PEGBRJE: COMPEL (and an update)

This looks kinda empty, no?

Jacob ._.'
2 min readSep 16, 2021

This was supposed to be a standard double, but unfortunately Patches of Adventure hit a snag that I cannot find a solution for; it just won’t boot. Normally I would simply skip titles like this and just download another, put a little statement about how this title doesn’t work and that it may in the future, but I’m currently part of the playtesting group for GameSlice so my time is a bit more limited than normal.

So here’s Compel; I’ll return to Patches of Adventure at a later date if I can get a solution, and put a link to it below this paragraph when it is complete.

Thank goodness there was a gif, I couldn’t get a screenshot and live at ALL.

COMPEL is a shooting roguelike made by user ‘nolifedev’ an indie dev making tiny experiences for different styles. In this one, players are an individual with an arm and a goal; reach the end and defeat evil. Somehow.

Players have nothing to distract them from their objective, where they must clear out each room of enemies before they can move on to the next. Each is randomly generated with a mixture of enemies, with some that simply run while others get guns. The rooms are extremely tight, so maneuverability and aim is crucial to ensure that players live longer than a few seconds. Once all enemies are defeated, the door to the next room opens, and the game continues onwards for a dozen rounds with no real ‘scaling’ difficulty but more that the randomness can create some brutal rounds as one goes. Finally, however, players that reach the end will come fact to face with evil itself and hopefully destroy it to win. Now, if one finds themselves beaten by this final boss fret not; there’s a checkpoint that there that allows for players to continually fight only the boss until victory has been accomplished, but that is the only checkpoint in the entire game. Getting there may be more challenging than the encounter itself.

I have little else to say as COMPEL is designed as a short roguelike experience — each room only takes 5–10 seconds to clear at most, with the emphasis being on surviving within this short time frame numerous times. The final boss is also not long, which makes the game a mini experience on its own than anything. However thanks to the simplicity and speed, one may find themselves constantly compelled to return and try again if they keep losing. Perhaps the name means something after all. If you love short roguelike adventures with no real reasoning or hyper depth, then this is definitely one to try out during your spare time.

Link

--

--

Jacob ._.'

Just a Game Dev blogging about charity bundles. We keep going.