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I was recently offered a beta key for the upcoming Ampers@t dungeon crawler and then a curator key for the recently released Ouroboros Dungeon. What better time, then, to also review the classic crawler, Unexplored?

Sadly, all three are Steam only, but they’re also cheap as chips. Let’s get into it.

Ouroboros Dungeon

I’ll start with the quickest to review, because it’s also the least interesting of the three. It launched on May 5th and features quite a pretty 3D view of the dungeon and some nicely drawn weapons.

Sadly, Ouroboros Dungeon lacks depth and after just an hour and a half on a single playthrough, I had no desire to play it again. It’s incredibly repetitive and features clunky combat and a loot system that just doesn’t make much sense (my “Belt of Stamina” granted me a magic boost - this is common, the naming appears to be almost completely random).

Screen from Ouroboros Dungeon showing inventory, including a Belt of Stamina which only boosts magic.

But it’s the combat that lets it down the most. In particular, the auto-target system that can’t be turned off, combined with later enemies which spawn minions right next to you, the game becomes a constant struggle to hit what you’ve placed your mouse cursor on. Throw in the infuriating trope of “can’t move while firing” and I found myself yearning for the sweet embrace of death so that I could honestly say that I gave it a fair shot before moving on!

However, perhaps given its low price of £3.99 I’m being harsh. You can check it out on Steam.

Ampers@t

You gotta love a gimmick, and Ampers@t delivers in spades. Playing as the titular ampersat (an @ symbol), you return to your village to find that all the villagers have been robbed of their language. Five mysterious towers have sprung up around the village, reeking of evil. You decide to investigate.

I’ll get this out the way early: this game has a fairly terrible interface and at times borrows too heavily from its C64 inspirations. However… bear with it. If you can get past the early clunkiness, there is a real gem of a game here. Movement is smooth, combat is surprisingly deep. And enemy AI is quite varied. For example, Kobolds and Zealots will actually run away from you if you lower their HP to a near-death level.

Monsters are represented by letters, and you can unlock bonus words by defeating the corresponding monster letters with your melee attack. Every level also has a bonus letter to “free”, which returns it to the language of the villagers.

Combat is also pleasingly varied. You have a ranged attack which uses a combination of your active spell, and your staff. You carry an offhand melee weapon for close quarters combat. And you can dash in one of 8 directions, which has a cooldown.

Screen from Ampersat, showing the starting village of Gentlheim, with its Inn, Weapons Shop, Armour Shop and statues.Screen from Ampersat showing the skill tree and stats page.Screen from Ampersat showing the bestiary, which describes each monster letter, along with attacks and debuffs

Music is fairly terrible if I’m being honest. But the sound effects are actual C64 SID-generated noises, which (if you’re old enough) really does invoke a sense of nostalgia.

The levels are hand-crafted, although graphically they’re extremely basic. That said, there are some nice set pieces, such as an Indiana Jones style boulder to run away from, while shooting targets to lower a bridge. There are also plenty of secrets, both visually and otherwise, and some nice “find the key” challenges to keep you occupied while taking down the enemy spawners. And there’s also an endless procedurally generated dungeon run which I haven’t unlocked yet.

When you return to the village, either by choice, or by death, there are some nice progressions available. Your character can level up, gradually unlocking fairly generic stat boosts in a typical “skill tree”. You can buy armour and weapons, or renovate the stores to unlock better equipment. You can also repair various statues around town, revealing some story elements.

I’ve enjoyed my time in Ampers@t. Give the demo a shot on Steam to make up your own mind and perhaps wishlist it for its release on July 15th.

UnExplored

I’ll admit that I only heard about this one when I heard that its yet-to-be-released sequel won’t feature Linux support (it’s also currently an Epic Store exclusive). However, don’t let that put you off this phenomenal release from 2017. Indeed, Ampers@t’s biggest problem is that Unexplored is only £6.99 and just a fantastic experience all round.

It’s a hard game to describe however. Ignore the fact that you play a one-eyed blob for a moment. Even then, it’s quite hard to explain! And its case isn’t helped by a brutal learning curve.

Okay, here goes. It’s a true roguelike, but realtime. So… I’ve dropped the Roguelike bomb and eyes are rolling. I’d better check it off, before you get your pitchforks out:

  1. Procedurally  generated levels? Yep.
  2. Unidentified equipment, potions and scrolls? Check.
  3. Throw potions as well as drink them? Oh yes.
  4. Varied, exotic melee, bows, staves? Sure thing.
  5. Varied armours, rings and necklaces? They’re in.
  6. Class selection with stats? Of course.
  7. Brutal learning curve? Absolutely.
  8. Amulet of Yendor? Yep… wait what?

Oh yes, borrowing from Rogue, Nethack, Pixel Dungeon and likely quite a few others, the goal in Unexplored is to find the Amulet of Yendor by defeating the dragon guarding it, then leaving the dungeon.

The inventory screen from Unexplored, showing slots for Amour, cloaks, rings, and held items.

I only have 7 hours in Unexplored so far, so all I can tell you is that, true to the roguelike moniker, it’s brutally difficult.  In fact, true to its legacy, you’ll need to persevere a fair bit to really uncover how good this game is.

And it is. Silky smooth movement, wonderful combat with main hand and offhand options. A huge number of melee weapons accompany bows, staves, daggers and shields to let you build your characters as you see fit.

I mentioned classes above, but really, all they are is an equipment choice. And they are unlocked through various play styles. For example, if you kill a skeleton, it’ll just get back up after three or four seconds. But kill it then perform the Last Rites scroll and it’ll be gone for good, and you’ll have unlocked the Cleric class for future runs, which starts with a mace and shield, instead the usual sword and dagger combo.

Despite its (frankly excellent) procedural generation, Unexplored has shoe-horned in story elements. Along your journey you’ll uncover books which hint at your struggles to come, describing the bosses you’ll face in the next few levels and giving clues on the best way to proceed.

Screen from Unexplored showing a book entry telling the player to destroy a Wolf figurine in the Earthen Mines of the Ruthless to unveil a secret treasure.

Those levels, by the way, are interlinked in interesting ways, with multiple staircases leading to different levels, or different entry points to a single level. Sometimes you’ll have to solve puzzles, kill monsters, or pray at an altar to unlock certain paths. Other times, you’ll have to find a blink staff, or a teleport scroll. Sometimes, you just need to fall down a cliff face, or use a “Descent” scroll. It’s incredibly varied.

As are the enemies. They start small, like rats, bats, lizards and spiders. But you’ll quickly be facing Kobolds, Ogres and Trolls. In many cases, your only option against these enemies is to run, or hide. Until you find the right equipment, then you’ll have more options. That might be throwing random flasks in a frenzy of panic, testing unidentified staves, or simply wearing heavy armour. There are also turrets, which are invincible and can only be avoided, or perhaps turned off with a level or pressure plate somewhere.

Unexplored is not without some flaws, of course. The interface is a bit cumbersome - especially when right-clicking on an item to read its text, where the slightest movement of your mouse thereafter cancels the pop-up. Also, there’s slight screen flickering of certain elements when played in a window. Oddly, the full screen experience is perfect. Finally, the graphics are pretty basic at times, particularly dropped items which just look like white silhouettes. 

But I’m nitpicking, honestly. Unexplored is endlessly varied, constantly tense and very, very slick in the gameplay department. This is a must-play really. You can pick it up on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I'm Neil, an avid Linux user since 2006 and a Linux-only gamer since 2013. I used to contribute to GOL's Funding Crowd articles, but now contribute the odd article directly, most recently the Play It Now series, and the IYL articles.

I also occasionally dabble a bit in Python, I do Internet Security for a living and finally, I'm a big fan of Neil Degrasse Tyson. And not just because he has a cool first name.
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8 comments

xavi May 25, 2021
Unexplored is inspired specially on Brogue, a VERY good roguelike.

https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/
https://www.reddit.com/r/brogueforum/

Thanks for your article!
g000h May 26, 2021
I really liked playing UnExplored, myself. (For that matter, I also adore Pixel Dungeon, and derivatives, which I played on Android phone many moons ago).

There are plenty of hours of enjoyment to be gained within UnExplored. Even when you die, you have that bit more knowledge to apply to your next run. If you like FTL or Slay The Spire, you'll probably find it good. I particularly enjoyed the early play-throughs of the game, slowly improving, coming across new things (that killed you) then doing a new run (and surviving to go further).

Later on in the game, after many hours of play, I found myself "RNG-frustrated" that I'd had a good run (to get that far) but that I was stuck and no way I could get any further (without dying). Yes, it's proper permadeath (which is generally fine by me, as long as I can push through, but there comes a point when you don't want to go all the way back to the beginning again).

EDIT: Just to further clarify what I mean about the late-game frustration - It is like playing a game of chess, and seeing a number of moves ahead and realising that your current status means that you don't have the necessary position or pieces to be able to reach checkmate.


Last edited by g000h on 26 May 2021 at 10:50 am UTC
Janne May 26, 2021
How heavy is UnExplored on resources? Does it run on a laptop without running all cores at 100%?
g000h May 26, 2021
Quoting: JanneHow heavy is UnExplored on resources? Does it run on a laptop without running all cores at 100%?

It's low on resources. (If your laptop can run FTL, Slay the Spire, then it'll have no problems.) Quickly looking at my own installed copy, it is using 490 MB of drive space.
TheSHEEEP May 26, 2021
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Where have you heard that Unexplored 2 won't have a Linux build?
g000h May 27, 2021
Quoting: TheSHEEEPWhere have you heard that Unexplored 2 won't have a Linux build?

Well, I looked and spotted it on Epic Store, here

Being an Epic Store exclusive means that "for now" it won't have a native Linux build. Maybe that'll change assuming it eventually appears on Steam.
TheSHEEEP May 27, 2021
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Quoting: g000hBeing an Epic Store exclusive means that "for now" it won't have a native Linux build. Maybe that'll change assuming it eventually appears on Steam.
That's what I would expect.

A linux build is fairly useless on EGS, so I wouldn't bother with that either until Steam release.
But given that Unexplored 1 has a linux build, I don't see a reason to assume 2 won't.
scaine May 27, 2021
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Quoting: TheSHEEEP
Quoting: g000hBeing an Epic Store exclusive means that "for now" it won't have a native Linux build. Maybe that'll change assuming it eventually appears on Steam.
That's what I would expect.

A linux build is fairly useless on EGS, so I wouldn't bother with that either until Steam release.
But given that Unexplored 1 has a linux build, I don't see a reason to assume 2 won't.

Yep, fair point. I haven't heard them deny that there would be a Linux build. But going exclusive on Epic doesn't suggest that it's front and foremost for them. But hey, Klei took an exclusive on Griftlands, but still followed through with Linux support, so anything is possible.

Fingers crossed. I've watched a couple of streams of FuryForged playing it and it's a significant upgrade graphically and story-wise, but with much of the same deep dungeoneering that you see in the original.

Edit to add - This older LinuxGameNews article suggests that there will indeed be a Linux build when the game launches on Steam in 2022!


Last edited by scaine on 27 May 2021 at 4:01 pm UTC
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