Just stumbled upon this one, and I loved it!
I'm not a fan of 'full scale' rougelikes, but do like simplified ones, and this one was just that. Who'd knew piloting ASCII Mecha is so much fun.
Awesome idea and game.
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Completeness | #1 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Scope | #1 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Innovation | #1 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
Overall | #1 | 3.778 | 3.778 |
Fun | #4 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Aesthethics | #9 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
Roguelikeness | #52 | 3.333 | 3.333 |
Ranked from 3 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.
Completeness
I gave you a 4, which is the highest score we're "supposed" to give. This feels like a basically complete set of mechanics. I couldn't help but feel like something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it, so I didn't dock you points for it. It's missing some gameplay glue somewhere. But that's high-level criticism for a 7-day roguelike.
Aesthetics
This game is REALLY PRETTY. But I knocked off a point because I couldn't always tell why things were happening. I would take some damage, or the alert level would go up, or I would lose the game, and I would just have NO IDEA WHY. It was really frustrating. According to the scoring rubric, UI is part of Aesthetics, so 3/5 for you.
Edit: Then I came back later and put it back up at 4/5 because this is the prettiest game in 7DRL, easy. It wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge that.
Fun
I agonized over this one, but in the end I had to go with my subjective experience: I loved the hacking minigame, and I avoided mech combat as much as possible. It always felt like getting into a gunfight was a bad idea. The times I tried it, it ended badly due to alert level explosion. The alert level mechanic felt a lot like it was kicking me while I was down - it would get up a bit, and then the fact that I was in a mech would make it shoot right up to 5 so there was no way for me to get out of a gunfight once I got in it. So I went for a 3/5 instead of 4/5 for feeling like I had to avoid a huge part of the game to do well.
Innovation
4/5 obviously. Excellent ideas. This is what 7DRL is for.
Scope
Solid scope from a 7DRL. Nice variety to pickups, mechanics, enemies, parts, and flavor. 4/5.
Roguelikishness
Had to do a 3/5 here because the hacking minigame is realtime. For me, a roguelike is all turn based, all the time, as a core requirement.
I went into this not knowing what to expect. Often with hacking games I get frustrated quickly, not understanding fast enough what I'm meant to do with usually dire consequences. This one however, took me a couple of goes to understand and once I got it, I found I loved it. It doesn't detract from the rest of the game at all, adding a great layer of gameplay to what seems like a typical roguelike on the surface.
I didn't get control of mechs very often, but what I did play I loved as well for sheer strategy and intriguing mech-layout. I found when I wanted an easy playthrough, I'd just stealth it up and occasionally hack data points for the thrill of it, but if I wanted a challenge I'd happily take on a mech and pilot it very badly.
The only time I won was through stealth, but that's not a surprise - it's the easy way.
Aesthetically, it's the typical roguelike but with extra UTF characters and a good use of colour - for something cyberpunk-inclined, it's a perfect style. The terminal screen is clear and easy to use, though I got annoyed I couldn't scroll up to repeat my previous command - but that's just because I use terminals regularly and I expect that functionality.
Overall, I absolutely loved it - and would be glad to see a post 7DRL version if one was ever planned.
A really impressive 7DRL. The hacking mini-game is really really fun. I found the other elements to be a little dense and/or too difficult but will definitely return to up my game. It's easy to see how much thought and effort went into this entry - the controls are simple and the display is flawlessly integrated into the game. This is a must-play from this batch.
Successful or Incomplete?
Being able to hack other mechs to control them and progress was an absolute treat, in my opinion! And the puzzle-fight system was surprising, but clever. Also, the whole ASCII style gave me some real roguelike vibes, so I want to congratulate you here again for creating such a sweet jam entry! I hope others might find it just as good as I do, that's why I wrote an article about it and made a short gameplay video. :)
Best wishes,
Sebastian
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