Dungeon crawling on a budget
MISTROGUE or MISTROGUE : MIST and the Living Dungeon is a video game that was part of a Kickstart project that did reach its goal. After a successful campaign the game was release on April 24th on Steam. The studio Polyscape had made the announcement on Twitter a few days prior.
Offer something to get something
In an attempt to attract backers for this game, the studio offered a playable demo for gamers to try. This idea helped the financing issue, as the original goal was 300,000 yens, the final tally was 469,399 yens. A quick conversion un Canadian funds at that time reveals that the studio got 4,673$ to make this game. This shows that a good game can be made on a relatively low budget.
Just perfect
While all the testing was done with the demo prior to the whole game release. It was only possible to complete the first dugeon, and what was hinted, was that the final game would contain 3 in total. The goal of every level is pretty simple, survive, find the loot and find the portal to the next one. In the living Cave dungeon, on level five there are 2 portals, one that leads out of the dungeon the second bring you to the boss level.
Again and again
One quickly discovers why the last level has two portals, it is in fact to help the player. To dive headfirst on the first try versus the boss, is a good chance you will not make it. Therefore, returning to the village and upgrading ones gear, is the smartest approach to this. And if you think because you cleared it to that portal the next trip will be easy, guess again. The dungeon is ever changing, therefore the chance of finding it the way you remember, is not part of this game and yes the monsters within also get stronger.
In conclusion
As always, as the game tested was a demo, I will not give it a grade, but let me give you a hint, it is on my Wishlist on Steam. If you are a player with a tight budget, do look into this game, and keep an eye on on Kickstarter, you never know what gem will drop.