Played this (partially) live on stream on the 15th of April (twitch.tv/sleepy_nice).
God, I wanted to hate this game soooo badly. I didn't think I'd have much time in my heart for an indie action roguelite dungeon crawler with first-person perspective, 3D environments, 2D models and procedurally generated levels, but uh, this game is really good! Admittedly that combination of elements might not have been the slog of cliches that it is in 2022 when the original version was conceived of, back in 2013. Even in 2018, when Delver released officially, the landscape was only just becoming bloated with this type of exploratory action game with randomised levels.
Delver managed to keep me hooked for a solid 2 hour run by still managing to feel pretty authored and crafted in spite of its randomised design. I didn't get as deep as the levels go (I died in an admittedly pretty comedic way in what I now know is the second-to-lowest level) but everything escalates really nicely, and the biomes were distinct and atmospheric. There's a Spelunkiness here that was appealing - explosive item drops, potions with unforeseen effects, chaotic secret rooms - and I wonder if there was a similar attitude towards the randomised levels as Spelunky, using pre-built collections of map-parts rather than randomising everything completely.
Definitely going to try at least one more run to see if I can complete it, but even if I don't I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by Delver! Oh, also gorgeous music.
God, I wanted to hate this game soooo badly. I didn't think I'd have much time in my heart for an indie action roguelite dungeon crawler with first-person perspective, 3D environments, 2D models and procedurally generated levels, but uh, this game is really good! Admittedly that combination of elements might not have been the slog of cliches that it is in 2022 when the original version was conceived of, back in 2013. Even in 2018, when Delver released officially, the landscape was only just becoming bloated with this type of exploratory action game with randomised levels.
Delver managed to keep me hooked for a solid 2 hour run by still managing to feel pretty authored and crafted in spite of its randomised design. I didn't get as deep as the levels go (I died in an admittedly pretty comedic way in what I now know is the second-to-lowest level) but everything escalates really nicely, and the biomes were distinct and atmospheric. There's a Spelunkiness here that was appealing - explosive item drops, potions with unforeseen effects, chaotic secret rooms - and I wonder if there was a similar attitude towards the randomised levels as Spelunky, using pre-built collections of map-parts rather than randomising everything completely.
Definitely going to try at least one more run to see if I can complete it, but even if I don't I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by Delver! Oh, also gorgeous music.