Indie game dev. David Williamson's newest project was officially released to the wilds recently, and I'm definitely digging it. Hack, Slash, Loot is a turn-based dungeon crawler with an objective that could not be more plain: hack, slash, and loot your way to the end. I just spent some quality time with the demo (available here) and I'm definitely a fan of the grid-based movement and combat.
As the title implies, there's loot aplenty with new equipment, weapons, or one-use items - scrolls, potions, and the like - waiting for you around every corner. Dungeons are generated randomly each time you start a quest so it's always a new experience and, much like Binding of Isaac, you can get lucky and things just might go your way or you'll get a particularly difficult draw. In the case of the latter, good luck.
Take a peek at the trailer and screens, give the demo a try, and, if it's your cup o' tea, you can snag the game for $10 for PC, Mac, or Linux.
Just a heads up (to the writer of the post and anyone else), these sorts of grid based random dungeon games are part of the genre called "Rogue-like" (Rogue being the first one of them). If you're interested in the older (and possibly better/more fun) games of this genre I recommend checking out Nethack (It's Free, and regarded as one of the best roguelikes). Originally it was a game done in ASCII but people have done graphical versions of it, it's vast and hard and you'll probably never beat it. Here's a link to Vulture's eye http://www.darkarts.co.za/vulture (My favourite graphical version of it) and a guide video on me on it (it's a hard game to get into, complicated but rewarding). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u_zZvchg98
Honestly I could never see myself paying for a roguelike ever, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel on something like that. There are so many free options for good roguelikes, that still have open and active development that paying for one seems like a waste, of my money and the developers time.
I love roguelikes, and I really like the old style sprites (even though that seems to be a stigma of indie design these days :/), but I wish the camera/movement was smooth, feels so weird how it all just jumps :/
It's like EToaster said. Unless you get one of the two or three really useful items early on its pointless. Characters don't even really matter beyond starting stats and equipment.
I love games _like_ this, but I don't like _this_ game. It's just not fun. You can't soldier on with bad items. You can't even gain health if you don't find the right items. It's all RNG.
I read up on this on the indie game blog, looks prettty rad, but the 10 bucks this week ill spend is going to Shank 2. I still have a lot of Binding of Isaac first though.
This looks interesting, but. At the end of it (youtube related), I found defendersquest.com ! Been playing it all morning. This game is no-time-to-put-socks-on-good. I wish it was available on steam but will probably buy anyway. Try the demo online, it's clever, you can export savefile and continue after you bought the game.
Not really sure why you would get this if you wanted a graphical, easily playable, roguelike. Dredmor is cheaper and way better looking, along with some nice mod support. And otherwise there's a billion others out there for free...
I like the idea of "accessible" Roguelike games. Even though it isn't a genre that really needs that accessibility, games like Dungeons of Dredmor have proved you can still do a brutal game like this and make it pretty.
That being said, I'll still probably stick to Angband and DoomRL, but this one definitely will be worth a shot if only for its cool visual style.
Dungeons of Dredmor is honestly a better package for a rougelike. More classes, more strategy, a great sense of humor, and at it's worst it's $5, that's if you don't wait for a routine steam sale.
Part of the problem with some of these indie games seems to be that our standard of what is "cheap" has changed a great deal since the release of same. So buying a game like Frayed Knights for 22 dollars, or this for 10 is now an expensive risk compared to getting Dredmor for 2.99 on a sale.
10 dollars isn't really very much money by two or three years ago standards, but now its hard to justify.
I hope the game sells well regardless. It does look cool.
Promoting this game leaves me a little sour. Did you play it? No offense to the developer, but its just not balanced. I think 10 dollars is a fair price for any game so price is not the issue, I just judge the game on its actual merits. The visuals, presentation, and streamlined interface are great. I feel that simply balancing this game would take it from almost unplayable to something truly engaging.
https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/home
Brogue is a recently release independent rogue-like that I feel is far superior.
I love roguelike games. Thanks for pointing this one out. Tried the demo and bought a copy. Cool little game.
As for it being better/worse than other roguelikes, while there are plenty of them out there and I play/own several of them, not being better/more complicated/etc doesn't make it any less fun. Different flavors of the same beast.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 02.04.2012 | 
Right after my 1000th playthrough of Desktop Dungeons!
Yeah, I was wondering why he didn't call it a "rougelike" in the post.
*goes back to dungeons of dredmor*
I love games _like_ this, but I don't like _this_ game. It's just not fun. You can't soldier on with bad items. You can't even gain health if you don't find the right items. It's all RNG.
kudos, pal. good job.
Are you F'ing serious ?
That being said, I'll still probably stick to Angband and DoomRL, but this one definitely will be worth a shot if only for its cool visual style.
10 dollars isn't really very much money by two or three years ago standards, but now its hard to justify.
I hope the game sells well regardless. It does look cool.
https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/home
Brogue is a recently release independent rogue-like that I feel is far superior.
As for it being better/worse than other roguelikes, while there are plenty of them out there and I play/own several of them, not being better/more complicated/etc doesn't make it any less fun. Different flavors of the same beast.