from using keyboard controls..
– Real player with 40.6 hrs in game
CZ- ENG
CZ
Pro hrace starych Bran Skeldalu dobra volba, pro nove krapet optiznejsi tahova jeskynovka s extremni nutnosti farmit zlato.
Za malou cenu hodne muziky takze smele do toho, kdo nehral prvni doporucuji taktez- daji se jiz sehnat zadarmo/Score.
Brany Skeldalu.
Verzatilita postav.
Moznost mit silneho maga navleceneho v platovce.
Variabilita vybaveni (az do mrtveho mesta).
I s xtremnim farmenim 35h zabavy.
Nutnost mit alespon 3akce(snad krome hudebniku).
Ohnivy cerv, Gnom.
Troll na moste!
– Real player with 35.2 hrs in game
Advent Crossroad
I came across this game after searching for games like Etrian Odyssey & Shin Megami Tensei.
I’ll start with the positives :)
The good
The ‘vibe’ of the game is very similar to Devil Survivor, artwork is nice, story starts off nice and simple and gets more involving as you go through.
Battle system is similar enough to above mentioned games and also varied enough for you to get a kick out of organising your party with a selection of acquired skills (collected via getting hit by a monsters attack whilst you use a turn to absorb said monster skills).
– Real player with 18.2 hrs in game
A great dungeon crawling game! I had a lot of fun finishing it. The SMT inspirations did a great job here, btw! Can’t wait to see your next project and good luck!
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game