Dungeon of the Endless

So I got a new game...  Dungeon of the Endless






I've heard that this game was good a few times from a few reputable sources, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  I know it's a rogue-like, and that it takes place in a dungeon.  And that it might be endless.  Also, there might be an 'of the' in the title somewhere.  Other than that, I'm going in blind.  Wish me luck.

Well that was fun.  It wasn't quite the genre I was expecting.  Apparently the game starts in orbit above some planet.  This is the last place I expected a game to start off in based upon the title.  Quickly things go badly for the space ship, as it's being blasted to pieces by 'something'.  As the ship breaks in two, your escape pod emerges from the blast.  You quickly choose your heroes from a small roster of potential survivors, and smash into the ground.  This isn't the best way to start your day, but makes for a great game intro.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale; a tale of a fateful trip...
 Once you land, or rather, crash with incredible force into the unsuspecting planet, you discover that you're quite a ways under the ground.  Fortunately, your ship just happened to stop its descent right next to the entrance to a network of tunnels.

The weather started getting rough; the tiny ship was tossed.
 These tunnels apparently and quite fortunately connect with the surface of the planet.  Unfortunately, these tunnels are filled with alien creatures intent on preventing you from reaching the surface.



If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the escape pod would be lost.
You soon discover that one of the rooms on your level connects to the level above it. Each level of the network of tunnels is randomly generated, so each playthrough will be unique.  This adds a bit of replayability to the game.  This also means that you must search out and find the room connecting the floors each time.

Venturing out  from the wreckage into the tunnels


There's a bit of resource management involved; structures can be built in certain rooms that improve your chances of survival.  Research can be performed to discover new weapons and equipment.  Merchants can be found with various items for sale.  I'm sure that there are more secrets to discover that I didn't find during my few attempts at the game.




When your hero is equipped with a flame thrower, you're literally in firefights all the time


One interesting thing I noticed in the beginning of the game was that your escape pod can itself be upgraded. Your beginner pod can only hold two heroes; but if you complete the game under certain circumstances, you unlock a bigger pod that can hold three or four heroes at once.  This is a nice incentive to complete the game, as a group of four adventurers could make the game much easier.  With only two heroes, it's pretty much game-over if one dies.



Fighting your way through the tunnels


What I liked: The graphics were pixelated 8-bit style, which were charming.  The animations of the various characters were done very well.  Even with the constraint of the 8-bit style, I never had any confusion as to what I was looking at.  Bad guys were very clearly bad guys. 



The in-game mapping system is quite handy
 What I didn't like:  The game felt very punishing.  Things went from good to disastrous in a heartbeat.  Perhaps on an easier difficulty level the game might be more forgiving, but I felt like clicking the so-called "Too Easy" level was an affront to my gaming heritage.  The only other difficulty level was called "Easy", and that was bad enough. 




I think things went pretty badly at this point.
 
If you're into rogue-likes, this one is a solid title and well worth a look.

Thanks for reading.

Labels: , , , , ,