Dwarven Realms

[rittchard]

Majority of the below is from the Steam review I just posted…

I’ve been in a bit of a weird gaming rut the last month or so. Part of it was getting a bad flu/cold, part of it is an annoying pinched nerve or something that strains whenever I game, but thee end result is I couldn’t seem to find something to stick with, in spite of a TON of choices that I wanted to get to. Eventually I saw a YouTube video from ActionRPG (I think that’s his name) talking about this game and it sounded like something I might want to give a whirl and luckily, this just “hit the spot” for me. It’s similar to a couple of other indie titles I’ve played, but it does things just differently enough to make it a uniquely addictive experience. On the surface the gameplay loop is extremely simple, and this may be a turnoff for some people. You jump into a small-ish map, kill enough stuff to open up a small boss area, and then (hopefully) kill the boss. Along the way, grab everything you want for crafting and upgrades etc. Once back in town, sell and craft and upgrade, rinse and repeat. What is special about this game is the more you play, the more things expand and get more complex. Not in a bad way, just more and more options are opened up. You start the game off in your own private fort and it expands when you complete another map. I don’t want to spoil the experience, but it’s a treat to wander around and see a new vendor or new area in your fort open up. There’s very little direction or indication that anything has changed, so it’s up to you to see what’s new, and that’s part of the game’s charm.

In terms of character building, there’s a fun passive tree reminiscent of Path of Exile’s, but at a smaller scale. There are no classes, but you can specialize by focusing on a particular weapon type. There’s definitely room for improvement here in terms of expanding the specialization, but even as it stands, it’s pretty fun to experiment and see how different stats and passive choices interact with gear.

The game is still in early access as I write this and it seems like there are plans for a lot more content and gameplay. I would love to see multiplayer and more additions to character customization and skills. But even as it currently stands, it’s a steal at the standard price of $5 (more so at the sale price of $4).