Intermission

The Slimy Lichmummy

This game doesn't meet the criteria I set at the beginning of this small escapade - in that it should have received between 10-12 votes in the 2012 ROTY poll - but being that I am now sat at a computer that won't tolerate the retrieval of the rest of the games on my 'to-do' list (due to filesize) I thought it would be nice to carry on in the spirit of things and start playing with a roguelike that I have meant to have a crack at in a good few months - The Slimy Lichmummy (which came joint 63rd in the poll at 15 votes).

The notable thing about the game for me, is that it foregoes any levelling system. That is, you don't get better at anything for the normal sorts of reasons you would come to expect (the ritual slaughter of creatures that aren't you), you get better at the game ONLY by getting better at the game. A noble concept indeed. The game does offer your character opportunities to increase their abilities through 'augmentation chambers', although all the stats of your character generally remain hidden behind the scenes.

So I enter the dungeon, and I don't even have to choose a race or a character class or anything. I don't even get to pick someone out of some magical cryosleep chamber. It's just me, a name. And I shall be called Morten.

The interface is very clean and clear, and looks good. I'm pretty sure I know what most of the things are from a first glance, and I soon begin to recognise monsters and the various types of items pretty reliably, although as the monsters do not generally move as fast as you, sometimes I try and pick something up which turns out to be an enemy (I thought I had found a pair of gloves, and started to attack a severed hand).

The attacking mechanic is clever and interesting, in that for each particular weapon you undertake an attack 'combo' when engaging enemies. Some (mainly heavier) weapons need a couple of turns (or three) before they are ready to swing, and once you get in to an exchange of blows with an enemy the damage caused cycles through this combo of numbers. In the catacombs in my first playthrough, I found the 'Stormhammer', which after three turns allowed me to do a huge 15 damage on the first swing (killing most things straight off) followed by a couple of 2 damage attacks before cycling back to the start again. I felt invincible, and sure enough this feeling ensured my rapid downfall (to a bunch of slimes).

On the other side of things (receiving damage), the health mechanic is simple - but in the context of this game it works really well. It follows (as it is written in the rules of RPGs) that if you have no levels, you have no regular boosts to maximum health. So in a masterstroke of simplicity, the Slimy Lichmummy just puts this to one side.

Any medkits you pick up just give you extra health, without worrying about what your total is. You then have to control your health loss as you progress to ensure you don't end up in a situation where you don't have any health left. It's really simple to understand, and the game seems very nicely balanced to ensure you get the right amount of health throughout the progression of the game in the frequency of appearance of the health items.

Different types of armor are available to help prevent your loss of health, potions, wands and scrolls to help or hinder you, and things in the environment react as expected in a Roguelike manner (e.g. you can freeze water with a ray of frost).

The level design deserves a little mention as well, as I believe it is generated using different pieces hand designed by the developer. This gives a good feeling to the game, with all the areas being pretty interesting and avoiding the possibility of garbled areas that can occur with pure procedural generation - although I did get one playthrough where the gods were conspiring against me and I couldn't for the life of me find the secret door that would lead to the stairs to the next level (and subsequently got killed by the respawning monsters on the level).

Progress is nicely nudged along by the limited overall health pool, respawning monsters, and also the lifespan of your light source. Whilst light doesn't provide a 'hard limit' to the amount of time you can spend in the dungeon (e.g. a typical NetHack hunger clock), it certainly makes you aware of the need to make constant progress through the levels. Augmentations are available to minimise this detriment, as well, although if you linger anywhere for too long, you will eventually get beaten down to zero health. It's a nice bit of tension between hanging about trying to get enough loot on a level, and just pressing on and retaining your hitpoints and light for the later levels. In fact, the mechanics all round feel very well tuned and balanced within the framework of a randomly generated game (which expectedly throws up a few oddities) and I am rewarded with progress as I am punished by my mistakes. I want to continue playing.

I really like the details and the character of the game. Heads get decapitated as you fight away, you run people through with spears and bash teeth in with hammers - and the use of shotguns and grenades are encouraged, alongside crystal swords and the 'Pike of Thon'. This is all whilst fighting chainsaw ogres, ghouls and slimes amongst the Laboratory, Communications Hub and the Catacombs.

If you haven't already played it - you should.

http://www.happyponyland.net/roguelike.php