Review 12: Hack, Slash, Loot

Hack, Slash, Loot

This one had been sitting in my Desura account for a while. I am really bad about seeing a game that looks remotely interesting, buying it for a few bucks, booting it up once and then forgetting about it.
Eventually, I'll come back to it, and that was the case for "Hack, Slash, Loot".

This is actually a bit of a difficult game to review, as I am pretty sure I enjoy it more than it really deserves. Let me try to explain:

The game is basically a rogue-like rpg with most of the factors this entails: Random dungeon generation, permanent death and a brutal difficulty level. The graphics are in cute little 8 bit retro sprites, and some simple sound effects. It's almost "retro" to a painful degree.
When I started the game for the first time, I actually had a hard time deciphering what anything was, but after playing for a little, it became clearer, and a lot of the creatures look very cute, as they wobble towards you.

The game mechanics are quite simple: You have a number of equipment slots, and you can only carry items that are equipped. Mouse over an item, and it nicely compares the stats, as well as indicates if you will gain or lose any abilities (such as resistance or vulnerability to certain damage types).

There's a number of different quests and they each have different elements to them. One quest has you fighting through a castle full of humans that help you, while another is a tomb full of coffins to pillage (and the associated undead ready for revenge). There's also a long list of characters to play (once you unlock them in any event) but other than the sprite, the only difference really seems to be their starting stats. The game doesn't seem to play measurably different with a knight than it does with a saracen or warrior.

The game IS fun, and it's hugely addicting, but it is also extremely simplistic. There's no real item interactions, as you often see in roguelikes, and the tactics don't really consist of more than simple positioning on the grid.

As a last note, the game is rather pricey for what it is. As of writing, it sells for 8 dollars on Desura. On one hand, that's well within "casual spending" for me, on the other hand, there are far more comprehensive games in the genre for free.

Graphics:
Simple, retro 8 bit. You've seen this before in indie titles. Retro is chic or something. This game would not have looked out of place on a C64, and would have gotten scathing comments on the Amiga.

Sound:
Bleeps and bloops but for the retro feel, I suppose that's intentional. Sound didn't work properly most of the time on my Kubuntu system. Running the game with padsp worked, once.

Controls:
Keyboard for movement or simple mouse controls. Point to stuff and click. It's about as simple as you can imagine.

Gameplay:
Painfully addictive stuff, made worse for the fact it's so repetitive. There are a lot of neat little surprises in each dungeon though, so it'll keep you going "just one more try". Difficulty may be off-putting to some, but it sort of works in a casual game like this.

Overall, I find it hard to evaluate this game fairly. Based on the simplicity of everything here, it shouldn't warrant over 60%, indicating an enjoyable but rather average indie title, but I have been playing it relentlessly over the past few days. So, I'll settle on 64%. Fix the sound, and we'll do 65. Deal ?