The dungeon crawl has been one of the most enduring genres of all. The original Wizardry – the game that essentially launched and popularised the genre, turns 45 next year. It’ll be well and truly ready for a mid-life crisis. In the years since we have seen so many classics…
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There is a problem when you make something subversive: how do you back it up with a sequel? If the sequel is too familiar and follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, it is no longer subversive by definition. It has lost its creative identity. This is unfortunately the case…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Experience Inc. is a developer with mastery over two genres in particular: the dungeon crawler (Stranger of Sword City), and horror (Death Mark). Combine the two and you get Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi. This is a grim and sublime dungeon crawler, which really sells the idea…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Mary Skelter Finale is the third and final chapter of one of the most fanservicey dungeon crawler JRPGs of all. This one is so fanservicey it was banned in Australia. So naturally, I’ve played it. Here are my top-line thoughts on the game (no spoilers, promise!…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Georges Bataille once wrote of Marquis de Sade that his intention was to “release dangerous movements and be their first victims.” The overtly fetishistic tone of Mary Skelter Finale is obvious within seconds of starting, and much like Sade, it proved too much for “polite society.”…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Moonshades is… fine. It was originally a dungeon crawler released onto mobile, where it earned a not small number of fans for being a particularly earnest effort at recapturing the most old school of old school dungeon crawlers. Now it has been ported to the Nintendo…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I like the ambition and appreciate the effort that went into Infinite Adventures. Sadly, I don’t think it was executed very well, at all. The idea of doing a grand dungeon crawler in the tradition of Etrian Odyssey, with some randomised level layouts for added replay…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the first-person dungeon crawler. Whether it was getting lost in the labyrinths of Wizardry, or inching my way around a SSI Dungeons & Dragons ‘crawler, much of my enduring love for RPGs can be traced back…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. It did seem for a while there that the first person dungeon-crawlers might become a dead genre, but the quality of Wizardry-likes has captured imaginations anew and for the last decade or so the genre has been enjoying a real renaissance for anyone willing to take…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. “Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). So goes the famous line from Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland. Having played Märchen Forest: Mylne and the Forest Gift, I understand Alice’s…
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