Welcome to our review of this 8-bit game on the 3DS, originally released on iOS way back in July 2015, this game is getting a new lease on life on the 3DS!
Alchemic Dungeons as a game is a strange mixture between several genres, it is both a roguelike and an 8-bit Role playing Game with the need to use alchemy to create your items, often breaking your rhythm while playing, even though I did not find that to be disturbing my gameplay, it did get tiresome at points…
The game starts off with a small tutorial, showing you how to use your weapons, how to walk and how to craft items by using your found items and combine them into better equipment. The tutorial is not the best I have ever seen, it felt a little unpolished at times. Especially the walking part felt unnatural, but apparently that is the way this game works. You have this rush button and when you press it, you need to get to a complete stop before you can fluently change direction. Not that it is impossible, but just that it did not every time fully react to the direction I wanted, which was a bummer.
Once you get to the game, you learn that the game itself also plays 8-bit style, while loved by some, I would love to play this game with a smoother walking and attacking system, because I do think this game is hiding a great combination of genres. All except the roguelike, that is my biggest gripe about this game, but more on that later on.
When you are playing, you are basically using the bottom screen as your map which classically fills in the blanks as you go explore the level you are in. Once you find the stairs icon, you move to the next level. Not forgetting to craft items along the way, because you need those to survive this game. You can leave big parts of the level undiscovered, but where is the fun in that?
The enemies are not the smartest, but they do dish out some weird unusual levels of damage at times. My very first game, I was suddenly surrounded by a mere two enemies, but holy crabcakes, they pretty much instantly killed me while I was still scrambling to find my footing and which enemy to attack first…
This is where my biggest gripe comes into play, why the need for a roguelike genre in what could be a very great game, the enemies often dish out such high attacks, that you can barely survive 1 of them attacking you, let alone two of them…. Is it really necessary to make games so hard that you scare away gamers? Because that is what this feels like, a game that is only reserved for the most die hard among us, the gamers that just keep on going. What about the casual gamer? I would not even mind the roguelike part if they made it stick per level instead of each world.
In conclusion, this could be a great fit for you, if you like the roguelike genre. Personally, I am fed up with unfairly hard games… I want a game that I can actually finish without pain in my fingers from constant retries. The game itself looks so promising, but alas, this genre is what ruined it for me.
I am rating it at 40%, I would have rated it much higher if this game did not feel like it was made hard just for the fun of it.
