Desktop Dungeons: Rewind Review (Dune Tiger)
Not a true review, but a big kudos to QCF for giving this remaster out to players of the original. Super classy move, guys. Big thank you!
As for the game, if you've played the OG Desktop Dungeons, you'll be extremely familiar with the mechanics of the game. The graphics got a very obvious overhaul - for better or for worse - but the gameplay remains exactly the same, offering players new and old the same plate of tactical deliciousness that the original had. If it bites you, you'll find yourself spending countless hours clicking away at this brain-teaser of a dungeon crawler.
But that doesn't tell you much, so let's just go over exactly what this is - it's a tile-based dungeon crawler that is made for bite-sized runs. Play it for 20 minutes or for several hours at a time, the randomly-generated dungeons ensure there's plenty of replayability and the town building/upgrading will keep you diving for treasure. Unlike other tile-based crawlers, instead of being an omniscient overseer of the map, you have an avatar and how/when you move/attack is vital to the way the game works. Exploring undiscovered tiles heals you and replenishes your mana, but every step you take away from an enemy you've damaged means they'll be healing (enemies never move, but ignoring them is usually temporary at best). There are all sorts of spells and other ways to mitigate this to allow you to tactically run from a fight and return to it with less penalties, but dungeon crawling is a delicate balance of tactical decisions you'll need to make rather than being full-on risk/reward.
It looks like the same classes and races are here (each combo giving you a different set of bonuses or abilities for your run) and the mind-bending puzzle mode also makes a return. The inventory system and the info panels also got a makeover - again, for better or for worse - and I haven't yet discovered all of the changes made here yet. Though I do have to note that you can no longer long-click to access your glyphs which is a bit annoying.
At first blush, the game feels bigger somehow, but the change to a new engine makes it feel less like a desktop distraction (like the OG game or the old LucasArts Desktop Adventures games... member those?) and more like a fully-fledged 'game'. Not a big deal, but a lot of my time with the original was spent multitasking and you can always run this in a window for the same effect. Either way, the dungeons seem to have a larger scope than before with more room to plan out your approach than before and plenty of opportunities for converting glyphs where the original felt super tight on that front. Maybe it'll get tighter with more time under my belt.
At any rate, I'm pleased that the devs didn't try to reinvent the wheel here. They expanded the original rather than modernizing it which is telling me they know exactly why people played the first game to begin with. To me it feels like they're bringing it ten years into the future and not mucking with the formula. "Modern audiences" can go somewhere else.
Big Note
Haven't played the first game? As of this writing, it is being given away for free. If you're on the fence, go play it, then come back if you're jonesing for more. Edit: I also just confirmed that you can sync your old saves to this game, so even more reason to go try it out and keep all your progress!
(Some edits to correct some stuff after giving the game more time.)