izigame.me

UPDATE (Sep 13th):
I haven't checked this review or the game for a while. Seeing as my review is one of the first negative reviews here, I'm going to edit it.
Terry's game is fantastic, but I still won't recommend it. Specifically, I won't recommend it to myself; if I saw this review, I wouldn't have bought the game. It hasn't been worth its money. The reason I still won't recommend it is because the game is still repetitive and over once you unlock all characters. There is still no end game rewards that add cards to our deck or relics like in Slay The Spire. Challenges aren't the same, and though some responses have said that Challenges are the "upgrade" system, let me rephrase. I'm not always looking for a challenging way to play, but rather a new way to play.
Imagine playing Binding of Isaac, and you get some damage upgrades and some fun things like that. But that's it, over and over again. One day, a run gives you Kamikazi and Pyromaniac. One is an active item that hurts you to hurt nearby enemies (via explosion) and the other prevents you from getting hurt by exploisions. Now you can run around and explode everything. A new way to play, but not because I started the game with a new character. Not because the Warrior has Venus Fly Trap.
A new way to play because I got lucky and found a combo. Slay the Spire has those as well; playing a run with 0 costed costed cards... find the relic Unceasing Top allowing you to draw whenever you have no cards in your hand. You start cycling through the whole deck pretty quickly. A combo.
Dicey Dungeons doesn't have readily available combos, though I see a lot of design space for it. IIRC (haven't played in a bit) there aren't any "Relics" or passive effects in DD. There should be a passive item or card given after every single fight as the point of Rogue-Lites are to grow the character during the run and grow the cards / dice / relics / items during the overall time spent playing the game. That's how BOI and STS and Nuclear Throne and Gungeon, etc. That is the definition of a Rogue-lite.
And DD still isn't there yet.
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ORIGINAL, NEGATIVE REVIEW BELOW (Posted Aug 15th):
I do not like that Steam doesn't give me more options rather than a Yes or a No. I LOVE this game! Its design and aesthetics are fantastic, reminiscent of board games with a touch of Slay The Spire. But this game is NOT READY to be released to the public yet. Buy it at your own risk. Among the 14 hours I've been playing, I found numerous UI issues, glitches that can easily ruin a fight, or my entire run, and disappointingly repetitive gameplay for a "Rogue-like." Furthermore, there is a lack of basic utilities including Cloud Support, Card/Enemy Information, and while those aren't super detrimental, one of the most important things of all: No Reward For Completion.
I love Binding of Isaac and Slay The Spire and I've watched many videos on other roguelikes. It's one of my favorite genres. But Dicey Dungeons has not given me a unique run with one of the characters for some time now - until later on. I'm playing a normal Witch run, where I have to learn spells into a spellbook. The character starts with two spells in her book, and the first floor has always consisted of the following:
• An enemy blocking a chest
• A second enemy blocking a second chest and the exit.
• The first chest always contains the Nudge card (decrease input by 1)
• The second chest always contains Magic Shield (odd input only; gain 3 shields)
This consistency isn't making the character hard or difficult, just boring. I was looking forward to improvising and adapting to what I'm given earlier on, but it seems, at least for the Witch, the first few rewards are seeded. This includes her level up reward from 1 to 2, where you get to pick 1 reward from 2 random cards -- except the 2 random cards are taken from a pool of 3 cards total. This trend keeps going into the 2nd floor, where the rewards are likewise, mostly forced. You WILL receive a Hall of Mirrors, for example.
My second main point is a complaint on the bugs / UI issues. These are NOT GAME BREAKING - the game is actually very healthy compared to other games with bugs. However, one mistake because of this UI Issue can turn a win straight to a loss. THAT IS NOT GOOD. Here's what I found:
• "Show Enemy Moves" button is located at the top of the screen. I like to drag my dice around as I think. When I drag my dice on top of the Show Enemy Moves button and let it go, then the button's "click: see moves" action will override the dice's "click: pick up" action. Thereby, the die dropped there is gone for that turn. (EDIT: THIS HAS BEEN FIXED)
• Buying an item in the shop as the Witch can cost you money without gaining the item. I've had this happen once. I did not click "Ignore," but on a separate note, I once did click Ignore by accident so please MOVE THAT DAMN BUTTON. If I spent money I'm gonna use it.
• Glitch occurred when I had a countdown equipment loaded in. I used Crowbar twice to bring all my countdowns down by 12, triggering the equipment. The visual card did it's animation and disappeared, but it wasn't gone. I move my dice while I think. So I coincidentally place my die on top of where the card is supposed to be (without physically seeing it) and my die was lost.
Yea, I'm a complainer because I move my dice as I think, but these shouldn't be happening in released games anyway. Now I've found MUCH more bugs, UI issues, and glitches throughout the game, along with dozens of people finding their own slue of issues posted on the Discord.
I will really quickly also point out that I don't feel inclined to play once I unlock the Jester. I'll play with that character, it'll be fun, but then what? The thing I like the most about Rogue-Likes is that after every single achievement, something is added to the game to possibly change up the player's next experience. In DD, we are given "special game rules" for each character, but that isn't the same. This game only works if there are much more characters. Because the only way gameplay is changed is by playing a new character. I've already learned pretty much all the cards available to each character because the card pool is so small. The gameplay doesn't change.
I was not rewarded for permanently transforming into a bear and winning the game with it. Why not? Being a bear actually wasn't even acknowledged at the end of the run, which is sad for how much interaction they added to such a small niche situation. It was fun and awesome and gone like waking up from a dream. This whole game is over like a dream. Why couldn't I unlock Bear as a permanent class? Why couldn't I unlock bear cards for future runs? The game stops growing once you have all 6 characters, and along with the redundant episodes, the game becomes stale pretty quickly. It's a good time waster, but it really needs to step up its game.
The above three reasons are enough for me to discourage people from buying this game. I believe the developers will in fact fix many many issues and release much more content to come, yes, but right now, they chose to call this game 1.0. They chose to call this game "READY FOR PUBLIC" -- this isn't Early Access - this is the released product. And to have such a messy interaction with your users along with a stale redundant gameplay despite announcing yourself as a Rouge-like, I just cannot support it.