Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest
…you have my attention…
Grimrock was real-time-time, right? Probably why I never paid attention to it. Also, I hear “grimrock” and think “grimoire”
I was going to say “I really need to see how movement works outside of combat” but I’m wondering if there is any such thing. Although one bullet point mentions puzzle dungeons.
But all of this “board game/hand crafted missions” stuff doesn’t sound like it’s a game where you explore an open or semi-open world in in classic RPG fashion.
This seems like it could be cool, I’m in at least for a wishlist and following this thread with keen interest!
I’m definitely in on this one.
The idea behind “blobbers” has never really appealed to me. Maybe I should give one a try anyway?
This isn’t a blobber.
But I agree, I really don’t like the EotB shuffle required to play realtime blobbers.
Yeah, turn-based blobbers are some of my favorite games, and there’s something cathartic to me about that form of exploration, gradually stepping on each square of the dungeon as I make my way through it. But the real-time ones have never clicked with me to nearly the same extent. The sidestep-based combat always feels like neither fish nor fowl – an awkward middle ground that isn’t satisfying either on a tactical decision-making level nor an action/reflex execution level.
That said, my impression from Grimrock was that it was a really talented and efficient developer that happened to be working in a genre that I don’t have much affinity for, so I’m very interested in seeing what they can do in one that’s more to my taste.
Odd that it’s a different company from Grimrock if it’s (mostly?) the same people. Wonder if there’s a story there.
RPS got an early hands-on with a playable demo and seemed to like what they played and what the developers are trying to achieve.
This dev blog on randomness convinced me to wait for reviews.
If you can finish the game without finding out the secret of Menhir Forest I’m going to be quite upset.
Indeed - remove all randomness and you’ve got a puzzle game, which isn’t really what I want out of this kind of thing.
Exactly.
The puzzle nature of ItB is what turned me off to it, even though it’s been well reviewed. I tend to embrace more randomness over less, but I understand there are those who prefer the opposite.
Into the Breach wasn’t a puzzle game, it was much more random. Each biome contained enemy types, and the placement and type of enemy as well as each map was generated randomly. They all used specific rules to battle your mechs (which were different based on your own load out) and what you see is what you get in terms of dealing damage or the over all outcome of the strategy you employ, but there was no “right” way to complete a map, no guide you could follow that would lead you to victory.
Thanks for the clarification, Scott.
My pleasure. I’d hate for you to skip something you might actually really enjoy due to a misunderstanding in how it plays. I can’t recommend it enough - maybe check out some YT footage and go from there.
Druidstone has been out for a hour already and no comments yet here. Oh QT3 why are you letting me down.
:)