Vaporum

I'm a huge fan of dungeon crawlers, and I wanted to like Vaporum, but a lot of the gameplay is needlessly clunky. On controller, if I have a key and want to use it, I can't just press the interact button next to the lock. Instead I have to open my inventory, navigate to the key, select it, close the inventory, press the button that lets me see interactive objects, select the lock, then press the interact button. If I want to drop an item at my feet I can't just select it and press the "drop" button, I have to select it, close my inventory, press the button that lets me see interactive objects, select where I want to drop it, and then finally press the interact button. On the subject of controllers, an Xbox controller works fine, and there's an option for PlayStation 4 as well, but a Switch Pro controller doesn't work properly, so caveat emptor. Combat feels sluggish. Even the "fast" weapons take a while between attacks, and slow weapons actually had me wondering if I was pressing the wrong button. It doesn't help that even basic enemies take quite a few hits to kill, and the game quickly starts spawning in multiple enemies at a time. The game also likes spawning enemies in places that previously didn't have enemies, typically behind you. The game is pretty and atmospheric and runs well enough, but even after an hour the basic gameplay loop starts to become tedious.

Classic DRPG but updated. Interesting story with echoes of Bioshock. Not party-based, but with a varied amount of skills and builds, it offers a high level of customization. Not an easy game (depending on difficulty), but well worth the journey.

If you liked Legend of Grimrock, you will love this game. The single-player experience (as compared to a party), really changes the game perspective. The atmosphere, story, and puzzles really shine as well. We need more games like these.

Good mix of puzzles and combat, along with an intriguing storyline

"Gadget energy" regenerates at a glacial pace. This is a huge design flaw since you have the choice between playing optimally by waiting the 2 min (seriously!) it takes for a starting mage-type character's mana to regenerate, or charge ahead not knowing whether you would've needed that full charge in the next fight. There's no Rest feature, unlike Grimrock, and no energy recharge points in the dungeon. Besides this dealbreaker, the atmosphere is good with a world that's the most detailed so far in a grid-based dungeon crawler. Combat is hard with very fast-moving enemies, but you have a well-made mode that freezes time if you need help dealing with those. Too bad about the bizarre mana design, it's like the devs liked the look and feel of old dungeon crawlers but didn't quite understand the underlying systems that made them click. What makes it even weirder is that they made health a finite resource by giving you a set amount of healing items, and no innate health regeneration. Why then adopt a different design for mana, but make the regeneration absolutely tiny so it's infuriating, unless you invest all your points for a dozen levels in it?