Awesome game! I really like the graphics. Unfortunately I suck really bad at game so I can't get past level 3. I'll most likely play this again at some point in the future when I have more time.

I like this game.

I quite like the graphics.

Cool game. Really hard though.

I like the idea very much, although I recommend to make it a bit more accessible (NumPad, urgh). For example, I'd save the last positio of the attack crosshair, so I wouldn't have to reposition it with every attack.

ratking - your comment makes me think of Brogue, which is pretty much the most accessible roguelike ever. You can just click everything! Though I enjoy using the numpad for movement, I agree that this game could definitely be improved with interfacey clicky actions.

Tough! But I like it! Is there any way to heal? Also how do you unlock unlockable powers?

A litte guide from a friend of the author:

when you posses an enemy you will become that enemy with full health (regardless of how much health you had before), and when depossesing while at full health you will become yourself with full health, this will let you (easily) deal with rats and vampire bats.

Be careful when walking around if you see a tough opponent at the edge of the screen turn around and they won't follow you.

Play like this till you reach level 3 or 4 using your points in strength, agility and constitution.

at this point you should be able to defeat and possess a skeleton and from then on the game becomes playable.

Oh and it took me an hour or more to realize this very important detail: the game isn't real time it's turn based.

You gain the unlockables by playing as that monster for long enough - don't worry you won't need to play as a rat to get envenom some higher level monsters have the abilities of the low level ones.

Sorcerers are too powerful compared to when they are introduced i have been turned to dust several times by a sorcerer using their fireball spell before i could even get close enough to use any of my abilities.

That said i managed to make level 21 i think i was on floor 4 and then ehm the game crashed on me i'll email you the log file.

I really like the game - been playing since you sent me the link, 5 hours by now, and been enjoying myself for the last 4 hours, but if you weren't a really good friend i would not have played for long enough to figure my way past the early stages of the game - i hope my little guide will help others into the fun part of the game.

A nice entry. Well done .

I made it a lot farther thanks to that Regus, this is really sweet, great work!

Pretty good game. I like it a bit.

numpad argh :), i'd have to say you could improve the controls a bit. Other than that it's a pretty cool idea.

man, i love roguelikes. it's just swell when a good, long game pops up in LD that i can sink a couple hours into, much to the detriment of others i should be reviewing! the controls take some adjustment, but i've played dwarf fortress for ages and those are no picnic either. this is probably the only game i've reviewed so far that i'd go back and play again.

Thanks everyone for the positive comments, it makes me really happy to be able to provide you guys with entertainment! :D

To those who say the controls are bad, specifically the numpad, how would you change this? Initially I was going to use the arrow keys, but those lack diagonals.

Incidentally I intend to polish this up over winter break and release it as a full game. I suggest anyone who might be interested in that to keep an eye on my Twitter. :)

This game is awesome, although I completely suck at it.

It'd be nice if there were more control options though (like using wasd+mouse), but it's a really cool entry as it stands. Nice one.

I love hardcore roguelikes and I really want to play this game but it is way too hard. a dozen times and I cant beat a bat. The concept seems interesting though so looking forward to your update.
I dont find it really fits the theme though ( why are other monsters of the dungeon you are part of attacking you ? In the end it is more a regular dungeon crawler with an interesting gameplay twist ).

blob: rats are lower on the pecking order than bats. Try putting your first two levels into agility.

As for the theme, well, there's a few ways to interpret it. Personally I think possessing a badguy fits "you are the badguy", and if the end boss is the villain, then defeating and usurping his body to become the end boss fits pretty decently.

This game is FRUSTRATINGLY fun. It caused a serious case of "just-one-more-try" syndrome on me. You sir, are the villain for torturing me so.

I never made it past the first level - I try to go for the bat for leech, and then for the skeleton for XP. If I make it to the skeleton, I can clear most of the level, but I almost never make it that far.

It would be nice if there was some sort of indication about how far you are from learning a new skill. Since the game is so difficult, all information that can be used to make a strategy is welcome!

Thanks for the game.

Also, some way to restart the game, other than closing it and opening it up again, would be more than welcome. Cheers!

Neat graphics

Awesome fun! Amazed at how you could come up with such a fun and complex game in such a short amount of time!

The game is so cool O.O nice! :D

Controls are *very* awkward and I don't mean just numpad - I'd suggest going with mouse clicks instead of the whole "press a button to attack, position a crosshair and press another button" thing. TBH I found the idea very nice but couldn't figure out how to play properly (only managed to possess once and had a hard time telling who was winning combat).

Like the game, it is hard.

As for who's winning combat, I got a few comments that it wasn't clear there's a combat log. Since I can't edit the compo version like that (I think) I added a note above telling people about the combat log. Unfortunately that's the only way to really tell what's going on sometimes.

Played more after reading Regus' guide and I must say this game is as addictive and fun as it is counterintuitive ;)
You should really add a readme with a guide, including:
-What Regus said
-How to attack (press a, target with numpad, press space)
-That you can move to all 8 directions
-That you should cast possess on the enemy before killing it

I appreciate hard games but at the very least you should be able to save when you reach the stair to a lower floor. I think I'll download Python and try to add this just for myself before I play more.

Sometimes a strong monster locks on you as soon as they get on screen - you might as well close the game because there's nothing you can do.

Also sometimes the "red hoods" and "golems" will spawn on the first floor, which means you're screwed.

I was a complete disaster at game, but was very fun! =)

Truly a great game. I don't think I've ever played a LD entry for this long. The Sorcerers were way too powerful tho. I would really like being able to save/respawn as well, so that you don't have to start from scratch whenever you run into one. I tried running away from enemies a few times but that was quite futile. :(

Sorcerers are a reminder to not neglect your Wil attribute, which improves magical defense. >_>

Oh, so that's what it's for, thanks! Will have to play again!
BTW I managed to change the source to accept arrow keys (so I can play on the notebook) but I don't know what exactly I should pickle to save the game state. I tried pickling thw ehole thing but it complains Surfaces cannot be pickled. Would really appreciate any help!

Really cool game! Played it for a while and really enjoyed it ;)

Awesome. It reminded me a bit of Paradroid, except with roguelike-ish gameplay and a fantasy setting.

Really liked this game! It was really fun to play and I got stuck for a long time trying to figure out how to progress. It was how ever very very hard and frustrating at times. I never actually got beyond level 5 xP

Sensational game! I spend a lot of time in it. I had to hack (my computer) a bit, I believe the numpad choice was unfortunate for laptop users.

@Atomic I'm sorry but I can't really suggest a quick fix for saving because the way the architecture is laid out I don't think there IS a quick fix for saving. :/ But it will be in the cleaned up post-compo version, probably as a cheat of some sort.

@Eniko: thanks for answering anyways. I ended up running it on a Windows XP VM and using snapshots to save, LOL o.ô Managed to get to the balrog and possess it but the game keeps generating floors. It does get a lot easier after you get fireball from the sorceress but those liches can still kill you with two hits right until the end. I only asaved once before going down each floor, with the exception of the first and second floors (where I saved once for each possession). I don't think it's possible for enyone to finish this without saving unless they can spend an year trying (i really think saving should be a regular feature, even if it only saves at stairs) ;)
Anyways it's a very fine game and I've had a lot of fun with it. Thanks and looking forward to the post compo version.

Yeah, the game doesn't end at the balrog, because I figured people would want to keep playing after they possessed the final boss form. In fact, if you live to floor 20 and above, I think, he starts spawning as a regular mob.

There are no new mobs in the higher floors, but their numbers do keep increasing.

I'm glad you had enough fun with it to actually go through all that effort using a VM to get a save function. You're probably right that the difficulty curve may need some adjusting, I haven't gotten past floor 9 myself on a legit playthrough.

Yeah, I'm sort of compulsive with that stuff.. if I start to play I game and enjoy it I *need* to finish it XD

If you really don't want to add saving your best bets for decreasing difficulty are:
a) making sure monsters won't lock on you as soon as you see them - I think this happens when they move to a non-boarder-of-the-screen tile as soon as they enter your screen.
b) fine tuning spellcaster's damage to avoid 2 hit kills.

Congratulations on getting to floor 9 without saving, that's very impressive!

A bit too oldskool for me in terms of difficulty and UI. The idea certainly sounds good and it looks nice, like 90s PC RPGs. I will try this again a bit later.

Considering the amount of time you put into this, it's a really impressive piece of work. I have to admit that I'm not the world's biggest Rogue-like fan, but you made a good entry to the genre (and killed me a bunch of times).

The graphics and UI certainly didn't make it feel like a game jam entry. :)