Guidus Pixel Roguelike RPG

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Delve into the deep dungeons with: Guidus

Today's game doesn't have a title screen and throws you straight into the main camp. As you progress through the game, you save more people for your main camp. I do not know how many people there are to save but they each seem to have a specific function in the game.

You can click on the campfire you can change your class. You can unlock a random class by spending 1000 gold coins. You can also raise the initial level by paying coins as well. You also have a chance to watch a video to gain a free class or soul as the game calls them.

Across the bottom screen are buttons that lead to subscreens. The first one I will talk about late. The second one seems to be linked to a character you rescue later. I assume this NPC will catalog every enemy that you fight like pokemon. 

The third button is your active inventory. This is where any keys and potions you find. Anything else you find in the dungeon will also go here as well.

When you click on the pause button you get to see all the options. This game comes in several languages out of the box which is surprising for a mobile game.

The second option screen allows you to manage push notifications and cloud saving.

The first button is a special list of equipment that gives you boosts when you defeat bosses. These are permanent boosts among all playthroughs.

If you manage to make it through an area and beat a boss, you get to see a victory screen and you return to the camp. Even if you lose you keep the gold you find. Along the way, you can find special artifacts that give you a major boost just for the current run like Binding of Issac.

To move around is simple with the cross button. you move around and everything happens on a step-by-step basis. Like a game from sega genesis called Fatal Labyrinth. You move around from stairs to stairs as you go deeper into the dungeons. You can hold the arrow button to do a charge attack or special move based on what creature you have.

After you beat the tutorial you unlock the princess. When you click on her you go to the shop. Here you can watch options ads to gain bonus coins or a time skip.

You unlock this screen when you visit the fox NPC. This screen shows you all of the artifacts you have found before and a description detailing what they do.

And just for fun, the Shaman fox NPC to show off the level of detail in the pixel art.

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Overall, this game is a lot of fun and brings back memories of similar games to this. There is a lot to explore and find in this game as I haven't even scratched the surface of the game.

Story:

 5 of 5 cogs.

There is a lot of story in this game that you seem to learn as you continue on. I haven't even made it through the second area yet because this game is so vast.

Amount of ads:

 

 low

The game has a banner at the bottom of the screen that always displays while you are online. Beyond that, there are only optional ads for various bonuses.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I do not recall watching any ads for this game as I think I found this game just randomly on the play storefront page.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

This game has a lot of great pixel art and it's pretty easy to make out what creatures are. The hud assets and menus have a nice feel of older RPG games.

Gameplay:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The game is pretty basic and simple. Everything happens on a step by step, but unlike Fatal Labyrinth, the enemies still move around on their own.

Free play:

💯%

Yup, you can easily play everything you want on this game with no paywalls or energy limits.

Fun factor:

🔪 Rouge-like.

Are you an indy programmer or game dev?

If so, you can leave a comment or contact me on social media for a chance to have an interview with you posted to my blog. I am looking for many devs that focus on mobile programming. If you have a cross-platform game, that is fine too as long as it's on mobile.

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League of Legends: Wild Rift

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Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

The steam towers point ahead twoards: League of Legend: Wild Rift

Riot has done it again. I used to be an avid League of Legends player on PC when I had access to good internet. LoL Wild Rift is a moba that is based on the PC version of the game. This game is not cross-platformer. The base account is cross-platform enabled but you have to start fresh on this game. This version of the game makes it a lot easier for everyone to experience what LoL is. Warning: This game will take up over 4 gigs of space if not more as they add more detail.

We are currently in Season 2 at the time of this blog. Playing through the first 10 levels will get you about half of the current roster of characters. Some you chose, some are random. You will also earn a couple premium skins also randomly chosen, and you get to choose one of any from a small list. This game has only half of the total number of champions in at this time. There is a notice that content will be added all through April and May. I will go over some of the stuff you will find among the menus but I will not go in-depth over the main gameplay because there is far too many things to explain in what a moba is.

You profile gives you some base statistics of the most used champions on your account. As you can see I started with Ahri which is a Mage Assassin. She is one of the most popular and nearly a mascot for the game at this point. Most of the original set of champions are available to play along with a handful of newer champions as well.

The second tab under your profile is match history. The most recent games are able to be viewed and you can even rewatch them! The system is mostly stable but there may be some server issues of signing you out and you have to sign back in. 

The third tab shows you a more detailed list of your top 3 played champions. This is a repeat of information and I do not see the point of needing to see it again.

Tab 4 is all your stats. It shows you the awards you got, your win rate and a compilation of how you play. It just gives you an idea of the kind of actions you take during a game and you can use this to focus on say gold farming. You can change from this graph to bargraphs that explain which icon is which.

Achievements are things that you will stumble into as you play. They give you points that can earn you rewards.

Under the store page you can buy champions you do not have using the blue bits you collect or using the premium currency. The premium currency can not be earned in this game and is used to only buy cosmetics things. I will go into detail of those later. These cosmetics do not impact actual gameplay in anyway and can be 100% skipped.

The major cosmetic is Skins. These can only be bought with real money. Most skins cost an average of $10 USD. Some of the premium project skins are in this game and do cost more, but no where near as much as the PC version. 

The next tab has items. Thses are emotes and a few different things you can display to others as you battle. I do not know how to access emotes during gameplay yet. Everyone gets 1 free emote and there appears to be chests you can earn that give you free ones.

The last tab is for stances. These are alternate stances you can display when your champion is picked. There is the default one and one extra one that can only be bought through the Poro store.

This is the example of your loadout. You only get a total of 3 to choose from and you can customize them. This makes your gameplay easier as your list is displayed in order at the shop. They appear in the exact order you have them listed. Runes give you small permanent buffs during battle and the spells are skill based abilities that can heal you or get you out of danger once ever few minutes.

The leaderboards display the top players of the server. You can check different categories based on champion type or role.

This is your inventory. Here you can gain temporary buffs or chests that contain random champions. You will check here often before you reach level 10. Once you reach level 10 you can start playing ranked battles.

You have daily missions that net you extra blue bits to unlock champions and a few extra items as well.

You can choose from a couple of game modes. Right now ARAM is a mode that is being tested and was only available for a short time. You get a random champion and you have to build carefully as this mode is team fight practice. 

This is an overview of the map. This map is one stage behind the current PC map and not quite as big. For those that play on the PC, the current map has an extra alcove along the middle outside walls. This screenshot is from a hint menu. Everytime you die in game you get an exclamation point on the screen. Clicking on it takes you here and you get some random tips that help you play better.

 

A quick view of what it looks like to choose a champion. I think this list moves around based on how often you play a champion. You can choose by role type and there may be a way to tailor this list but I have not figured that out yet.

If you win you get this victory screen and a different displays for being defeated. It shows you the level you gain and any blue bits you earn. The winning team gains more experience than the losing side.

Lastly is the overview of how everyone did. You can view other stats for the battle with the different buttons. I opted out of showing you any screenshots from gameplay as it's very hard to do safely during combat. The game takes a lot of focus and planning. 

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

This is a very solid port of the PC version with room to grow. There are a few technical issues that do not really impact the gameplay, and there are a few things that could be improve still. Overall this game works well as long as you have a good connection.

Story:

0 of 5 cogs.

The game its self has no direct story, but each character does have a story that isn't expanded on here. You have to look at the game lore from other sources to get any story beyond the very short paragraphs you get.

Amount of ads:

None!

There truly is no ads in this game what so ever.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

Riot is pretty straight forward with their advertising. This game has the backing of the fame of the PC version. 

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

This game is very highly detailed 3d art. There was no detail missed in the art department. The game runs so well for having this much 3d graphics in it. Aside from the size, this game shows how much mobile games have advanced.

Gameplay:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The gameplay is so smooth compared to other mobile games I've played in the past. The controls are very smooth and are mostly natural. Sometimes certina abilities do not work as intended or seemingly to. Sometimes there is some glitches with playing wards or some 'circular' skills but other than that it is well on the way to be a great game.

Free play:

💯%

You can easily play this game without buying anything at all.

Fun factor:

Excelent.

There is so much to experience as each batter is unique. You can learn just one champion or master all roles. It's best to try out everyone once before settling in to any chaimpions as a main.

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KawaiiDungeon - Rise of a Goddess - Learn Japanese

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Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

Today the steam-powered torii gates reveal: KawaiiDungeon - Rise of a Goddess - Learn Japanese

Today I bring you an educational game. This game is a spinoff of another app that helps you study and learn Japanese. The game is in an open beta stage and anyone can access it now.

There is a lot of Kitsune lore wrapped into this game. The main idea is to learn how to pronounce and recognize Japanese.

This is the basic map. You have a lesson that covers 5 or 6 Hiragana at a time. The game has two different currencies. Coins are used to upgrade your weapons and the shards are used to unlock weapons.

Clicking on the scroll shows you all you will learn in that lesson. Here you have to review each letter carefully. Time will be against you on a level.

The list of weapons or upgrade parts you get. The default weapon is KitsuneBi or foxfire. A standard for a kitsune. Weapons have damage listed yet... I've noticed that the damage is "capped" per evenly level so you can't one-shot them. It is so you are forced to do a minimum number of quizzes per round.

The Gatcha of the game. Save up crystals to get 11 at a time. You can also get a video Ad to sometimes earn a free one.

A more in-depth look at the weapons. Each weapon has a level cap yet to raise it, you have to collect more of the same weapon to boost the max level. As you see here, the damage is almost 200 yet, it still only does 90 damage to the first level enemy every hit.

Here you can pay for shards or counts., but they give you alternate ways to earn things.

Daily missions give you bonuses to help you advance.

Get used to this screen. This is the main quiz portion. The timer counts down far too fast. And it makes it harder to get all 3 stars for a level as you have to get them in one go.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The game is a bit rough as the time limit is far too fast for someone just learning Japanese. The "game" elements don't fully blend well with the learning aspect yet. It does need balancing more and a bit less rpg upgrade focused.

Story:

 2 of 5 cogs.

Not much of a story yet. There seems to be some but it doesn't come over too clearly.

Amount of ads:

 Optional only.

There are some optional ads you can watch for very tiny rewards.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The game is simple and the screenshots on google play show what you get.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

Great graphics featuring a lot of Japanese richness. It has a bit of an anime feel to it.

Gameplay:

 3 of 5 cogs.

The main thing to remember is for learning Japanese and not to be played as "just a game" it is a learning tool and must be taken seriously.

Free play:

90%

So far you can play for free but there are microtransactions. 

Fun factor:

🇯🇵 learning of Japan.

The game isn't "fun" outright but it helps to flashcard learning Japanese. It's more of a tool than a game.

Thank You for reading my blog. Please consider donating to the tip jar as these are tough times and every bit helps. You can follow by email or via follow on desktop websites. f you enjoy these reviews please show others this blog by retweeting or liking my posts on social media.

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