Inferno - Beyond the 7th Circle
Inferno - Beyond the 7th Circle is a first-person RPG with a horror theme that’s a sequel/spiritual successor to The 7th Circle - Endless Nightmare. Plot-wise there’s no connection between the two games–in the 7th Circle you played a man’s subconscious fighting his inner demons, and in Inferno you play a human survivor fighting literal demons who have all but conquered Earth.
It’s hard to review Inferno without comparing it to the 7th Circle because the two games are so similar. Both are first-person dungeon crawlers, and the basic gameplay of the two games are identical. Nearly all of the enemies are identical too. (there are only 7 or so new ones not counting palette swaps) If you liked one you’ll probably like the other, and vice versa. Where the games differ is that The 7th Circle was restricted to a single dungeon with 20-odd floors and had a permadeath/metaprogression mechanic; Inferno is more of a sprawling open world and abandons the permadeath model for a more traditional RPG.
– Real player with 50.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Dungeon Crawler Games.
Finished the game
Pros:
-Enjoyed character customization and the control given to me for said character growth.
-Enjoyed RNG rolls for gear.
-Enjoyed combo build up in combat.
-Enjoyed utilizing spells and status ailments for a varied combat experience.
-Enjoyed the 1st 2/3rd of the game in terms of difficulty.
-The setting is very unique and I feel it will likely become the new sensation as cyberpunk dies down.
-Enjoyed punching out demon lords and the duke of hell with my bare hands 10/10 would fist hell spawn again~
– Real player with 40.4 hrs in game
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is what happens when you put a visual novel, dungeon crawler, RPG mechanics, survival elements, and base building into one unique experience. After spending all this time on this game I can safely give this a recommend, however due to the unique nature of the game it won’t appeal to everyone.
The gameplay, especially combat, is one of the things that definitely will not appeal to everyone. Combat is in real time and relatively simplistic, which can make the gameplay segments of the game feel like a slog or just filler between bits of interesting story. Further into the game gives more variety to combat but for the most part you’ll be using melee attacks and charged attacks to break parts off of enemies while dodging attacks. For me, I was initially turned off by the combat but I did eventually get used to it and enjoyed it but I would highly suggest watching gameplay of the combat or (if you have a PS4) playing the demo. There are five difficulty levels in the game (I - III available initially, then IV - V are unlocked later) that scale the difficulty of combat and the survival elements of the game. Difficulty I gets rid of all enemies in dungeons and lets you one shot bosses while Difficulty V will provide a significant boost to the amount of enemies and their stats in the dungeons while providing better loot so the game does provides the option to just enjoy the story or give yourself a challenge.
– Real player with 109.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Dungeon Crawler Games.
Wow. Just… Wow.
I have a lot to say about this game, and 98% of it is amazing praise. Let’s jump right into it.
Let’s start with the story!
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning draws you into the story shockingly fast. From meeting your fellow party members and learning the truth behind the strange, metallic X-Keys on your stomachs, to discovering each heart-wrenching plot twist and back story, you won’t want to take a break, except to process and maybe cry a bit, something I possibly… maybe… DEFINITELY had to do. I can’t think of a single moment where the story lulled behind, and the second half of the game finds more ways to invest your attention.
– Real player with 60.9 hrs in game
Kirkileons
A good retro tower defence that requires precision and thoughtfullness and u get to choose 1 out of the 2 systems to complete it ! The war path or the peace path .As u progress it gets all the more challenging and u will definatly restart the level at some point :)
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Survival Tower Defense Games.
UnReal World
This may be the best game I’ve ever played.
You may be wondering why I’m about to give this game such a glowing review when I have under an hour of play time on Steam. That’s because it’s free. It’s been free on the internet for ages. Unreal World, developed by Sami Maaranen, and Erkka Lehmus, is a low fantasy roguelike set in Iron Age Finland. Of course, you know that from the description. To get to know this game, you need to immerse yourself in the world. And it’s a big, complex world. URW has been updated regularly since its release in 1992. That’s 25 years of frequent updates. The most recent version is 3.40, which just left alpha this year. I bought this game to support the devs, and it was worth every penny I paid for it. I’ll do a quick rundown of pros and cons.
– Real player with 776.4 hrs in game
I am absolutely ashamed of myself.
I’ve never considered graphics an issue. Many of my favorite games are pretty old, and I’ve never minded motionless sprites or minimal animation. I played Spiderweb Software’s Exile back in the 90s (and sank countless hours into both of its remakes), along with obscure RPGs like Realmz and TaskMaker, and I enjoyed some truly ancient roguelikes found on shareware CDs that came with magazines. I never had any problems with putting myself into my characters' shoes, graphics notwithstanding. I feel as if the minimal graphics give my imagination more freedom to roam and create on its own, much like reading a book.
– Real player with 588.4 hrs in game
Wayward
TLDR: BUY THE GAME YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!
First, let me start by saying, My game play style is usually casual. I’m normally not a fan of rogue-like, perma-death games at all. Games that even have the words rogue-like or perma-death, I wouldn’t usually even give a chance…..BUT…..A friend that is, and always will be a rogue at heart in every game, that has played Wayward long before it even came to Steam, repeatedly tried to get me to play saying, “just try it, I think you will like this one” managed to get me hooked on this game.
– Real player with 1437.5 hrs in game
TL:DR -
This game is extremely good. The updates are pretty slow so that part sucks, but otherwise it’s pretty playable as is. There’s a decent exchange between the community and the developer, he’s super active on the game’s subreddit. In terms of community outreach I’d say the guy has been doing a phenomenonal job.
Having said that, some things can get a bit repetitive. One of my biggest gripes is how you can’t craft things in batches and instead have to do it one by one. This may not seem like a huge issue initially, but when you’re crafting 120 strings where each crafting action takes ~250-500ms then this adds up rather quickly (another good example is if you want to craft wooden arrows in bulk. You need a bunch of sticks first, and one of the best ways to get a bunch is to chop a few trees for logs and to dismantle them into bark and sticks, not mentioning gathering the feathers that are also required. Excluding the time required to gather the required feathers, it takes about 5 minutes to craft 120 arrows. 120 arrows may seem like a lot and it is if you’re fighting stuff on land, but if you’re fighting stuff that lives in the sea then each arrow is lost on a successful hit. It’s very easy to go through a lot of arrows in the process. I do like this mechanic of losing your arrows since it mostly makes sense, though I think you should be able to salvage a few if you carve up the monster’s carcass. It’s just a hassle to make more and more arrows, especially if you want the higher-tiered ones like iron/stone arrows). You need to use your mouse as well to craft stuff, so my mouse has taken a bit of a beating because of this.
– Real player with 284.1 hrs in game
Chrysalis
Chrysalis is a hybrid tower-defense/survival RPG set in a world of natural mythology, with an emphasis on procedural generation, customizability, and replayability. Play the role of an incorporeal Wisp tasked with defending a magical chrysalis against forces of corruption and darkness. Search for resources and enlist the aid of friendly plants and animals as you explore each randomly generated level. Fend off waves of monsters, with each level offering new challenges, specialized wave types, procedurally generated bosses, and more.
Key Features:
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Symbiosis: take control of any friendly plant or animal in the game.
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Metamorphosis: level up your creatures and plants, transform them into more powerful versions, and apply elemental Spirits for further customization.
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Mutation: a complex mutation system combines different species to create new creatures with unique sets of abilities and metamorphoses.
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Customization: at the beginning of each playthrough, you choose a Chrysalis that caters to a specific style of play, with unlockable abilities that increase your power as you progress. By defeating waves of monsters, you will earn Boons which grant additional passive or active abilities, offering further ways to enhance your controlled creatures.
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Modability: add new creature and plant species, abilities, art, and more by simply editing text files and dropping your images into the appropriate folder. Specific instructions and documentation will be forthcoming.
Home Safe and Silent
Home Safe and Silent is a survival game heavily inspired by popular zombie tabletop board games. You will play as the leader of a colony trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. Each day of the apocalypse you will allocate members of your colony to perform different tasks while also planning out your own route to scavenge for supplies. Each location you explore will have randomly generated rooms which you can rotate around to try and find helpful items for yourself and those you look after.
Key Features:
Search for hidden items in fully interactable rooms
Manage members of your colony by assigning them to different tasks
Fight off the dead by rolling different combat dice based on the weapons you equip
Make every move count!
NEO Scavenger
NEO Scavenger is a turn-based, post-apocalyptic, survival roguelike with perma-death. I also now sometimes fondly call it a Procedural Death Michigan. It’s mean, immersive, annoyingly addictive and seems to strongly dislike players wearing right boots (left boots are fine).
Basically, you scavenge around (and die after the building crumbles on you), fight other people scavenging around (and die valiantly with monkey wrench in hand) or try to talk to them (and die a turn later by drinking a celebratory made-it-through-the-turn sip of poisoned water), try to kill creatures that would like to eat you almost as much as you’d like to eat them (and die hungry), craft items to help you survive (and die warm because your fire alerted every deadly thing around), keep track of your hunger, thirst, diseases and injuries (and die very informed) or try to get to the seemingly last big hub of civilization (and die trying to get there; or trying to get in; or after you get in; or on your way back out).
– Real player with 389.2 hrs in game
Picked this up on a lark, as I am heavily into survival games lately. I was hesitant due to the low res, pixel graphics, but man am I glad I took a chance on this!
What stands out immediately is choice and consequence. You can’t have it all. You have to build a character with weaknesses, and weaknesses can just be not having some of the skills you might like to have, or it can be actual weaknesses to give you points to get more benefits.
You might take Fragile for example, making you take more damage than normal if you get hit, and you might do this because you really want the points it gives you to take Trapping so you can make fire right away at the start of the game.
– Real player with 168.4 hrs in game
Silk
Very nice game! Hope the developers will update and expand it though
+Huge open world for hours of exploring
+Simple mechanics of gameplay - easy to learn in minutes
+History notes makes journey immersive
+Handful of ways to beat the game
-No background/ambient music so it is pretty quiet
-Some pieces of map are empty
-No marching armies, caravans etc.
– Real player with 34.9 hrs in game
Silk is a compelling adventure strategy experience - not a genre name you see very often, and what a shame. The importance of picking a sensible route can be paramount, the threat of storms, raiders, wild animals and dead ends feel real and intense, and the feeling you get when you realise you have hit a dead end and have to turn back is a marvellous frustration.
It also means the satisfaction you get when you bring a caravan of silk back home is magnificent. The smalls joys of exploring a world in which every step matters, finding special locations, taking hidden treasure and fighting each small battle are immense. The feeling when your advisors reach a high enough skill level to start to really make the most of your surroundings is superb. A great adventure strategy title, definitely worth your time.
– Real player with 14.2 hrs in game
Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle
Most of the UI and gameplay issues raised in previous negative reviews have been fixed.
This game is much improved after the recent update (verison 2).
Plays like a relaxing Japanese Grimrock lite.
It is quite possible to run through the game without getting stuck in about 7-8 hours depending on death / collecting all secrets.
It lacks alot of depth but I had fun.
– Real player with 23.9 hrs in game
Well worth the asking price, fun game!
– Real player with 16.4 hrs in game