PEGBRJE: Catacombs 1: Demon War and Glitch Strike.
Two very different games.
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Catacombs 1: Demon War is an adventure RPG made by SlimProse Studios, a solo indie based out of the United States. Within is the story of a son who recently lost his father, but not before being instructed to clear out the locked dungeon. Thus begins his dive in to the secretive and terrifying dungeon, uncovering secrets and battling foes to uncover how his town is tied to it all.
There is a lot going on with this title, as is relatively standard when it comes to action adventure RPGs and especially the case here thanks to the randomization, so let’s start with the static aspects. Players will be starting at the village square as a level 1 with absolutely nothing to their name but 150 gold to which can be spent on items, weapons, armor, and spells. In a linear questing fashion, they will acquire the ability to enter the dungeon, to which they will continue onwards by helping fellow adventurers with their troubles and defeating various enemies. There are many quests to find, and while the title is relatively straight forward it does reward players that go out to finish these side quests with the possibilities of companions, extra loot and experience that can level up our protagonist and increase their stats in many different areas.
Combat is also familiar in execution, opting for the turn-based system; upon initiating combat, the game will zoom in to show the enemy across from the player, along with a menu as to what action they’d like to take. The Slash action is a standard attack utilizing whatever weapon the player has equipped, while Magic brings up the known spells and pouch retrieves a list of items. Rage Slash is the new addition to this combat system, blending magic and physical as it requires mana to strike in a reckless fashion. It also injures the player performing the attack, but this can be worth it thanks to the massive increase of damage that can occur. One might notice, however, that there is no escape; because there is none. Each encounter is a fight to the death, meaning that if the player loses, then it’s game over. Always being able to get out of a fight alive is crucial, although one may wish to save repeatedly just in case.
Now for the draw; randomized weaponry in every area of the game. For those who’ve played Diablo and cRPGs, the idea of randomized loot is a relatively standard affair, and part of the fun is utilizing the tools given to overcome each challenge. Items dropped from enemies are not only randomized by type, but also prefix to add even more flavour to each run. Stores will carry different weapons at the beginning of each new game. Of course, this carries the weight of being a double-edged sword; some runs will be over before they’ve began simply because there are no useful weapons lying around or purchasable. Coupled with durability being very weak, and players will be burning through equipment extremely fast if not careful. Spells are meant to alleviate this, but are extremely expensive (as they should be, for some of them are a little game breaking) meaning that if players cannot bridge the gap to their cost point then they may find themselves in need of another restart.
Bringing all of this together makes Catacombs 1: Demon War a relatively short (3–5ish hours depending) yet brutally difficult title. I found myself beaten by the goblins at least 3 times before I finally just got a chest piece that made me take no damage, and even then it was touch and go. For some of the more hardcore fans this might be more up their alley thanks to the customization and gameplay, but those that want something a little easier may find this a bit of a grind. Good luck out there!
Glitch Strike is a strategy puzzle game made by Corriveau Games, a solo dev also out of the United States. Society now fully advanced and the singularity achieved, players will be a low-level hacker trying to survive in a world full of them. After finally getting a position with the government, the hacking commences; only in a visual way that I can’t say I was expecting.
As real life hacking isn’t really the most visually stimulating things to witness, Glitch Strike transforms the process in to an area denial grid-based attack-and-defend game. Both sides take turns utilizing their actions and moving their ‘exploits’ in order to destroy the other’s main node and win the level. Each player is given three actions that they can perform, between spawning a new Exploit near their base node or adding a modifier to an already existing Exploit (more on that later). Each Exploit then has its own two actions that it can do, one for movement along the grid and another for attacking enemy Exploits diagonally. These actions do not take up the player’s actions at all, but newly placed Exploits are placed ‘tapped’ — as in, unable to perform any actions. Once on the grid, players will move their Exploits to their desired location and end their turn, and the enemy AI will do the same back. Much of the game will feel very back and forth, constantly taking pieces from each other as to eliminate an enemy Exploit usually requires the player to place theirs in a precarious position.
That’s where Mods come in to play, which will be highlighted on the right hand side of the screen. Taking an action, players can place a mod on one of their existing Exploits to alter and expand their functionality, initially allowing them to attack enemy Exploits vertically to allowing for them to ‘hop’ over enemies. From there comes modifications that can allow for them to tank the damage of an attack, alter how attack functionality works, and a slew of other abilities. Thing is, that only so many modifications can be ‘available’ to the player at once, and are filtered through in a slot-like manner from the bottom. Plus since they take an action to apply, players are sacrificing the possibility of having more pieces on the board to strengthen already existing ones.
The farther players get in to Glitch Strike, the more difficult these decisions will be as timers and limiters are introduced to scale the difficulty. You will need to sacrifice strategy for speed and efficiency if you cannot devise a plan in time, which can lead to either frustration or a sense of tension that is welcomed. How you approach the game is all up to you, and thanks to a clean UI and the ability to play it on mobile I’d say that is very accessible to any that wish to stress test themselves anywhere they go. If that sounds like you, then get hacking.
