Death's Door is a well crafted little zelda-like game with a nice background story. The combat is snappy and responsive. The secrets are well-hidden, but not unfairly so. For most you won't need to look them up and sometime think a little while, which I liked! The only real negative I've found is that it took much longer to playthrough because of the lack of a map. Thus, the backtracking, which is require to find upgrades and stuff, is artifitially prolonged. Also, the movement speed is quite low at the start. If the game had a map where you could mark stuff and add a little note to it, it would help the game flow very much!
Great Story, really gripping and dark, perfectly accentuated by the outstanding sound design, just incredible what this small dev studio achieved here! You'll need 3D headphone though to actually experience this the way it's meant to. The effects, the fire, the weather, the lighting...all the visuals make the game one of the most immersive titles I have every played, such a beauty! My only criticism of the game is that the puzzles are a little annoying and frustrating at times, not because they are exceptionally difficult, but it can be hard to see what they are wanting you to do to solve them. All in all, well worth it even at full price. Excellent job, Ninja Theroy! Tip: The dev diarys on youtube are really interesting and insightful, binged them all after my playthrough!
In Ascendant you are playing as a demigod, who basicly has a melee attack, a dodge and a spell (=ranged attack) and you are trying to clear out one area after another (similar to the rooms in BOI), until you eventually meet a boss. After defeating him, you will get to the next, more difficult stage. The areas are randomly generated and if you run out of hearts, thats it, you're dead! Much like in BOI there are shops, event and treasure rooms, which you'll often have to unlock with a key. In the different areas you will find various kinds of loot, which will make you more powerful: weapons, blessings (=weapon modifiers), spells and *forgot the name* (like the pills in BOI). It is really fun to play and nearly as addictive as BOI as you are unlocking spells/blessings/characters as you progress, which is quite hard as the game is quite difficult. The downsides imo are the poor physics in places, the hitbox, which is quite dodgy, but you'll get used to it and the unenjoyable platforming experience (which you fortunately can mostly avoid). Also the music is quite repetative, but otherwise passable. The graphics, well, some will like, it some will find it ugly, so check you the screen shots, to see which side your on. This game is basicly a brawler and BOI hybrid. which is quite unique and really fun to play. I would very much recommend the game! PS: Works fine for me on linux mint 17 and controller recommended!
Spelunky is a permadeath platformer, it feels very much like the old mario games, but the gameplay is quite different. It's all about collecting gems and equipment, which boost your abilities, in a randomly generated level with some random events mixed in. A game about exploring! Which means, be careful reading in forums and don't look at guides, only if you're really stuck, otherwise you will spoil your experience! For those of you, who don't know the original: Spelunky was a freeware game originally, so if you're on the fence on buying the game, just download the freeware version first to have a look. Note also that Terraria was inspired by (the older) Spelunky. They have built in many references to remind people of their roots (e.g. "a horrible chill goes down your spine") The game is really tons of fun and very addictive! I can't wait to try out the local(!) coop mode with my friends :) Btw, thx gog for being such a fine source for drm-free games!
