I just posted this review on Steam, but can't view it for some reason. Can anyone see it?
Disclaimer: I was involved in puzzle/level and story design in this game.
For that reason in this review I will mainly be discussing the DROD series of games as a whole (there are 5 in total and the underlying game mechanics and gameplay remain the same throughout for the most part)
In short, DROD is the most ingenious, fun, and diverse puzzle game I have played and is by far my favourite game of all time.
Good points:
- Fantastic and varied puzzles. These are turn-based, logical puzzles that don't depend on randomness or reflexes - all the information required to solve each room is available and all elements are fully deterministic, but this doesn't stop the puzzles from being fiendishly hard in some cases. In addition to playing to solve the puzzles themselves, there are often many additional challenges and secrets included, and the potential to play competitively (via an online highscore system)
- Clever and flexible puzzle elements: it would be possible to create a ton of puzzles based around a single element alone (for example, trapdoors, tar, mirrors or bombs) and many other puzzle games out there may indeed be based around similar individual mechanics (cf. Sokoban). However, with over 30 elements/enemies (including serpents, goblins, pressure plates, firetraps, spikes, rock golems, time travel tokens...) the number of potential puzzles and their complexity feels almost unlimited. The fact that user-made levels are still being made after over 12 years and fresh ideas are still coming out is a testament to this. This leads me on to:
- Level editor and user-made levels: I love playing DROD but perhaps get even more enjoyment from creating my own DROD levels, posting them on the forum and seeing how people respond to them. It's always rewarding to make a puzzle that others enjoy, or that stumps DROD veterans. When download DROD, you're not just getting the official levels that come with the engine, but the ability to play over 500 other usermade levelsets (called Holds in DROD terminology), some of which actually surpass the official levels in terms of challenge, if not quality in some cases.
- Story: Over the course of 5 games, and in-canon additional Holds ("
Smitemasters' Selections"
, which will also be available on Steam in future) DROD has built up a fantastic story involving the adventures of the Smitemaster, Beethro Budkin, as he explores an underground world and encounters the mysterious Empire (a bureaucracy gone mad). It's a great, and ultimately pretty epic story, complemented by quirky humour and artwork.
- DROD community - The DROD forum (forum.caravelgames.com) is fantastic. As well as a place to share discussions of DROD and get help with tricky puzzles (there is a "
Hints and Solutions"
board), and to share usermade holds, there's a lot of interesting activity that takes place outside this, including monthly Contests.
Bad/Not-so-good points:
- This particular set of levels ("
Gunthro and the Epic Blunder"
) was specifically designed for newcomers to DROD. As such, it's a lot easier than the others (so may not be as much of a challenge for DROD veterans), introduces fewer puzzles elements than some of the other entries in the series and doesn't really add much to the storyline as a whole (which is concerned more with Gunthro's grandson, Beethro). It's also a bit a shorter than some of the others in the series. However, if you are new to DROD, I would say it's a great place to start.
- Voice acting - this is generally pretty good and humorous, but can be a bit amateurish at times. I don't really find this a problem myself, but others have commented on this before.
- Graphics - these obviously aren't as good as a lot of games out there. However, I think they suit the game well and I don't think AAA graphics are really required for a puzzle game like this.
- While I've complimented the puzzles, there is occasionally a tendency for some level designers to use less interesting designs. For example, "
hack-and-slash"
rooms, where you are simply tasked with killing hordes of monsters in the room without having to solve any actual puzzles. I prefer the more "
linchpin-style"
rooms, where there is a trick you need to figure out to solve the room. This is more of an issue in the first official DROD game (King Dugan's Dungeon) and less so in the later ones, including this one (Guntho and the Epic Blunder), but is also an issue in some of the user-made holds. Some user-made holds will also take advantage of more esoteric puzzle mechanics (cf. the subtleties of serpent movement) and base puzzles around these - if you're not familiar with the more indepth mechanics this can be frustrating, but again this isn't such an issue in the official holds.
- Difficulties getting into DROD: As alluded to above, there are 5 main games (each release with a different engine), a number of official additional levelsets, and a plethora of usermade levels, so it can be hard to know where to start. Added to this, the very first set of levels (King Dugan's Dungeon) is nowhere near as fun or polished as the later ones. That said, Gunthro and the Epic Blunder is probably the best place to start.
TL;DR - get DROD, it's great.
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New to DROD? You may want to read
this.
My
Holds and Levels:
Click here to view the secret text
