A game in which you not only need to develop tactics, but also take into account physics.
You know, sometimes you want to be like a small company called Stray Fawn Studio. Firstly, its employees cannot be denied ingenuity. I began my acquaintance with their work with the game The Wandering Village. It was a city-planning survival simulator on the back of a wandering lizard, in which it was necessary not only to provide food to the population and establish production chains, but also to ensure that the dinosaur was fed and did not get sick. And then mechanics were generally opened to guide the reptile so that it would not walk through the desert and contaminated lands, or to organize forays.
Secondly, they are not shy about trying to do something else in parallel. After all, Wandering Village is still in early access on Steam, but the authors have already started working on a new game. They have some other thing there from 2019 in early accesses, and okay.
That's why, when I learned about Dungeon Clawler – a new project from Stray Fawn Studio – I wanted to try its demo. By the way, it is available to everyone, you can read it yourself.
I’ll tell you a little about the origin, how the authors themselves present it. The developers from this indie studio went to Japan and turned out to be non-mammoths; they got hooked on the toy machines there. From there they got the idea to make a video game on this topic.
Now to the game itself. Dungeon Grabber is a mixture of genres. In part, this is like a bagel, and not a soft one. The hero will have to travel along certain corridors. You need to choose a route, taking into account combat encounters along the way, as well as useful things. The task is to get to the boss, defeat him and then do the same on the next floor.
Whatever he can find during the session is what the hero will have at his disposal. There are currently no bonuses available to make your next run easier if you fail. And yes, after a conditional defeat on the third floor, you have to start all over again from the first.
Of course, in reality the global map is not the main thing. The real juice of the game is the combat system. Dungeon Clawler is a turn-based card game, but not really. The point is that the entire deck is dumped into the machine in the form of objects that must be caught with grabbers in order to be used.
The initiative is on the player's side. And not only in terms of the first move. You can see what nasty things the enemies are up to. In ordinary CCGs, in this case, several random cards are given from a pre-compiled deck, but here, please, that’s all. You just need to get it.
You noticed that the items in the deck are different. It is clear that shields provide protection from attacks, swords cause damage, and there are things with more varied effects. By default, there are two grabbers, but this is not the usual number of actions per turn. You can pull out many objects at once.
And the hero will use as many actions as fall out of the machine. You can pull out a bunch of swords and end a simple battle in one turn, or you can not pull out a single one and the protagonist will do nothing.
Objects are subject to game physics and how such machines work. The situation when something falls out of the claw already at the top is quite common. And something may get stuck on the wall, as in the second screenshot above. This is okay, because the things you pick up next time will most likely knock this one out for extradition. Tactics for preparing the next action, ladies and gentlemen.
You can control the grabbers, swing them, and choose the moment of capture. In this case, you can overdo it so that when you reach the bottom of the machine, the claw will turn over. Minus one try.
Another interesting detail is that used cards are returned to the machine on the next turn. Except for those whose properties state that they work only once per battle. They return, however, randomly in terms of location. They can get enough sleep anywhere, and not always in a way that would be convenient for the player.
The first encounters go smoothly. At the end of the battles, you are offered to choose new cards, the selection is random. You can change the list using coins. The standard way to receive money is a card – a piggy bank. She is just one of those that works once per battle.
Very soon the opponents will become more vile. For example, large toads can enlarge an object in a car. It is relatively more difficult to grab. Others can throw in hairballs, which, of course, have a use, but only with the right combination of effects from the cards.
The developers also promise to add a knitting workshop, where wool can be used to knit suits. Because it is also a global currency, just like gold. But this is true, by the way.
There will also be nasty guys who poison, heal, put shields on themselves, get blown up, or increase their attack with each move. The boss on the second floor, for example, stacks shields for himself. I didn't have enough damage to shoot them down and defend myself at the same time. Fortunately, there were poisonous strays, and I sat it out.
Some adversaries apply the effect of retaliatory damage to themselves. Everything would be fine, but when the claw picks up a handful of swords and shields, it suddenly falls. If the shield went forward to issue, great, it will block this very retaliatory damage. If it's a sword, not great.
And over time, enemies begin to hit harder, and since in the game in general and especially in fights there are few ways to heal, this is also dangerous. In general, if it seems that you can grab a bunch of everything from a machine gun at once and carry everyone forward feet first, then this is not entirely true.
And it's not all about the combat system. The player also has ways to influence the machine. This opens up a whole layer of gameplay. Below you can see another selection after the victory. Notice the icons in the lower left corner of each card. They have a type – the material from which they are made.
After playing the bottle, the car will flood. Wooden objects will float, metal ones will sink to the bottom, unless they get stuck on wooden ones. The water will decrease gradually with each move. Sometimes this can be beneficial, but sometimes it’s the opposite. I want to pick up the sword, but the same bottle clings to it, ruining further plans.
Let's go deeper. There are things that can turn water into lava or poison. In the first case, picking up wool will cause damage to the enemy, in the second, some kind of poisonous effect will appear. Without the original bottle, these cards are simply useless.
Liquids are also convenient because some objects can float near the edge on the right. You can try to abuse physics – pick up something from the bottom near the edge, pushing something floating with the upper part of the grabber for release.
The matter is not limited to water alone. There is also, for example, a magnet card. Literally a magnet, it will fall into the machine and attract surrounding swords.
If you fell well, then with its help you can win even an average battle in one move. After all, if you pick it up, it will even attract objects falling out of the claw nearby. But, if it doesn’t work out, then on the contrary, the magnet will remain below and pull the pieces of iron down.
The automatic is the main mechanic. It must be said that there are also perks in the game. Sometimes they are given at the end of the battle. Specifically, for defeating bosses. There are skills for +3 attacks, 5 healing after battle, 3 units of retaliatory damage, etc. Among the interesting things worth noting are the perks for:
The third claw increases the number of possible actions per turn by one and a half times!!! Strengthening the first action played by 2 times. Increasing the limit. I didn’t really understand what it was. And yet it looked like something important.
The combat was interesting and challenging; the variety of opponents forces you to adapt what you have in your arsenal to the situation.
It's worth talking about objects on the global map. They are connected with the formation of the deck.
Nothing was said about the possibility of precisely forming a set of objects with which the hero goes into battle. Yes, you don’t have to catch extra garbage from the machine, but it will get in the way and cover up a necessary item, for example.
There is simply no direct control over the contents of the machine. You can say that the player is throwing something new in there, but it’s not so easy to cross it out. You need to find a trash can on the map and remove cards from the deck for money.
Did you think that you could shove everything into the deck? It was a trap. Yes, you need to pay for the destruction of unnecessary objects. At first I also thought that this was some kind of sale, processing into money, but no.
Cards can still be upgraded at the forge. Useful, but you have to approach it wisely. In the current version, you can turn 2 regular shields or swords into one improved one. It will be only one and a half times stronger.
Speaking of losing money, there is a casino in the game. You need to pay two coins, and then choose the moment when to open the claw so that the object from it falls onto the moving platform below. The reward appears to be random.
It is possible to win. I even succeeded a couple of times.
There are chests on the map, this is an activity during which you can try to pull out something useful with one claw. You are given a choice of two large bags with a perk and also small healing potions for 20% health. Only heals are used immediately, and do not go into reserve.
The main thing is not to be greedy. On my first run I didn't pull anything out here at all.
A question mark on the map means some kind of event with options to choose from. You can get something, but the wrong option will have a price.
I have not yet been able to advance beyond the 4th floor; perhaps on the 5th there will be some new objects on the map. But for a first glance, I think this is enough. It's time to take stock.
I really liked the unique combat system with the machine gun. And randomization of rewards for victories allows you to experiment, try out new ways of interacting with the machine.
What's great is that the boss battles are tactical puzzles with multiple solutions. I mentioned how long I poured poison on one scoundrel. There is a much more effective approach against him, but it’s good that you can win this way.
I advise everyone to check out the demo because of these two points.
As for the world, I hope its sparseness is a cost of the demo. I called the game something like a roguelike because, apart from builds, nothing is randomly generated. In each run, the corridors, placement of points of interest, mini-games and the composition of opponents do not change. In addition, I cannot help but note that the first two bosses later become ordinary enemies, or rather, their weakened versions.
Another possible problem – expect long-term construction. I mentioned that the studio's previous project is still in early access. Although that didn't stop it from coming out on Xbox. Dungeon Clawler would be a great addition for Gamepass subscribers if the grapple controls were well implemented with a gamepad.
I personally found the project interesting, added it to my wishlist, and think I will continue to follow the game.
That's all! The Dungeon Grabber demo is available on Steam. Thanks everyone for reading! Constructive criticism is welcome.