Developer: Jaspel
Publisher: Different Tales, IndieArk
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £15.68 (Itch.io), £15.99 (Epic), £16.75 (Gog.com and Steam)
Released: 14th November 2023
Available on: Itch.io, Epic, Gog.com and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard / Steam Deck
Approximate game length: 12 hours +
I’ve been waiting for this game to finally leave Early Access ever since I saw the youtuber Manyatruenerd play it. I purchased this game fairly early in its development but held off from playing it because even though I could see its potential I wanted to see what it would blossom into.
The core mechanic of this game revolves around your inventory and what you have in it. The inventory is represented to be similar to a Resident Evil style inventory grid system, which you make use of in combat.
Combat is turn based, during which most items stored within the inventory can be used. There are some examples such as armour that automatically gets used and some items have no use in combat at all. By default you start three energy points, each item you use has an energy cost (which is typically one point).
Some items have adjacency bonuses or gain benefits from their position within your inventory. For example, there is a gem that adds two damage to any weapon that is two spaces away from it.
Each time you win in combat you can take up to three items, you also gain experience based on which enemies you defeat (as some enemies will flee granting no experience).
Levelling up allows you to add more spaces to your inventory, depending on which character you are playing as at the time this may work slightly differently. For example when, Purse (the default character) levels up you select three spaces that are contiguous to your existing inventory. However, when Satchel levels up he gets to choose between two shapes that can be added to the existing space or can create a separate ‘pocket’. Something to note is that all your levels are removed upon ending a delve causing you to start afresh each time you try again.
Upon completion of a delve into the dungeon you return to your home village of Haversack Hill, it’s seen better days, but through your adventuring you can improve it by constructing new buildings.
The buildings you construct can roughly be split into two types, resource generation and research.
Resource generating buildings will build up resources in the Haversack Hill while you’re dungeon delving. These resources are necessary for creating more buildings as well as unlocking new items through research. Research buildings allow you to unlock new items that you can encounter in later delves.
Much like with your inventory buildings also have adjacency bonuses that increase their effectiveness.
There are lots of things to discover while delving, sometimes it’s combat, sometimes its treasure and occasionally you have the chance to unlock other characters to explore the dungeon as. Each of these characters come with their own inventory mechanics that change the way the game is played.
Occasionally some of the items you find are cursed and if you don’t add them to your inventory they will follow you and begin to replace items you find in combat and from chests. To get rid of them you have to cleanse them through a healer or finish your delve. It should be noted that cursed items are almost always powerful but have a downside.
The game runs great on the Steam Deck, though I did have some minor issues specifically regarding switching between using the touchscreen and then returning to the buttons. If you use the touchscreen the game has a bit of an issue switching back to the utilisation of the buttons, this thankfully is fixed by pressing the pause button and then using the buttons to exit it.
This game was wonderful to play and an amazing example of what a simple concept can do when expanded upon. This is a game I highly encourage you to try out and see what builds you can create.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Peglin
God of Weapons
