Resurrecting this account (been meaning to get back to it) to say that Sol Cesto is OUT NOW (and an absolute steal at under $10). Some of the most "just one more" gameplay I've engaged with in the past year and stunning art.
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store.steampowered.com/app/2738490/...
Also the dev's other games are great, consider taking look at Islands of the Caliph if you're in the mood for some dungeon crawling that doesn't just hew to the same old influences.
store.steampowered.com/app/1845670/...
Takes the best parts of Ultima and runs it through an eldritch lens. Honestly, most things that have "lovecraftian" applied as a term tend to be a hard sell for me, but this one just absolutely oozes style to the point where it really becomes its own thing. More than its influences.
Go play the Cyclopean demo and follow @mkschmidt30.bsky.social, it's everything good in roguelikes. I'm a sucker for 1-bit, and the sense of environment is palpable. Character generation is deep but not inaccessible, and appropriately punishing.
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store.steampowered.com/app/2958790/...
Absolutely, love the project- every individual pickup is so much more consequential, and I feel like a lot of people overlook how much multiplayer elements impact environmental feel. Feels very related to MMOs, crafting huge setpieces that get bogged down by stuff like a clogged UI.
9/9 This is all a long-winded way of saying that this is easily one of my day-ones for next year, and if you have a love for the genre I think it will be for you too. Also, shoutout to 2 Left Thumbs for continually taking chances on small teams making cool shit.
8/? Ideal build means little when you're forced to just adapt and move on. The game absolutely oozes love and enthusiasm for its source material in an incredibly earnest way, while still maintaining its own identity.
7/? Without infinite item rerolls and grinding, with a finite amount of potions and enemies that are capable of easily turning a smooth run into a fight for resources, every run is more threatening, more isolating, and every fight is more meaningful.
6/? My point here is the way Tower of Kalemonvo chooses which elements it chooses to take from its predecessors, and how this drives a much more meaningful single-player experience and sense of environment.
5/? There's also the peripheral social elements- it is hard to fully submit to the sense of isolation created by environments when a MTX store and global chat are a click away, at the edges of my awareness.
4/? Loot loses some level of meaning in emergent narrative when I can repeat an area ad nauseum for the most ideal piece. I'm going to end up looking at a build guide- in a game built to be replayed, there's little incentive to experiment when fastest clear speed has already been discovered.
3/? For as much as I enjoy modern ARPGs, the shift to live service means certain concessions are made that heavily shift how we look at "replayability." Despite the challenge of a given boss, I can return to town, refill flasks infinitely, go grind areas to get my stats up.
2/? Between Diablo IV, Path of Exile 2, and the upcoming Titan Quest 2, I've had ARPGs on the brain a lot recently. What ToK brings maybe more than anything else is the sense of environment, of a deliberate experience that requires you to see it through to the end.
1/? ToK hits that rare spot of evoking nostalgia and paying homage to older titles without being bogged down by them; it's easy to adhere too strictly to your influences, both in terms of tone and mechanics. As a medium, games in particular feel prone to being so very self referential.
I have a lot of thoughts I want to get out on Tower of Kalemonvo by @kalemonvo.bsky.social, so this one's gonna be a thread.
(more thoughts below)
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store.steampowered.com/app/2351860/...
@kaamosgame.bsky.social has some really fun stuff going on- once its sliding match-three system clicks for you the flow is great. Equipment opens up some really fun build options, making good matches really juicy. Lovely lo-res art.
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store.steampowered.com/app/3317660/...
Ultimately it's one of those demos that kept me coming even after I'd exhausted what it has on offer; I'd happily keep playing with the two classes it currently has, but knowing there's a whole roster in store means it's a day one buy for me, personally.
RNG can be a bit high, but I didn't hate it- mostly kept me coming back for another right away. The art is absolutely stunning; a hazy, dreamlike quality that's often missing from fantasy games, and fantasy content in general. You don't need lore when the art does this good a job on its own.
Sol Cesto is one of those demos that feels fully realized right out the gate. It takes dungeon crawling influences and applies them to a puzzle structure that's intuitive, engaging, and creates a true sense of space (more thoughts below).
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store.steampowered.com/app/2876270/...
Godslayer Arena is a great distillation of the ARPG formula, taking the genre's character building core and injecting it with some juicy auto-battler polish. Even with one character in the demo, it's easy to see the potential depth here.
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store.steampowered.com/app/3131950/...