The Orc’s back arched in pain as the current rushed through him, and he crumpled to the floor – smoke rising from his charred flesh. As it found purchase in the Orc’s side, it surged with mana, delivering a crackling jolt of lightning. With a savage roar, he spun, swinging his blade in a wide arc. But Boggin anticipated the blow, and activating his runic shield, giving him the window of opportunity he needed to deliver a counterattack of his own. The Orc launched his knock-out punch – a solid uppercut. “But if he believes me a simple warrior…” “He thinks he has me outmatched,” the Dwarf thought to himself as they circled one another. Before he could recover, Boggin took two more rapid blows. The short warrior’s chain armor absorbed some of the impact, but it left him reeling nevertheless. The ugly, stinking creature smiled sadistically as he delivered a harsh counterpunch right into the Dwarf’s ample belly. Finally, only the squad leader remained – a hulking figure who forsook weapons to fight with plated fists alone.īoggin’s sword came crashing down – but with unfathomable grace, the Orc simply flowed away from its arc. But this patrol had proven especially deadly – invoking their runic magic to blind the Dwarf while they pelted him with arrows from afar. “For the Iron Throne!” clamored Boggin the Dwarf, “For Norgan the Bold!” In his frantic escape from the depths of Reknor, he had laid low dozens of Orcs with his gleaming blade. Still not sold? Well, grab a lantern, and let’s get to delving. You know, for those who have no respect for themselves as gamers.
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There’s even modes that grant extra or infinite lives. And you’ll learn from it, and next time, you’ll do better. But every time, it will be because you did something stupid. There’s still inventory management, but it’s been magnificently streamlined. There’s still plenty of randomness, but you have (almost) complete say in your character’s development.
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Itself sired by Pernband and a cease-and-desist letter. In that way, it is something of a paradox: a hardboiled Rogue-like with a steep learning curve, that is still somehow approachable. What separates ToME from the likes of ADOM or Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup – or, heavens help you, NetHack – is that it does everything it can to strip out those elements of Rogue-likes that turn many people away from the genre. Low on plot, high on procedural generation. No-no-no, my friend this is a single-character, top-down, I-go-you-go, dungeon-delving RPG. We’re not talking Binding of Isaac, Spelunky or FTL.
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As a distant but direct descendent of the esteemed Moria / Angband bloodline of Rogue-likes, Tales of Maj’Eyal ( ToME, or technically ToME 4 ) is still a Rogue-like in the most traditional sense. And he has answered them with Tales of Maj’Eyal. Well my friend, your prayers have been heard by DarkGod (really, that’s his handle). You hate managing hunger, rest, thirst, ennui, humidity, and how long it’s been since you last felt love’s sweet embrace. You hate juggling potions, scrolls, food, ingredients, and God knows what else. You hate the tedium of hauling around tons of equipment, just to find out most of it was cursed anyway. You hate ASCII graphics, tilesets that look like they were made in MS Paint, and interfaces that feel older than you do. You hate just clicking on enemies until they die.