Netherguild

~ Author: Patch (Twitter: @Patchmedia)

Netherguild is a turn-based tactical roguelike dungeon crawler where you build a team of unique characters to venture into the deep underground to find a cure for a mysterious plague.

During your exploration you find yourself battling different types of enemies as well as running across conditionally aggressive creatures. For example, I found myself fighting (and often dying because I'd get myself into a bad situation) against groups of underground shrimp because I took some of their eggs. These eggs however healed more than any other food item, so it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of that. Due to the dungeon crawling nature of this game, sometimes you have to wander through earlier parts of the dungeon to find ways to access the deeper parts.

The game felt full of new rooms and places to see and I'm sure there were rooms that I just never even got to. I was consistently finding interesting rooms and new information about the areas that I was in.

Netherguild focuses entirely on the quest to find a cure for a mysterious plague that has been appearing at the edge of your city. To battle this plague, you have to venture deep into the earth to a place where your people had sealed off another entire civilization in hopes that they have a cure for the disease. As you explore, you run into interactable objects that do different things based on their surroundings. The one I liked the most was light fixtures that seemed to reveal the entire room for you. In order to rest, you have to utilize a special wood resource and build a bonfire to sit around. Your characters then are able to eat food and recover health. Important for you to be able to continue through your dungeon crawl if you want to keep your characters alive. I had quite a few characters die, but it felt easy to grab a new one from the Guild in the overworld and slot them into my party. If I planned well I even was able to provide the items from the previous party member for the new one!

During your wandering through the dungeon remember to keep an eye out for various items to make your party stronger! New armor, weapons, healing items (like a neat necklace that was crafted for me once when returning to the overworld). One thing that is striking about this game is how it looks. It is a cool poly look that lends very well to this style of game. Movement feels fluid and the indicators of your attack range are easy to see. The music is also catchy and fun to listen to on top of that. The combat feels a lot like playing DnD, and you have a very easy to see initiative tracker on the side of your screen too.

This game was very enjoyable, and I would recommend giving it a try! Go give it a try from Steam for $10 USD while it’s in early access! If you want to check out more things from me, give my twitter a look at http://twitter.com/PatchMedia