“You can solve many of life’s problems with a really big sword.”
Gameplay: This game is one of the best puzzle games I have played. If I could put it against Tetris as the mark of how good a puzzle game Tetris was, this game is better than Tetris. There are a few puzzle games that kind of do that, but others do so by marring the simplistic premise of such a game (take Tetris as an example) and just end up adding more needless bells and strings to add depth (Tetris Blast).
Describing this game is a tall order, as I will most likely make it not sound as awesome as it is, but I will try my best. (It’s NOT a maze game, although there is one maze).
Imagine the game floor is tiled as something resembling a chess/checker board. Beethro occupies one square. Beethro has a big sword. This occupies a square as well. Every movement you make takes a turn. You can move in 8 directions; N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, and you can rotate your sword Left and Right. Also you have to option to waste a turn by standing still. After you move, monsters move as well, so it is like a turn based strategy game, even though the movement is calculated instantly (looks like monsters move at the same time as you, but that’s not the case – you will always move first). In order to slay monsters, your sword has to occupy the same square as the critter. In other words: Splat. You can do that but thrusting, or swinging your sword. Touche!!! But if they manage to get you, expect Beethro to scream and see him get chewed out by a Roach. However, due to the nature of the game, it allows unlimited retries from the start of the room or from checkpoints marked “X”. If you messed up, and you know you’re gonna bit the bullet or you messed up the puzzle in the room, you can hit Restart (default R) to start again. The game automatically saves progress at the start of a room or checkpoint.
That sounds really underwhelming, but as I said, this game blends action, puzzle and logic into one. Some monsters can only be killed in certain ways. Some monsters chase you in a straight line, some run away and spawn critters. Others fly over pits and chase you in groups. Others really dislike your sword and try to get away from it and attack you from behind. Others you can’t kill with your sword. Yup. And none of the monster behaviour is random. This is a very logical game.
The reason why it’s called Deadly Rooms of Death is because of the actual architecture of the rooms are designed by evil architects in order to slay any foolish delver who foolish trespasses, but all rooms are solvable. Such room elements are Trapdoors that are dropped by the player after he moves over them (but not by monsters), which can make Beethro stranded, Force Arrows which denies movement in a certain direction, and doors and switches. Mind you, what these elements lack in lethality, they make up in annoyance. There are other elements in the game which help Beethro progress, like invisibility potions… but Beethro doesn’t wash, so if you step within a certain distance, they can ‘see’ you… smelly Beethro. Well, I could say a little bit more, but self discovery is a beautiful thing.
This is the first version of DROD that introduced level/hold editor. Although it lacks a few keyboard shortcuts that would make making levels feel like less of a chore, but you can do everything that the game designers can do (except script, but you don’t need that). This makes DROD feel like it has nigh unlimited replay value. The DROD community is awesome, and there are always exciting Holds to play.
This is a quality puzzle game which is indeed challenging. The designers put in extra to make more than just an update of Webfoot DROD even though it is.
Sound/Music: Sound effects do their job, as does the music. In some ways I preferred Webfoot DROD music, but the music in DROD: AE make it feel like a complete overhaul, giving it a different feeling (like it’s possible to complete this game with less frustration).
Indeed, this is an indie game, so it not top production material that you gonna slip discs on. It does its job, and it does it good.
Graphics: Um, they are not great. After playing the most recent version of DROD, these graphic aren’t good as more visual information could be on screen. We are talking ungainly Beethro, and a slight graphical upgrade from Webfoot DROD it seems.
As Webfoot is now redundant, this game will give the old school classic feeling all over again (which is the reason I kind of missed Webfoot music).
Story/Presentation: Story, insubstantial. You are a dungeon exterminator called Beethro. Your task is to clear all the floors of vermin as you as you go down floors. Talk about intense.
The game presentation doesn’t give the whole glib. You can easily pass over this game, and miss out why it’s so good. However, because it free (yes, I said FREEWARE!), because the game is still charming, and the DROD community is great, it’s hard to not be somewhat attractive to this game, although it is full of spinning Beethro heads, and the sequel the Deadly Rooms of Death, DROD 2 is the better game.
Conclusion: In conclusion this game rocks the puzzle house, and I need like 3 L blocks and a square block to fix it. What the game lacks in flair and the graphics department, it has bucket loads of gameplay and is quite charming.
However I’d like to recommend Deadly Rooms of Death: Journey to Rooted Hold (aka DROD 2), if you can't take the dated graphics or even find the game too difficult, as it’s a more attractive game, has more features and gameplay elements (undo one turn – godsend for those finger slips), and you can still enjoy playing DROD: AE user holds with updated graphics, and more (they have update the official hold of DROD: AE; King Durgan’s Dungeon, and also the original version of KDD is free).
Is this game difficult? The difficult curve is decent until you get to Level 8 (I had trouble on it for quite a while). After that things change up in the level design and introducing new ways to do things. After about level 14 it goes up gear, and your progress will be dependent on how well you will adapt to different situations (which is the reason why the learning curve is hours, and I say difficulty is very hard even though it isn’t really). When you solve a room by yourself that you were stuck on for a while, the sense of elation… it’s intense. Sometimes all you need is to think differently than do something differently, and you’ll know… :)
If you want a refreshing game, and don’t mind a challenge, and don’t mind trying something new, this is it (well DROD 2 is what I recommend). Personally, I don’t think the game is very difficult. I would say challenging as it makes you think beyond what the usual games do. My difficult rating doesn’t truly reflect DROD’s difficultly, but how a person would adapt to the game. This or DROD 2 could be the only puzzle game you will play for months from now.
I still play this game, and I was introduced to this game in 2000. True test of time...