Runestone Keeper

Quite a fun game, with far more depth than it might appear at first glance. Imagine that Angband and Minesweeper had a child. This game manages to pick some of the character of the former, and the strategy and simplicity of the latter, adding some of the modern rogue-like progression tactics (a la Rogue Legacy), and leaving most of the frustrating elements of all of them out of the mix. At a glance it might remind you of Desktop Dungeons, but the underlying mechanics are quite different, and I find it more enjoyable. The game manages to strike a good balance between strategy and RNG: even for the easiest runs you do need to be careful, and learn the benefits of a well-timed retreat, and even for the difficult ones the game doesn't feel completely unforgiving. Progression so far feels natural and well-paced. The upgrade mechanics, while not as deep as in e.g. Rogue Legacy, are quite interesting, and promise to take some of the edge off the RNG's cruelest attempts. The simple play mechanics and faster pace (compared to your average Rogue-like) make it easy to pick up and replay. I also quite like the loot/shop mechanics: enough drops and variation to make a difference, but not so much to be overwhelming or game-breaking. Perhaps one of my criticisms would be that the text is not always well translated, though the grammatical mistakes are not too glaring. I am not too convinced by the flavour text overall, it seems a bit disjointed sometimes, and out of context, but it may be because I haven't progressed too far into the story yet. I would like a little more background to make things more consistent, but that is just my personal preference. It's this, and the slight lack of polish around the edges, that dock one star off the rating for me. Overall, a fun, unpretentious, and surprising little gem of a game. It has just enough depth, design, and balance for time-deprived rogue-lovers like me. I strongly recommend it, especially if it's on sale.

The game is quite similar to Desktop Dungeons. You click and uncover traps and monsters in a dungeon level. Click on monsters repeatedly to exchange blows. Gather XP to level up and get (slightly) stronger. Upon death you salvage the gold to buy some lasting upgrades. The good: 1. Pixel art graphics, if you like them. 2. Variety: there are many monsters, with multiple traits. The "[adjective] [equipment] of [noun]" random item generator is interesting and you can score some pretty sweet gear. The bad: 1. UI is inconsistent. In my case it was infuriating at times. Right clicking on stuff TYPICALLY shows you a description...BUT not in the shop window, where it just sells your gear without confirmation, for completely laughable price and with NO chance of recovery - the item vanishes into thin air, no chance of buying it back! More on the right-button-description: right click on a skill button, read a description, click OK - you are good...BUT! Right-click on the "worship" button...read the description...click OK...howl in anger as the game teleports you to another level of the dungeon, forfeiting your hearts and skipping all the other good stuff on the level...AND giving you some kind of drawback for using up the worship function. I got burned more than once :/ 2. What happens and why is pretty obscure. I don't ask for randomly generated Minesweeper levels to make any kind of sense, but even the text of choice encounters is puzzling. I met an elf, he had a fish, I cast a spell for the fish, I lost 100 gold. Wait, what? Why did this happen? Or: you find something weird and gruesome, pick one of the 6 colors. You picked yellow, that color doesn't do anything, bye. It's confusing and not satisfying at all. 3. For a "roguelike" that admittedly has some breadth it leaves you with no options but to die quite often. In real roguelikes you can run away, go back, close the door behind you. Even in rogue-lite Spelunky you have your bombs and ropes. Here you die. It was meh.

I'm surprised that the most "helpful" review here is by someone complaining about the randomness of the game. If Final Fantasy was being reviewed in the modern era, would we all be complaining about the random encounters? Runestone Keeper has a surprising amount of depth and plenty of strategy for those looking for it. The game leaves a lot for you to explore, and honestly you won't even scratch the surface until you've reached the end of the dungeon a few times. I found myself excited when coming across new monsters, items, and equipment. And then there's the whole runestone system - essentially another set of buffs you can choose outside equipment and skills. You've given a lot of different build directions. As for the gameplay itself, personally I thought it fit the bill nicely. If you think about a dungeon crawl - entering a dark labyrinth of unknown contents - Runestone Keeper essentially builds that but in an abstracted form. Instead of a 3D world, the game is represented by tiles. The game neatly creates some mechanics around this environment. Do I risk exploring the next tile or use my item now? Should I save my runestone or invest it here while I have the chance? It all came down to calculated risk. If you enjoy a challenge; if you enjoy strategic thinking based on your current options; if you enjoy a certain amount of min/maxing; and if you enjoy some wonder at what will happen next; I think you should give this game a try.

I'm very surprised at how much time I've spent in this game and the enjoyment I've had during that time. I bought this game less than four days ago and I haven't been able to put it down yet (almost 20 hours logged). The overall concept is simple, but the art, music, gameplay, continuity and replayability, all add up to much more than the amount I paid for this game (less than $4) during the current sale. Runestone Keeper is also difficult, which is for me a good thing. The difficulty is based in large part on RNG, but at the same time you have a good amount of ability to improve your chances to make it through the dungeon by choosing to upgrade your chosen character as you make it to lower levels of the dungeon. Each playthrough brings new information, new equipment, enemies, gods to worship, skills to unlock, and along with that new strategies and combos that work best. You will die alot even on normal mode (the lowest difficulty setting). In the 20 hours I've played I've only unlocked one additional character to play as. Through the playthroughs, you constantly have to weigh short term vs long term goals: should you spend money now on upgrading your current character's gear, or should you hold on to your gold in the hopes of unlocking lower prices, greater experience on each kill, or other benefits in the temple above the dungeon? Getting through the levels of the dungeon will get easier over time due to your newly unlocked characters, your temple donations, and your personal experience with how to handle the various enemies (you can make them fight each other, or turn them into massive piles of gold if handled in the right way).