Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• I had a lot of fun playing Trial of the Warlock and found it pretty easy to pick up and play and learn. You have two attacks for each hand, one holding a dagger with a basic and consistent attack, and the other holding a wand that you can choose from a selection that you collect along your adventures. These two attacks/hands have differing speeds which determine who gets to attack first when enemies are present. There are four spots in each room that enemies might spawn in, as well as items that you can collect after the battle is finished. You must defeat all enemies present before you can move onto the next room, which you progress along in search of stairs to descend past four levels total to win the game. You can also perform a "ritual" after each battle or room to improve your wands and items by combining them together with differing effects, sacrificing one of them. Adding to the depth of this game, there are different types of elemental attacks and effects that come into play when using your wands and items, as well as different enemies that may resist physical attacks, but not magical for example. This adds to the variety of the game and can make for some interesting runs and builds. With that being said, Trial of the Warlock didn't really feel like a roguelike in the traditional sense. It simply contains random elements but doesn't follow the typical roguelike structure. I really liked the artwork and aesthetic feel here though, and the style was easy on the eyes. It was easy to navigate around with mouse clicks and the design and UI were easy to pick up on and learn. The game felt complete and didn't crash and I didn't encounter any bugs, but I felt that the balance was very volatile. Some runs felt extremely easy with very abundant items while other runs felt cheap and impossible. This goes both ways for me though, as it added to the addictiveness and overall fun of the game and I kept coming back for more.

• A turn-based RPG battle system with a cute (if rushed) artstyle and a neat pseudo-first person view.  Unfortunately it presently feels fairly undeveloped and unfinished and does not allow for much in the way of tactical gameplay.

  COMPLETENESS
  While functional, feels very incomplete without much polish and occasional errors in the text-log.

  AESTHETICS
  While some of the graphics feel a bit 'placeholdery', they are still fairly charming and the UI layout is fairly clear.

  FUN
  The gameplay is a bit too simple to provide any real interest, though it could be easily improved with a few more options in combat.

  INNOVATION
  It's a fairly standard RPG battle system.

  SCOPE
  A reasonable variety of different items, enemies and damage types.

  ROGUELIKINESS
  Some roguelike elements, although the core gameplay is very different.