Deep Rune

⭐⭐⭐

Extremely impressed with this game! I found it by accident but I am glad I did! The game is more so a Puzzlevania that expects you to pay attention than anything else. Be careful as you make your way to the bottom of the "Cave" as escaping this place will be much more difficult than I was expecting! Seriously it's crazy this game is free. To the developer if you're reading this I appreciate the work you put into this game! Some people may not appreciate this as much as I do but it reminds me of the good DOS days honestly. Looking forward to playing the game again! Gonna try to do better for that (Escape)

An interesting take on the "puzzle RPG" genre laid out by Tower of the Sorcerer / Magic Tower, Deep Rune adds a few neat twists and tricks of its own to create a very unique experience. I particularly loved how areas can change as you progress, which goes a long way to make the prerequisite backtracking a fresh experience. If you're unfamiliar with Tower of the Sorcerer or Magic Tower, they're essentially resource management RPGs - optimize your path through the dungeon, spending vital HP in fights to gain XP and better gear. Evade or work around larger threats until you can take them out quickly or you may find yourself in a pinch. There are a few opportunities with how the game presents information (I didn't know how magic worked at first - check your spellbook whenever you pick up a new rune!) and there are some items which go into your consumable inventory without actually being "consumables" (I'm looking at you, sunstones). I also wish the minimap was better/updated when you cast disillusion (which you will be doing in nearly every room because there are secrets everywhere). Definitely recommended.

It's a good game, but I think it's not for me. The concept is similar to one of the creator's previous games, Myth Bearer, in that it wears the trapping of an RPG, but really is a resource management puzzle game. The difference being this game is much, much larger, and has many more systems interacting with each other. The resources you have to manage and choose when to spend include weapons (all weapons have durability, add a certain amount of damage to your attack, and some have special effects), armor, rings, HP, MP, XP (levelling up restores HP but not MP, and adds +1 attack), enemies (need enemies for XP, and potentially other things depending on traits), potions (HP, MP, and damage boost), keys, repair hammers, ranged ammo, troll tokens, runes, and insight. It's a lot of interwoven systems to juggle. Do you kill the enemy that'll hit you three times before you kill it, spending your HP and potentially weapon and armor durability for XP? Do you ignore that enemy and find a weaker one that will do less damage but also give less XP? Do you cast a spell to bridge a gap, spending your very limited MP pool? Myth Bearer had the same sort of questions, but fewer variables made the …

Pretty tight resource management/puzzle game. I especially enjoyed the *Deep Rune* part of the game. IYKYK.

I've played this turn based metroidvania puzzle game far more than I really should have, but I come back to it from time to time as I have such fond memories. Has about 2 playthroughs worth of content before it starts getting a bit repetitive (once as you understand the game, a second to try and get a decent score). Similar to magic tower games. I wouldn't pay more than $5 for this game, but good thing it's free. Pros: * Zero randomness while still having stats that persist through out the game. * Good sound track. * Rewards good stragety while still being accessible to those new to this style of game Cons: * No undo feature, limited save files, loading midroom doesn't work quite right. * The one random feature of the game happens with the default character and you don't know what it is until a good way through a playthrough. * Text can be hard to read.