G - The Enchanted Cave

G – THE ENCHANTED CAVE

Back in my early days on Deadwhale and Kongregate, I found this game in their RPG/Adventure sections. I almost passed over it, too. I didn't know what I was looking at, being unused to terms like “Rogue-Like”, and the idea of learning a new play-style just for a game I was sure I'd play for 40 minutes while waiting for my shift babysitting the university computer room to end and then forget about forever. I clicked the link and a hideous dark olive-drab colored screen popped up with an adorable little pixel-knight hacking away at an adorable little red pixel-slime to distract from the loading bar. I haven't stopped playing it since, much like Bunni.

One final note – I'm not really happy with how my graded reviews came out, so I'm just not gonna grade this one. Besides: I already gave it a score on Kongregate. See if you can guess by the end how many stars this puppy got.

TITLE: The Enchanted Cave

DEVELOPERS: Dustin Auxier (with music by Alonso Rojas), sponsored by Bored.com

LOCATIONS: Kongregate, Deadwhale, Bored.com, Android, and iOS

DESCRIPTIONS: Dungeon, RPG, Adventure, Fantasy, Rogue-Like

INTERFACE: Keyboard (arrow keys only), mouse (click and drag items)

STORY:

There's not really a story in this game. You are a tiny blue-suited man with a sword. There is a 100 floor dungeon ahead of you and you cannot go backwards. Go forth and slay everything with your trusty blade. There is a twist, however, at the end. I refuse to spoil this for anyone who wants to play it. Just know that when I got to the end and faced the final boss, there was a sudden moment of Dungeon Master's jealousy. I wish I had thought of this idea in some of the games I've run.

ART:

This game was entirely created by one man: Dustin Auxier. I don't know this man. I have only ever seen him in his Kickstarter video for the sequel (funded!). All I know about him is that he is a pixel-art genius. This game has some of the nicest simple pixel-art I've ever seen, and to know that one person apparently did all of the hard work to make this game blows my mind. I've seen games created by professional game companies that looked much, much worse. The backgrounds are usually believable shades of earth tones or aqua-gray that give a sense of depth to the randomly-selected dungeon floors, the enemies look different from one another with only a couple of pallet-swaps (skeletons and bloody bones, wizards and druids, zombies and rotting corpses, etc).

Every single item looks like what it is. The gauntlets look like gauntlets, the boots are boots, and the necklaces look like pendants on chains. I especially appreciate the time it must have taken to make the Eyes (special items acquired throughout the game) each look different. All in all, I love the art and think that Mr. Auxier did a fan-freaking-tastic job.

MUSIC:

I don't know who Alonso Rojas is, really. I can't find much about him, so unless he's a DJ or a football player, I don't know who he is. All I can tell you is this: he's talented. Like whoa. From the first keened notes of what sounds like a synthesized oboe and clarinets backed by an electric orchestra, you can feel the adventure and mystery in the soundtrack for this game (downloadable at http://dustinauxier.com/download-music). It's simple, enjoyable, and it doesn't get too grating when it loops. It's just long enough that every loop doesn't sink into the last as it plays over and over. And every piece will replay. A lot. There are only a few tracks – the one for outside the cave, the one for the shops, and one every couple dozen levels (floors 40+ remind me of the first Star Trek episode with Khan). Whenever the background changes, the music changes, and the last level has its own theme, if I remember correctly. Also: Dig the shit outta his use of creative percussion.

GAMEPLAY:

You move by pressing the arrow keys (or WASD), and you equip, sell, or use items and spells by clicking and dragging items around. This can be annoying on a touchpad. Enemies are fought by running into them, which engages your character in inescapable combat. Make sure to use potions and healing spells, which are found in chests. Potions and Ether can be purchased every ten levels in the stores, which also sell weapons, armor, and other equipment. You can sell things you've found there, too.

Regular items and spells are found in red chests, gold is found in sacks, and golden chests contain relics or legendary items which are more powerful than other items. Escape Wings, which act like an Escape Rope in Pokémon, are also found in red chests, but only after level 5. Occasionally, instead of a bag of coins or a chest of either color, a gem will appear. These gems will permanently raise the stats of your character – red for health, orange for attack, dark blue for defense, light blue for intellect, and white for agility (I'm not sure about the last two, I may have that reversed).

That's about all there is to gameplay, really. Simple, simple game.

DIFFICULTY:

Nonexistant. The trick is paying attention to your HP as you ram full-speed into enemies and auto-combat them. There are health and mana potions to buy or find, and as soon as you beat the game once, it becomes ridiculously easy. You can one-hit-kill most enemies up until about the 70^th floor, and then you run a real risk of dying in floors 80+.

LENGTH:

Depending on your luck and dedication, this may not be a very long game for you. There are 100 randomly selected floors, each stocked with random monsters, chests, and coin bags in specific places. Sometimes it takes longer because there are more of a specific type of enemy or you're just having bad items come out of the chests. That being said, you still have to walk through 100 different dungeons before the end (well, 89 or so when you subtract the stores). It can take anywhere from 1 hour to 100 hours to complete this game.

REPLAYABILITY:

Super-high. As you delve into levels again and again, the game gives you different items. You keep your relics – high-powered weapons and items that are only found in golden chests – every time you use the “Escape Wings” to leave the dungeon. All non-relics are lost forever. Some goals for after you've beaten the 100^th floor, is to have all the achievements (viewable in the title screen by clicking on the chalice on the rocks), all of the gold-chest items, and to be able to take down the final boss in a single hit. I have only achieved one of these goals. I'm working on the last two.

SEQUEL!

There is a sequel in the works for The Enchanted Cave, and it's something special. Instead of just being a 100 floor dungeon that you just sort of appear in, there's an actual story, there's a town, and there's a crafting system! Just as exciting as the obvious and amazing leap in Mr. Auxier's spriting (or pixel art) skills is the news regarding a new composer. As amazing as Alonso Rojas is, the idea that Grant Kirkhope (BAFTA nominated composer of Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, and Donkey Kong 64, among many others) will be composing the music sends me into swirls of joy and aural ecstasy. Seriously – This guy is freaking amazing, and the idea that I'll be getting the album (I was a backer on the Kickstarter), is exciting. Auxier himself has a blog at http://dustinauxier.com/

I can't wait to see what else this awesome fellow comes up with.

That's all I have to say on this matter, so go enjoy something!

– FC

The Enchanted Cave is (c) Dustin Auxier. Play it here: http://www.kongregate.com/games/DustinAux/the-enchanted-cave

Seriously!