Hearts of the Dungeon List

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Seriously Flawed ★★☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] As I looked into review games, I thought that Hearts of the Dungeon List (HDL) could be an interesting experience. It sounded like it'd revolve around dungeon-crawling, but with a few distractions tossed in for good measure, like fishing and romancing the local ladies. There weren't many reviews, hence my hesitancy, yet I decided it'd make for a game I could put some spare time into. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] At its heart, pun intended, this is a dungeon-crawler. However, it's less of an RPG, and more of a roguelike, with no equipment and a limited range of abilities you can access. It's possible to focus more on using abilities and landing critical hits than a damage-dealing tank, but your options are narrower in scope than other games would allow for. With the dungeon-crawling in mind, in order to clear them, you have to defeat multiple waves of enemies …

"Well, I never expected to wind up here! Adding a cursed castle to an already cursed situation was not my idea of entertainment. Would you be kind enough to lend me a hand? I've a serious loose end for me to work through and I can't tend to it myself. I know you've quite a busy list already, so I'll settle somewhere along the end. Will 93 be sufficient? Good! I'll speak to your town leader."

Cute fun numbers-go-up game. Surprisingly relaxing game

This is a reasonably well fleshed out "streamlined" RPG. You play the entire game with four buttons (mapped to your controller's D-pad or face buttons). To be clear, literally the entire game solely uses those four buttons; for battling, fishing, romancing the locals, and buying items. Battling is pretty simplistic. It starts out reasonably difficult, but once you level up a few skills you can steamroll entire dungeons by repeating simple command patterns. Unfortunately, the game doesn't do a great job of introducing new enemy types, and battling winds up trivial and formulaic as a result. All said, still fun for the first few hours though! I had a blast for the first ~7 hours or so, then slowly inched towards completion afterwards. Note the game isn't entirely finished yet: there's a missing casino locale, and the game's bestiary is only ~half complete. Maybe wait for the dev to release the remaining content, or grab the game on sale if that's a nonstarter for you.

This game is perfect for those looking for a laid-back, turn-based RPG to play for 30-60 minutes at a time. It has an addictive game play loop that allows the player different avenues to strengthen their character, develop relationships, and build their base. The battles are fast paced, simple, and engaging. The way they handle status effects in this game is quite unique and adds an additional layer of unique complexity. The real gem in this game though, is the fishing mini-game. It's hard to explain why its so addicting, but it could easily be its own standalone title. It's obvious that the developers have put a lot of heart and soul into this title. It has a basic framework, but its filled to the brim with attention to detail to make the game an exciting and enjoyable experience. They also seem to regularly add content to keep the game fresh and engaging. I'd highly recommend this game to those who enjoy turn-based RPGs that find themselves with short intervals of free time throughout their day. Perhaps in-between virtual meetings or a short break from work. This would honestly be a fantastic mobile game and would encourage the developers to investigate that to see if it is an …

TLDR: 7/10 - Simple and entertaining dungeon-grinder. Worth the time and money spent. Graphics and interface are pretty simple in a clean "retro" style. The spritework monsters are (mostly) well done, and look much better with their in-game animations than the simple screenshots suggest. Many of them feel like a reference or joke of other common monsters in early NES-era games, but have far more character. I've not seen many games that bother with a separate "injured" picture or animation for every single enemy, which is a nice touch. Combat system feels very basic at first (essentially just Attack or sparingly Heal). After clearing several dungeons, it unlocks the ability to customize your skill loadout, which opens up some additional options. Strategy mostly comes down taking out the bigger threats first, resource management (HP/MP/SP), and dealing with your buffs / enemy debuffs throughout each fight. Visual Novel segments are brief, but entertaining; and they can be skipped through quickly if you decide you're not interested in a particular character. Even the forced VN segments only take a minute or two. Not once did I find myself wishing I could tell a particular char…