A few days ago the minions of the Indie Skunk noticed a really noticeable trait of Its Stinkiness that we should have REALLY noticed before—Its memory resets exactly every 2 minutes and 37 seconds. Which explains A LOT.
We, Its loyal minions, are obviously exploiting this as much as we can, mostly by “borrowing” the Holy Credit Card every 2 minutes and 38 seconds and making tons of little charges that Its Stinkiness shouldn’t be able to add before It loses count and has to start again.
Not counting the dozens of probably completely unnecessary home appliances that we have been purchasing (and that the Indie Skunk will be paying in comfortable, small payments during the next couple of centuries), our favourite things to buy are really economic, yet awesome indie games.
Such is the case of the one yours truly would like to talk about today: Dungeons of Dreadrock by Prof. Dr. Christoph Minnameier.
No, he is not a character from Real Genius, that’s his actual name.
Welcome to Dreadrock Mountain—The world
Every year, the elders of the village close to Dreadrock Mountain like to help somebody’s lawyer build a case regarding child endangerment and send one of the village’s kids to try and kill the King of the Mountain a.k.a. the Dead King.
This time the chosen one is accompanied—since he is, well, a child—by his slightly older sister to the entrance of the Dungeons of Dreadrock.
The girl seems to be cool with the idea of letting her little brother go all the way down the dungeons and, somehow, kill a terrorific undead overlord but, after some thought, she decides to go after him.
This is the charming and obviously full of sense of humour premise of this amazing game (in case you hadn’t noticed yet, this minion loves it).
As per the dungeons and threats of Dreadrock Mountain, they are all made in absolutely delightful 2D graphics.
Add to that a really good story, memorable characters, a genuine soundtrack and a great sound design and simple, yet complicated, gameplay and what you get is a gorgeus, gorgeous game.
Not unepic at all. Quite the opposite.
Ogre not stupid—The gameplay
Our 5 or 6 followers (Yes, we have definitely got at least one new follower in the last 2 minutes and 40 seconds, sure Master) are probably thinking that this game is just another roguelike. The word “dungeons” is in the title after all.
And it is not. There will be fighting, don’t worry about that, only it will not resemble the usual dungeon-denizen-ass-kicking of other “dungeon” titles.
The way of advancing, down, and not always down, towards the Dead King’s crypt is by solving puzzles. Most of them have to do with how we move and position our character. We will not only need to use our wits but our timing too.
The puzzles themselves can be really complicated. They were VERY complicated for the Indie Skunk, mostly because It forgot what he was playing every 2 minutes and 37 seconds. But that was definitely fun to watch.
Luckily, if we are stuck with a puzzle, we will get hints, but only after 5 minutes in that room/puzzle (Come on, you should at least try first, Master).
To sum up, Dungeons of Dreadrock is a fresh take on the dungeon genre that you should not miss.
One last piece of advice. Leave the game after a few rooms and go back in (even if it’s hard to stop playing). That animation is totally worth it.
Who? That? That’s brother Tagonius, Master. Your least favourite minion. Yes, Master, I am the one you like the most. Sorry, Master, yes, it is rude that I keep looking at my watch. Where is your credit card?
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the Indie Skunk full of tattoos saying things like “buy milk”. Also for more reviews of the most amazing indie games.
Hail the Indie Skunk!