The second episode of a short series on games I discovered at WASD x IGN 2023.
ENDLESS™ Dungeon
I’ve not played Dungeon of the ENDLESS so I wasn’t familiar with its peculiar hybrid of roguelite and tower defence – so in comes ENDLESS Dungeon to teach me. I can’t tell you what it has over its precursor, except that the pixel art is out. Carefully explore room by room, upgrade your hardware and escort your crystal drone to the next zone once you find the exit. It’s as easy as that – if you can survive the endless hordes.
ENDLESS™ Dungeon is scheduled for release next month on Windows, Xbox, Switch and Playstation.
Time Bandit
No, this isn’t the TRS-80 Time Bandit nor its 16-bit remake, thanks for asking. This is–
Look, I’m not quite sure what this is. Opening with a quote from Karl Marx about how capital steals time from labour, satirical Time Bandit converts this into a literal scenario, where your employer is stealing your time. And perhaps it’s time to steal it back.
So it’s part work sim but also I saw some Sokoban. That’s Sokoban where moving one block will take half an hour and cost you fuel. And I mean half an hour in real time. Also, if you arrange to meet someone in-game tomorrow at 10am, they mean LITERALLY TOMORROW AT 10AM.
The first part of Time Bandit was released in July for Windows and Mac.
Esoteric Ebb
Esoteric Ebb is a CRPG that calls itself a “Disco-like”. And it opens like Planescape: Torment: on a stone slab. You might have questions for the game like “was I dead?” or “who blew up the tea shop?” but you’ll spend a lot of time listening to your stats arguing. All your stats think you should keep your helmet on – except for your Charisma. So I might have referenced Planescape but I also felt the influence of The Princess Bride and Inside Out.
Delightful dialogue that doesn’t quite work out the way you expect. It made me smile a lot. But I never found out who blew up the tea shop.
Esoteric Ebb is not currently scheduled for release – but the first draft playtest is currently available on itch. Windows only.
Next: Mars First Logistics, Nivalis, Gori: Cuddly Carnage, Hexarchy
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Raises the interesting question: when Dungeon of the ENDLESS says it won’t run on modern Mac OSes is this won’t-run won’t-run or you-have-to-flip-a-switch-the-devs-didn’t-know-about won’t-run or you-have-to-flip-a-switch-the-devs-didn’t-pay-for won’t-run?
Have I mention that I really dislike the way A$pple sabotages backward compatibility and extorts devs and makes it generally difficult to port games to their hardware?
Fermi Paradox was on my radar, so nice to see mention of that.
Esoteric Ebb sounds enticing! The one and only Potter was also talking that up recently.
Oh I think I recall seeing Time Bandit on a Warp Door email perhaps? Or was it an itch newsletter? Either way, that synopsis rang a bell! The real-time quality really intrigues me, particularly after The Longing.
Esoteric Ebb does sound really interesting. I still need to play Disco Elysium too.
I really hope Endless Dungeon turns out well because it’s got some big shoes to fill after Dungeon of the Endless!
I’ve been very close to buying Time Bandit multiple times in the last few weeks (months?) since it came out. I’m also very intrigued by the real-time aspect of it, but it also sounds like hell for anobody who has a job or an irregular schedule. I’m afraid it’s going to be one of those games, the ones I watch 30-minutes video essays about.
I’ve finally found a few minutes to reply to comments.
Matt
It sounds as if Amplitude need to provide a 64-bit build to get it working but it seems like it’s not a priority. The problem is several years old.
Shaun
My son also had a go at The Fermi Paradox and he bounce off it. There’s a tenuous “interactivity” which can feel quite slight. I dug the emerging stories but if you go in expecting proper agency it will seem lacking.
I’d never heard of Esoteric Ebb before last weekend so I’m glad Potter’s ears are firmly glued to the indie news ground. Actually, this sentence sounds like a punishment you’ve inflected on him.
Gregg
On Endless Dungeon, I wonder if it’s a sort of reboot/remake? Considering the rewording of the title. I have no experience with the original so can’t comment. Originally I thought it was probably very different to the DotE, but the more I’ve read, I’m less sure.
Lorenzo
Yeah, I don’t really know! The gameplay was speeded up for WASD (as the dialogue confirmed) so how it actually plays out I’m not sure. It has its fans. Also, if you fall asleep on the job, you end up in jail and I think you have to wait that out, too.