Nova Odessa - The Strange Tower

Little rogue-lite game that delivers fast and fun gameplay. The story is not important. All you need to know is that you’re a demon hunter who gets sent to a tower. After you take a first step inside, the floor collapses and you fall to the bottom. Now you have to fight your way to the top. In addition to movement, you can use melee and ranged attacks, as well as heal. Of course, healing only works when you have a medical kit, which may be located throughout the rooms. You can carry three medical kits. It is a little bothersome that you do not heal automatically when you walk over a medkit with all three slots filled. Now you must use one and grab another on the ground. Ranged attacks, unlike melee, are limited because they require ammunition that can only be found in destructible items. Each time you start a game, you are given a random melee and ranged weapon, and you can locate new ones to replace the ones you already have. There are no stats or descriptions, so you will have to experiment to see what works best. The goal is to defeat all enemies in rooms and reach the floor's exit. Each floor has a grid of rooms, and you do not have to beat them all. You can complete a stag…

For the cost of a couple bucks its a fun game. I even anticipate that I will play it more often than some other rogue-lite games that cost 5x the price. But there are a few issues with gameplay. I wish there were different difficulty settings because these enemies just relentlessly come after you and are always on top of you, meaning you have to throw a couple punches and run away, then turn around real quick and throw a couple more punches, and repeat. Every time I run away and try to turn around and use my ranged weapon I cannot turn around fast enough and end up firing in the opposite direction. This is especially tough when it comes to the boss. The first boss is able to get on top of you before you can even move, so I essentially lose health at the very beginning of the battle no matter what. All that being said, I appreciate the graphics, the different inventory items, the basic controls (and use of controller), and even the music isn't that bad (though a better soundtrack really would elevate this game). I would definitely recommend this for the price of a couple bucks!

Fun tough little rogue like. If you don't mind the lack of depth and the low quality aesthetic. For less than a buck on sale, I got more than my money's worth. However, if all you have to your name is a buck and its a choice between this and the last roll of toilet paper at the gas station, pick the toilet paper.