The Greedy Cave

 

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

Want to be updated when the next blog goes live? Join my newsletter at: https://tinyletter.com/Hakuzo

The caves are filled with greed! The Greedy Cave

Today's game you think you are playing Don't Starve, but it is a mobile game about trying to survive a dungeon filled with monsters. This game is very difficult and remind me of Fatal Labynth for Sega Genesis. There is a hidden easteregg if you press and hold on the screen for a couple seconds.

Unlike Dont Starve, you can create a character. There isn't too many options to choose from, and I do not know if you can unlock more as you play.

You get plunked into a world that scrolls around like you are moving on a very tiny planet. You have the dungeon viewed here and on the sides are different shops or forgers to help you along. This game is odd as you can only keep golden equipment from the dungeons. There are ways to upgrade some common pieces up to gold but they are very rare.

So the first shop item holds these coupons you buy with real money. These items are then used to buy crystals which are used for various purchases of items. I find this a very strange system to use as it adds extra steps instead of letting us just by the gems.

Here are the second tab. As you see you the lowest set costs a single dollar USD. I do not know how much of a value this is as I did not have time to progress very far in this game. I hope to revisit this game sometime later once I get through my review pile.

There is a very complex inventory screen. You start the game with 2 pieces of gold equipment that has poor stats. As you progress you can use gold to unlock more inventory slots. I do not know if these are permanent upgrades or temporary ones. I also seem to have lost my screenshot for the Skill tab. Here you get a skill tree that use must use points you collect from leveling up. These give you abilities that can help you along in battle with a new attack or a healing ability.

The third tab has a list of temporary buffs you can pick up through the dungeons. These runes give you large boosts to stats that appear to also be temporary. Here you also see all the loot you will keep once you leave the dungeon. 

Here is one of the merchants that provide special potions for you to use in the dungeon. I never got a chance to really try these out yet.

As you progress on, you can unlock a cosmetic blacksmith that can make your gold items look different. These cost tickets as well. The difference is these cosmetics actually give you bonus stats.

This is a screenshot of some of the missions you can do to earm special crafting materials needed to upgrade you equipment. You can pie up some of these things as well from defeating enemies in the dungeon.

Now onto the main game screen. Here you get a reminder of your quests and you can see your stats in the top left. In the top right is a minimap that you can click on to see more details around you. The pack on the bottom of the screen is where you can set up your quick-use things like health or mana potions. This game has all the standard RPG elements you expect from games since the 80s. 

Lastly to wrap up the overview of the game is the map. This is a very beautifully rendered map. That concludes all the screenshots I have for you today and I will not move on to the scores section.

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

This game has a lot to explore and it's impossible to do so in one sitting. Though There seems to be a glitch where if you do not finish a dungeon and return to town, you have a chance of loosing all progress. I do not know if this is due to losing signal or some other bug.

Story:

 4 of 5 cogs.

There is a bit of story you find hidden throughout the dungeons. The story seems to be locked behind maybe certain levels of the dungeon and is very random when you will find any of it.

Amount of ads:

 none

As far as I remember there are no ads ever shown in this game. It is nice to play though a game without getting hit by an ad every second.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

I recall only ever seeing an ad for this game maybe once. The screenshots on Google Play show the real gameplay and doesn't have any click-bait.

Graphics:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The graphics are great in this game. They appear to be higher quality than that of Dont Starve. I feel the graphics are high-quality for the kind of game this is.

Gameplay:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The game play works as you expect it to. you clock on a square to move to it or interact with any other menu without issues. This game has all the basics of older RPGs and it's a great nostalgic trip.

Free play:

💯%

As far as I know you can gain tickets from completing quests. I have not played long enough to verify this so as it stands it appears to be fully F2P with microtransactions.

Fun factor:

👿 must survive at all costs.

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.

Thank You for reading my blog. Please consider donating to the tip jar as these are tough times and every bit helps. You can get updates by joining my newsletter. If you enjoy these reviews please show others this blog by retweeting or liking my posts on social media.

Throw a cog(tip using PayPal) to your blogger.

Survival RPG 3: Lost In Time

A test of putting the game logo first in the post to have a better preview image show when I link my blog.

Want to be updated when the next blog goes live? Join my newsletter at: https://tinyletter.com/Hakuzo

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

Time to get lost in: Survival RPG 3: Lost in Time

Please share this blog with many others and leave comments at the bottom for any games you'd like to see reviewed. See a game that looks good but sounds scammy? leave a comment with the name of the game (Android only please, I do not have an IOS system.)

Sorry for being a week late but things have been very chaotic lately. That aside, let's get into the last game in the Survival RPG series. This is the third game in this set. Very similar assets as the first two games but with a difference that I will explain next. I will keep this post light on screenshots again as this game is loaded with the story and I don't want to spoil anything.

Welcome to the biggest change in this game series. They added the ability to choose what you look like with different clothing colors and hairstyles. When you are happy with your looks you can join the game.

After a cut scene, you arrive in a new area unlike any found in the first two games. As you can see you are transported to the distant past. You have to survive and figure out what happened to you.

Instead of just one major map, this game takes on multiple maps like the second adventure. This makes the areas easier to explore and allows you to find all the hidden items faster.

This time you are back to gathering materials all on your own and figuring out how to craft new things. Once again when you build enough of one item, you no longer need to build them, but this game does seem to have a lot of reusable items like in the first game as well. In this game, I will make this note here. Candles are no longer infinite and have a time limit before they run out.

The same equipment screen you've seen 3 times already. You will rarely look at this screen honestly.

This game has an expanded food list compared to the first game. The cooking mechanic is back and you can cook things, Except for the dino eggs. 

Everything you collect so far is mostly the same in all three games. You collect branches and vines in every game and it would have been nice to see some kind of mix up like say using bones instead of the sticks.

Lastly, is the tools menu that you will never look at often unless you get a new item. At this point, I really wish the HUD would have been improved and made a little more fancy to match the higher detailed sprites in the rest of the game series. 

Overall:

 5 of 5 cogs.

The third game adds a lot graphically to the game and adds in a lot of story. The downside is there are still some things that could have been done to make the game feel less repetitive. You still have to grind and gather many sticks and other materials. That grinding is very boring and takes away from the gameplay.

Story:

 4 of 5 cogs.

This game has added a vast amount of story compared to the first two games. There's a lot to learn and experience so I will not go into the details of it.

Amount of ads:

 many

This game still suffers from a forced full-screen video ad every time you go through a cave. This really needs to be toned down still.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

Google play has similar screenshots to the ones I have here. Once again I have never seen any ads for this game so I can not tell you about their accuracy. 

Graphics:

 4 of 5 cogs.

I would give this a 5 out of 5 cogs but the developers have missed their chance to make the HUD better and use different items in the game instead of recycling the same assets again. 

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

I'm giving this game 4 out of 5 cogs because this game becomes very repetitive especially if you played through the first 2 games and it's just the same gameplay again. There are not many innovations in this third rendition to give you a reason to play them all in order. You can play just the third game and skip the first two if you want.

Free play:

💯%

Still 100% free to play and make it to the end of the game.

Fun factor:

😐 A bit repetitive.

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.

Throw a cog(tip using PayPal) to your blogger.

Survival RPG: Lost Treasure Adventure Retro 2d

Want to be updated when the next blog goes live? Join my newsletter at: https://tinyletter.com/Hakuzo

Greetings mechanics and tinkerers!

You find Survival RPG: lost treasure (part 1) floating on some driftwood.

Today I bring you a three part game. The first part throws your character into a deserted island and you have to collect everything around you to advance up a tech tree. I plan to review the next two parts in following blog posts. The game is classified as and RPG but there are no level-up components in this game. This is purely a top-down adventure title.

The game has very simple art and a map. You move around with the virtual keys on the screen. Everything uses a single action like a very old Nes style video game. You an tap on each of the different menus to access your inventory or cratfint menus. This game also has extra 'heart containors' that you can pick up very similar to the first Legend of Zelda game for Nes.

The button with a stick holds every collectable items you can pick up. You can click on the I beside an item to gain some information about it. These hints do not offer too much in the way of how some things area used.

When you click on the fish, you see a list of all the foods you can eat to heal. The I besides the food tells you how much health each food restores. In this game, there appears to be only 4 different types of food.

When you click on the shovel, you get a list of all the tools you have available. Once you create something like an ax, it will always be on you and never breaks. This menu is one you will never really look at again once you play the game.

When you click on the anvil, you reach the crafting menu. As you gather materials you unlock new recipes. There is no direct information that tells you how to get new recipes as they just happen based on any materials you collect. The best way is to collect everything you can just to unlock new things. You will travel back and forth to several places and you have to memorize locations of different items because you will need a tool to reach most things you find. Additionally, you can use gems to buy the missing ingredients to a craft recipy. You can earn more by watching optional ads.

The game has a map. The map is not very large to begin with and it appears you can beat this game in one or two sittings if you explore everything and think about what tool is used where.

When you click on the shirt button, you get a list of all the equipment you have crafted. Everytime you craft something it automatically becomes useable. When you craft a sword it goes here and your 'use' button that looks like a hand will change to the usable tool or weapon. If you say create a better sword, it over-rides the current equipped one to the best one despite holding both swords.

Overall:

 4 of 5 cogs.

The game is very simple and has the feeling of so many old video games from the 80s. Everything is touch based and responds mostly well. The graphics are very simplistic and could use a bit more shadow details.

Story:

 3 of 5 cogs.

There is a very simple story in this game. As you progress there has not been anymore story revealed as you progress along. I have yet to finish this game so I do not know if more story presents it's self as you progress on.

Amount of ads:

 Lots

Everytime you transition to a new room you are forced to watch a full screen video ad that disrupts the play of the game. You have to wait 5 seconds before you can skip these. It makes it very difficulty to explore new places. You can also watch optional Ads for premium currency or there is an option to pay to remove ads.

Accurate Advertising?:

💯%

The Google Play screenshots are accurate to the game and don't hide anything. There is not too much going on visually here.

Graphics:

 3 of 5 cogs.

Very average pixel art sprites. The later games seem to have better graphics based on the screenshots. There is a lot that could be improve graphically in this game.

Gameplay:

 4 of 5 cogs.

Simple and clean gameplay. There is not much to do and it is very limited but it is good for a quick single run-through.

Free play:

💯%

The game is completely easy to play for free. There are some premium powerups you can buy with real money and not the premium currency so there is no way to earn those ingame. This game is very much designed as a F2P game with many ads that slow down the gameplay when you enter a cave.

Fun factor:

👸 Fun for a time.

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.

Throw a cog(tip using PayPal) to your blogger.