Dungeons of Dreadrock 2 is the sequel to the breakout success — unsurprisingly named Dungeons of Dreadrock — achieved by German indie developer Christoph Minnameier. Don’t be fooled by its small group, this top-down pixel puzzle sport packs an enormous punch.
Dreadrock 2 follows the journey of a younger mage on her quest to gather the king’s treasure for her patron and the numerous stunning creatures and characters she meets alongside the best way. Although this sport is a sequel it’s not essential to have performed the primary one, in actual fact the story is slowly revealed to you as you play. And rattling, let me inform you, the story had me struggling by some troublesome puzzles, luring me additional to get extra clues and data, feeling like its personal little puzzle. Don’t fear if story-based video games aren’t your vibe, although the story could be very attention-grabbing and drew me in, it’s very attainable to disregard it and simply benefit from the puzzles!
In the beginning, Dreadrock 2 is a puzzle sport, and the puzzles are completely the strongest a part of the expertise. There’s such an unimaginable number of completely different challenges and none of them really feel repetitive, which is kind of a feat contemplating simply what number of there are. Every puzzle feels prefer it makes use of a bit data you picked up from the earlier ones with out feeling like there’s 1,000,000 mechanics and tips to recollect. There are a number of very attention-grabbing mechanics that I both haven’t seen – or seen utilised on this method – in lots of video games of this fashion, akin to a fantastic break up display screen management of two characters. There are a number of refreshing and new concepts in Dreadrock 2 that I’m excited to see expanded on and developed with future video games.
One thing I discovered significantly attention-grabbing was how the sport reveals these mechanics to you, it follows the “present, don’t inform” rule and for probably the most half it’s very profitable. I did get a bit tripped up when it got here to the best way a number of the creatures behave, because the context clues generally missed me, however that’s a part of the puzzle. There’s by no means any concern of getting caught although, there’s an unimaginable trace system – which very kindly reminds you there’s no disgrace in hints! – that provides you recommendation in levels so you could have management over how a lot help you obtain. There’s additionally a useful dandy reset button, which I used so much, particularly because the puzzles acquired tougher.
The one draw back I discovered had been the controls; usually, they’re tremendous, nonetheless a number of the puzzles want exact and fast actions, one thing I discovered troublesome. This feels principally intentional, as a part of the pace and motion restrictions the sport has as a way to facilitate the puzzles — I’ve no issues with that in any respect, and it might not be a problem for everybody, however it positively was for me. I extremely suggest utilizing the d-pad for this sport because it helps a number of the motion points I encountered, however I struggled by with the joystick as a result of it was extra snug for me. Hopefully we’ll see some small tweaks to make the motion a bit smoother and simpler sooner or later.
When you’re something like me, you’re going to be spending a number of time and determining these puzzles and we’re in luck as a result of this sport could be very fairly each in handheld mode and on the massive display screen! Pixel types can generally really feel very busy and over-detailed, that’s not an issue for Dreadrock 2. Every character is splendidly designed, all of them really feel distinctive and distinct, not simply visually, however the best way they’re written as properly. Although the environments are very comparable – it’s a dungeon in any case – there’s sufficient visible distinction and number of creatures that it someway feels contemporary and enjoyable to enter every stage. Even the quick loading screens function a cute little animation that takes your character from one stage to the subsequent — all the things feels cohesive and thoughtfully designed.
Total I extremely suggest Dungeons of Dreadrock 2 for anybody who likes pixel video games, thriller or puzzles! You’re in for a difficult but enjoyable time you can decide up and put down with none fear.
Score: 4.5/5