Dwarf Journey

Fun little platformer with some different builds to try. Fast combat without being too difficult, although the difficulty is not very well balanced. There are four levels with unique bosses. It is very grindy. I was stuck on the second boss for hours of gametime, grinding experience points and upgrade resources. The ability to change the upgrade point allocation is gate-locked until the third level, and it did not take long to finish the game, after that. Certainly a little bit expensive compared to other similar games, given the scope of the gameplay. Played on an Ubuntu Linux desktop and a Steam Deck, with Steam's Proton compatibility software. The game worked flawlessly with gamepad controls.

Fun game. Lots of achievements. The loop feels fun. Nice pixel art and music. Simple upgrades menu which makes it easy to understand. Only issues: Im at level 50 and maxed out way too early. It should go much higher so I can be a total badass. I also wish I could turn off the slight glow around my character while in the caves but other than that it was a good game!

Cute little diversion with limited depth, but pretty tight controls and good pixel style graphics. Soundtrack is very bland.

Good: 7/10

This game was cute and fun. You can tell it’s one of the developer’s first projects and I think they did a decent job. Please bear in mind that this really falls into the “lite” part of roguelite. The game’s challenge doesn’t scale very well and it’s fairly easy. You acquire ore quickly and upgrade fast, and there isn’t much to discover in terms of permanent upgrades to your base between runs, with the exception of one merchant. It’s a pretty simple game. The bosses are well thought out, but they have very easy patterns and tells, so they are not particularly challenging. You progress very quickly, and the final boss, in my opinion, was actually the easiest. I think once you get past the small learning curve, you’ll realize this is simply a button mashy good time. There are no special moves or upgraded skills, just hack and slash. If that bores you, you won’t get much out of this game. If you want a fun, casual game with minimal challenge, this is a good choice. It’s not a bad game at all. I just wish it leaned more into the somewhat grindy roguelite category. For me, a roguelike or roguelite is about hours of attempts and slow progress. Heck, I’m still chipping away at Dead Cell…

Solid dungeon crawler/roguelite game. There are 4 dungeons, each with many caves, and you have to pass them all in 1 sitting to win ( like all roguelite games, there is no manual save, and if you die you have to start from the first dungeon and do all over again ). So at the beginning it's difficult and it seems impossible to pass all the 4 dungeons without dying. But each run brings some leveling up and thus upgrades in the attribute stats and also new gear and upgrades in the gear ( swords, armors and gadgets ). So there is a coherent, steady increase in power, and eventually you are powerful enough to beat the game. Basically you have to study the attack mechanics of monsters and bosses and memorize them. I like games that reward skill and effort in a down to earth way, without any combos or complex key bindings. The graphics, the sound and also the story are below average but the focal point in this genre is the combat and gameplay, which is effective 100%. There is a mini map, which is important to navigate inside the dungeons. Simple, addictive, rewarding in the end.