Game reviewing requires you to sometimes play genres that maybe you’re not so interested in. When those come along, you can still judge a game to be ‘good’ if it is still a great game despite the fact that maybe it’s not your particular cup of tea. Some genres though, it’s very hard to do much different with.

Dungeon Escape is a 2D jumping platformer in the same one-hit, one-kill, start level over again vein as Super Meat Boy. You have hazards, you have one hit point. You need to get out of the level and onto the next one. Simple. The art style is simple but not basic, and the game moves and plays very fluidly. You are a prisoner in this dungeon and you need to make it through even dangerous level, grab the key, bring it to the door and exit to make it to the next level/room of the dungeon with the hope of eventually escaping.

The levels are clearly constructed, and since you usually enter in a spot out of danger you’ve time to evaluate which way you need to go and the hazards you need to avoid. Of course, jumping around, over or between hazards needs timing, poise and… well, as I said this is one of those one-hit, one-kill, restart games. One wrong move and you needs to start all over again. The game has a points system, and around levels you will find coins to collect if you wish to bring up your score. Of course, to get to those coins you need to risk restarting the level again so it’s perfectly possible to grab the key and run if you want. Levels will also gain enemies that can kill you also in one touch, but very much like a Goomba they can be stomped upon and at times will need to be to clear certain areas and make them safe for you.

As I said in the beginning, even if you’re not fond of a genre that doesn’t mean a game in it is necessary ‘bad’. There’s been games I am terrible at, but know that they’re great games – I just suck at them. Dungeon Escape however, does not feel like one of those games. There’s very little reward for making it through levels other than unlocking the next one in the chain. Timing jumps, getting through spaces, hitting something and having to do it all over again? It’s not fun and this is one of the few games I’ve ever truly felt like rage quitting on. There wasn’t even a decent story to follow from level to level; I don’t know who this character is I play as, why they’re in this dungeon in the first place, if there’s any antagonists with sentience and if there’s any secrets deeper in the dungeon to discover. That would have at least kept me engaged. That being said, it seems the game was the work of one person but surely even one guy can add a little backstory?

If the challenge and making it through is the payoff that matters for you in the game, you will probably like this game more than I do. I however cannot really recommend this one. It’s a well-put together game and functions perfectly – there’s just nothing to make me want to continue playing.

6/10

I like stories. I love to evaluate the way they’re built, characters and especially those narratives that play with the typically accepted patterns and turn them on their head. It’s been done quite a bit, but I never get tired of flipping a story on its head and experiencing it from the other side.

So Nefarious, which is a modern take on the 2D platformer genre that has you play as the villain? Yeah, it got my interest immediately. The main character is villain Crow, who indulges in the time-honoured tradition of kidnapping the princess of his area, Princess Mayapple, as well as building doomsday devices and so on, so forth. Pitted against him is hero Mack, a Megaman-esque type who is in a relationship with Mayapple and is her ‘hero’. Only throughout the first level, which takes place in the city location the three are based in, you get hints in the dialogue that honestly the kidnapping thing has happened so often that Mayapple and Crow understand each other a bit better than Mayapple and Mack do right now. It’s wonderful to see the three play out their roles while still being believably the role they fit into.

The gameplay itself takes place over several different locations as Crow sets out beyond his usual boundaries to kidnap many princesses for an ultimate weapon. Enemies will be encountered and can be dispatched with punches or with grenades which have a timer of a few seconds unless they hit an enemy. Grenades can also be used to hit buttons and can also sometimes be found fixed into place to act as a jump booster for higher up platforms. Defeated enemies usually drop grenade refills, also they can also drop heart canisters if you have taken on some damage. Crow starts with 3 hearts and enemies can take a half or full heart on hit, while most enemies early on take only one punch or grenade. Different princesses grabbed also give Crow certain abilities, such as the Insektia princess letting Crow jump higher or further than before; and abilities can be upgraded in between location levels by spending accumulated currency that you pick up while in the location levels. Death will also leave behind a chunk of the current amount of money you are currently carrying too, and you can grab it again as you go past by touching, punching or blowing up the container left behind.

I really enjoyed this game, as I adored the characters, the use of tropes and the chance to take part in ‘reverse boss battles’ (you get to be the boss against heroes!) as well as the regular boss encounter type battles. My gripes with this game extend to one thing though – who thought it was a good idea to tie the punch to the right-mouse button and grenades to the left? Most games will tie a punch to the left and grenades to the right, so my muscle memory really played havoc with me (fortunately you cannot blow yourself up with your own grenades). We have a suspicion that this might be a game that plays better with the aid of a controller.

If you love 2D platformers, give this one a go. It’s not that expensive and it’s a lot of fun, with interesting characters and awesome music.

7.5/10

An awful lot of the games I’ve reviewed so far are simple little indies, and a number of those were ports of small mobiles games or at least had the feel of one. When I say that, you get a picture of the sort of thing I’m talking about but sometimes you get a game like that, but different. This is one of those.

Forge of Gods is a free-to-play RPG game on Steam, in which you progress step by step through levels against opponents, picking up dropped loot and most importantly collecting souls of defeated monsters to capture and then add to your army. A big part of this is the ability to merge together or evolve souls of two of the same creature to make a stronger new creature, as well as the ability to use ‘crypts’ to summon new creatures. The levels do have a story behind them, and as you go along and clear out creatures you will level up your party and be able to take on stronger enemies.

Another thing this game has is placement strategy – some creatures are melee, others use ranged attacks and others provide support abilities such as buffs or heals. Good placement of your army maximises the efficiency they have as you progress; if you finish a level with some of your army defeated they will still get the experience for the level but there are bonuses for finishing levels without casualties and more attackers on your side just makes it easier to progress. There are also other quests and tasks you can aim to complete, which will reward you with experience, meat to allow you to do levels and sometimes the green gem currency that you can spend on things like summoning in certain crypts or to open rare chests that have a chance to summon a rare soul.

Crypts come in different expense and rarity levels, the more expensive crypts obviously having a greater ability to summon rarer monsters for your needs. You can access the Stone Crypt with soulstones you receive for completing levels or quests though, with chances to gain common and uncommon creatures which can sometimes be useful for other purposes. You can also choose to ‘feed’ spare souls to your more powerful beasts to give them an experience boost – with there being a bonus boost if you ‘feed’ a soul of the same type as the one you’re trying to level (human souls to a human creature for example).

The game does have microtransactions in there, with amounts of currencies being available for set prices. However, this game is perfectly fun without having to spend anything and has an awful lot of content and challenge for a free-to-play and that was not expected – a pleasant surprise in fact! You have the ability to go back to replay levels at a harder difficulty, and you will find yourself going back to level your army a few times but not enough for it to feel like a grindfest. I could play this game an awful lot and feel like I’m doing a good job and making progress no matter how small that progress might be, and that’s a real positive.

I recommend this game if you want a nice simple little creature catching, fighting RPG. It’s free-to-play (with microtransactions and some downloadable content packs that do cost), so go give it a try. What have you really got to lose?

8/10

Check out the video review of the game I did for more:

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