The Dwarves of Glistenveld

Charming game with interesting concept, but two main reasons I can't recommend it. First is that it's clunky and unresponsive. And generally just not very... professional. For example, it will ask you to open cutscenes in the form of literal youtube videos it will redirect you to via your browser. Secondly, the current price seems okay for the quality of what you get, but they say they will raise the price as they release more content (currently early access). Paying any more than what they are currently asking for with this level of responsiveness/clunkiness just wouldn't really be acceptable. It would require more than just more content, but also a complete overhaul of the game itself.

[h3]I put 14 hours into the demo before buying the game. That should tell you something.[/h3] EPILEPSY WARNING: The UI sometimes flickers as the game goes on. Fixed by saving the game, quitting to desktop, and loading. It's not a memory leak, but rather a memory buildup that causes this issue. OTHERWISE RECOMMENDED: Play the demo first. It gets you straight to the gameplay; no fussing about with making clans or building storage signs. As seems to be the evolution of indie game development, the blending of different genres is alive and well here. And apart from the occasional crude presentation of the game (UI flickering being the main culprit,) the genre blend is crafted beautifully. The RTS and Colony-Sim elements are indeed present as advertised, with the elements themselves being blends of other genres. But true to the quality of the blend, there's other very clear pieces of genres sticking out of the stew: RPG mechanics and 4X mechanics. These are what separate [i]The Dwarves of Glistenveld[/i] from games like RimWorld and Dwarf Fortress. The gameplay shifts away from complicated health systems, instead favoring player agency in what can be done with dwarves who do…

So, I bought this game on recommendation from a friend and so far I'm enjoying myself greatly! I'm only a few maps into the campaign but it's a very relaxing spin on the Dungeon Keeper formula. Your dwarves are largely autonomous and have various traits that affect their ideal occupations, what sort of contributions they make in conversation, etc. It helps flesh them out just enough that you care about them that little bit more.

This game is severely underrated. It may be early access, but it's worth the price of admission in its current state imo. It's a pretty chill underground colony game; the closest comparison I would probably make is dungeon keeper maybe due to the whole mining/building aspect, but instead of making rooms and placing traps it's mostly about digging tunnels, reinforcing walls, and trying to minimize travel distance while people do their jobs and you stretch your resources to accomplish additional objectives across the map. The number of dwarves isn't super high so you have to micro a bit and switch them back and forth between classes. The art is very well done and it has more writing/plot than I was expecting. You roll your starting dwarves at the beginning of the game but while I think their dialogue is mostly tied to their main trait I find them quite personable. However, I do kind of miss the old tutorial as I thought the writing in that was very well done. The soundtrack is definitely unusual, and really helps set the tone I think they were going for. The overall effect is very charming. I hope the game catches a second wind, because it's quite high quality.

Really fun little game! I'm not usually a fan of RTS games but this one has such a silly charm to it that I found it really enjoyable and easy to spend hours just exploring the levels and seeing what secrets I could find in the maps and just collecting treasures! Love how unique all the characters are too and how the different personality traits can give you such a diverse team which then can help you plan out which dwarf is best for what job (plus customising their names is always a laugh-) The storyline is great and I'm hugely fond of the different endings based on your different choices too! Overall just super fun and really in-depth for an early access game!!

I like the game, enjoyable colony simulator