I’ve been taking part in first-person dungeon crawlers since AD&D: Treasure of Tarmin on the Intellivision. The style has definitely expanded since then, however Dragon Ruins II takes me proper again to 1983. In reality, it could even be extra fundamental than that 8-bit journey that acquired me began.
As you’ve surmised from the title, Dragon Ruins II is the follow-up to Dragon Ruins, additionally launched by KEMCO just some months in the past. Narratively, you don’t must have performed that earlier than braving the dungeons of II. With regard to gameplay, nevertheless, I don’t suppose you’ll wish to go backwards.
It is because the gameplay and depth in Dragon Ruins II has been expanded for the reason that authentic, the place there wasn’t numerous depth to begin with. That’s type of the purpose, in spite of everything. Whereas most video games of this sort require you dig deeply into the trivialities, Dragon Ruins is just about selecting your social gathering members, equipping them, and diving in.
This time round, you’ll be able to choose from 21 lessons to construct your social gathering of 4. How effectively they work collectively and complement every others’ abilities is as much as you to seek out out. Contemplating potential mismatches and your lack of high quality tools initially, getting issues going is kind of tough. Fortunately, the loop is fast and simple to handle.
As you’d count on from a grid-based dungeon crawler, you discover the dungeons block by block, mechanically drawing out the map as you go. You’ll discover tools and money as you progress, however you’ll additionally enter into fight in opposition to unseen enemies. Nicely, unseen till they assault you. The differentiator right here from different dungeon crawlers is that you simply don’t actively have interaction in fight, it simply occurs. You don’t heal or buff or defend, the assaults simply go on mechanically till you win, escape, or die.
This may increasingly sound unfair or—worse—uninteresting, however it truly creates an exquisite dynamic. All of the preparation is initially, and also you then simply make a mad tear by the dungeon. How far are you able to get this time? You’ll be able to preserve pushing till you die, however you then gained’t get to maintain all the pieces you discovered. Higher to actively retreat to the beginning with a minimum of one social gathering member lively so you’ll be able to maintain onto your loot.
Again at base, you not solely get to degree up your social gathering, you may as well settle for facet quests. Missions might be performed greater than as soon as, and also you’re usually rewarded for doing so. These offer you a purpose to totally discover the maps, which might be fairly huge. It was uncommon that I ever accomplished a facet quest in a single run, and by no means with the total missions. The loop asks you to only get a bit additional every time, get higher, and take a look at once more.
This implies Dragon Ruins II works higher for 10-minute gaming periods than it does for hour-long crawls. Truthfully, it’s constructed extra for cellular gaming than for consoles, making it a strong match for the hand held Change.
That applies to the visuals, too, as they’re as stripped down because the gameplay. The unique Dragon Ruins took an nearly vector-like method to the dungeon show. Dragon Ruins II provides some depth, utilizing visuals that had me recalling video games on the Mac SE or the illustrations in my associates’ sketchbooks. Battle animations are relegated to vibrating thumbnails. In different phrases, not even the design interferes with the precise dungeon crawling. The dated graphics are prone to flip away some players, however having minimize my enamel on video games like this, I liked the way in which Dragon Ruins II seems to be. The easy, forlorn imagery completely compliments the sport’s method.
That stated, other than shading adjustments, it means visible monotony will set in. This may be a problem while you’re grinding for the much-needed gold.
Nonetheless, at solely $15 (appropriately priced for the ten to fifteen hour time to completion), Dragon Ruins II is a straightforward advice for these looking for a brand new grid-based dungeon crawler. It doesn’t recreate the expertise of an Etrian Odyssey or Labyrinth of Galleria, however does an exquisite job of carving its personal path by the deepest of dungeons.
