Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD50 → DOWN the DUNGEON
By alexhonor, renrok and moondweller
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 74 | 4.11 | 36 | |
| Fun | 41 | 4.17 | 36 | |
| Innovation | 378 | 3.60 | 36 | |
| Theme | 355 | 3.94 | 36 | |
| Graphics | 329 | 4.08 | 36 | |
| Mood | 253 | 3.92 | 35 |
Simply put: The best entry I reviewed so far. The gamefeel is awesome, the art is gorgeous, and the music while subtle puts us in the mood. On top of that, good interpretation of the theme, you should really develop this into a fully fleshed-out game. Awesome!
Everything the guy above me said. It is such a good spin on bullet hell/twin stick shooter. So many aspects of the design are satisfying, eg the first level 'tutorial' is perfect, the way you are kinda loooting powerups, they automatically apply (so you don't miss them and get frustrated) and they stack - all very satisfying.
The interpretation of the theme is bang on. I didn't think this theme could be done well but this actually benefits from it. I really like that you are trying to avoid falling to the next level not because it will mean game over but because the longer you delay, the more powerups you can collect. really cool mechanic as it challenges you to hold out as long as you can but when it's all too much you can just say screw it and hop down the hole! Serves the double purpose of moving forward which you inevitbly must do and also escaping from a hot situation.
Only nitpick is just bug related where enemies/projectiles sticking around sometimes when you transition floors. Awesome work.
It's sad the GamePad control are not working with stick(s).
I like the art design, and the fact the perks/bonus are taken automatically.
I found a bug, when you are too close of the upper wall, the hand is touching the wall, and the projectiles are automatically destroyed.
There is no pause button, pushing ESC quit the game >< !! Doesnt like it at all !
I would have appreciated a boss life bar, because I shot him for 5 minutes and I still not killed him xD .
I really like the way how it looks, thanks for great gameplay :)
Wow I really like this twist, fighting to stay on the level longer and level up makes a very interesting progression, really original. And the execution is on point at all levels. Amazing !
I found the moment to moment gameplay to be really fun and addicting. This game reminded me of vampire survivors, but with more polish and feedback. Also it's great that you are patching the game to improve the experience for new players. Well done guys!
I love the minimal color and art style
Nice entry, realy like this use of theme. Delay the inavitable fall to collect more upgrades. There is a lack of sounds but it's not a big problem. Gameplay is solid and Artstyle is great.
Nice theme interpretation. On my first run I was too greedy and died on an early floor, but on my next run I found a nice balance and got a bunch of powerups and was able to defeat the boss (though it took a while to kill the boss). My powerups went off the bottom of the screen (18 or more) :stuck_out_tongue:
The game felt a bit short. I think I was just getting the hang of some of the normal enemies and wasn't expecting a final boss room so soon. A couple more screens of different combinations of normal enemies would've been fun.
Some normal enemies (and even pots) felt annoyingly tanky. I had to shoot them many times before they would die, so I felt a bit weak. It would have been nice to have enemy health bars so that I can see which enemies are almost-dead and which are still full health. As-is I tried to focus down enemies one by one and keep track in my head of which enemy I have already hurt.
The visual style and visual polish are great. I liked the shaking tiles, impact particles, and flashing text or health effects.
I liked the visual style!
Super fun! Some suggestions are to make the bullet firing/impacts have sounds and a "feel" to them. Also, the boss having a health bar would be great.
One of my favorite entries I've played so far, wow, well done! I just finished what I think was an intense 5 minute boss fight (I beat him! on the 3rd try)
Loved being able to choose when you fall down to progress, that was really clever. The game seemed to know when I was desperate for a heal, I figure that was intentional :)
Definitely would have felt more punchy with some good sound FX for the attack.
Really REALLY well done!
Amazing game! I found that its best to stay around Dracula's hands to avoid his projectiles than running around, then he punched me right back into fleeing. Well done!
A minor critique, It doesn't seem that there's any reason to stop shooting. Reload, recoil or slow would be great penalties to continuous shooting. Or you can default the player into firing, since there isn't a decision to make? Just my opinion tho. Great work!
Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everybody who played and commented! We're really happy that a lot of people like it :heart:
We're thinking about doing a Post-Jam version, so we can expand content a bit and address some issues we didn't have time to fix during Jam (like boss lifebar, for example). All your feedback is valuable and taken into consideration!
Really nice entry! I love the graphics and mood :) and i really wanted to reach the end boss from your LD blog post - so i made a run where i just escaped :D
This was really fun, normally you'd want to avoid the pit falls in a game like this. I liked how it rewarded you for trying to take out more enemies but eventually you'd be forced to go further. I do feel like a few more sfx could have helped with environmental feel when shooting or defeating enemies as others have mentioned, but besides that this was really a great entry and I have done multiple play throughs so far - Dracula still laughs at me.
Loved having to balance between breaking pots, killing enemies, and falling through the pits when I bit off more than I could chew, rather than just shooting everything to clear. And absolutely beautiful art style! With sound effects on top of the visual polish, this could be even better, and it's already very solid. Very well done!
This game is amazing! Great use of the Jam theme - I really hope you make this into a full fledged game. Well done! ;)
Enjoyed playing this game a lot! Very stylish and good level balancing. Took me two tries to finish. =) If I were to add one small detail it would be some shooting SFX.
Really cool game. It was fun to play although I think that the monsters were a little too tanky. The music was very fitting, but more sound effects could have been nice.
Awesome game! really fun to play through. Think there is a bug where I landed on the boss and died right away. Other than that everything else played out really nicely. Amazing job! especially considering the amount of time you had to do it!
Love this, everything is top notch here -honestly I don't have much to say besides that. One of the best entries I've encountered hands down
I found the game really fun! Love the fact that you could upgrade your stuff through out the game. Great entry!
Really nice entry. Played this for quite a while. I like how the player gets noticeably stronger for each powerup they get. Really fun.
Fun game! I love the artstyle, it looks amazing. I always love roguelite mechanics in games. Having a choice when to leave a room was quite interesting. One minor complaint is that all the enemies felt a bit too tanky/spongy. I might have just gotten really unlucky with my powerups but it felt like I was shooting dracula for a really long time.
Great job making the game!
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Good game, really well done! Movement and shooting feel good, and the "drop to next level" mechanics are cool.
Pretty fun, I love this kind of bullet hell game! Pretty easy one though, beat on my third attempt. Due to the lack of other enemies during the boss, a min upgrades run might even be feasable.
It's good, it could use a reticle for aim (it gets incredibly hard to see the mouse in all of the chaos). Also, I find myself so focused on dodging and shooting that I can't read the powerups when I get them; it would be a better idea to have the text appear either in the middle of the screen or just above the players position. Finally, I like the idea of every floor being more procedural based upon where you fall down, but what is keeping you from just falling through every floor to the boss without bothering to fight the other enemies? I'm not sure the upgrades are enough of an incentive to not do this when the enemies are too small to reliably hit or take too many hits to not get hit in the process. Maybe instead of infinite waves on each floor, you have a single wave that if you beat them all, you get a more substantial upgrade, but if you don't, they fall through the floor as well, adding to the chaos (even falling to the boss floor); this would provide enough of a reward to avoid falling as long as you can while also providing enough of a punishment for rushing through the game.
One of my favourite games on LD50 so far. Nice and polished. I just feel betrayed by the hitboxes sometimes :D