SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition

It did not grip me. I will admit that it has its charm and it is impressive how much can be achieved with ASCII, but it is a little too clunky for me to be enjoyable.

When I first started this, it seemed like a sort of Text Adventure / RPG-lite experience with bizarre writing. Eventually it kind of ends up as a turn based battle simulator where you move to harder area -> Try to push your combat numbers/equipment to higher numbers -> Beat area + boss -> Move to harder area. It certainly has it's moments early on, when it's all new and feels like an adventure. However, everything but the combat/crafting ends up falling to the wayside. Exploring for equipment/treasure/money ends up falling by the wayside compared to crafting/grinding up your level. Quests with interesting rewards stop appearing after the first area. Your class has no effect on the game apart from some combat mechanics. The story is both linear and uninteresting. And so on. The combat mechanics are decent, with some depth. But it ends up boiling down to figuring out your Class/Archtype's gimmick, and using it till you win. Once you've figured out your class, then you've figured out most of the game. The save system is also somewhat flawed. This game is neither dynamic nor nonlinear, which makes the inclusion of permadeath somewhat baffling. This works in something like DCSS, ToME…

simple yet entertaining. once you learn how things work, awesome

Cool system. Definitely will have you wanting to punch something sometimes because it can be super brutal if you screw up and don't pay attention.

So fun to play! I've never played a game in this style before, but am having a great time with strategizing battles and picking which items give the best stats. It's a balancing act of choosing what will help health, strength, intelligence, etc. and what kind of build you want. I really like the ascii kind of art style, and each playthrough something new happens such as finding secret chests or bosses with unique abilities. Although you can't see the battle physically happening, it still feels like a real battle somehow with the sound effects, lowering of health bars, and different abilities that are possible. Open your mindscape and see number go up! Great game!

It says it's a roguelike on the store page, but I missed that. I was expecting something more like an old fantasy MUD and I didn't enjoy my time with this game at all.