Der Geisterjäger / The Ghost Hunter

There is a really interesting flow to this game, but it takes a while to get into it. Investigating these strange areas requires a careful approach I was not really ready for. It's much more than just moving around a maze and combating enemies. It's almost a detective type game, where you have to look around and uncover clues. Progression is slow, but you will get the hang of it if you are patient. It reminds me of the old RPGs I used to play in the 80s. Again slow progression, not a lot of bells and whistles, but there were a lot of details that could be easy to miss if you are not careful. I also like how the game does not hold your hand and just put everything on the map for you. It makes demands on the player to know what they are doing and to remember stuff. I love this. I strongly dislike what games like Skyrim did to the RPG genre (beautiful as it may be) by taking away the need to understand what you're doing and replacing it with easy to follow map markers. I wo...

I honestly don't know how I failed to discover this series before now. Der Geisterjäger is an extremely solid dungeon crawler. It's also extremely hard; difficulty reminds me of older games without the extra tedium of those. It's hard, but fair for the most part. Now, the negatives. Compared to the previous entry in this series, I feel the sheer breadth of upgrade options rather than tactically scattered upgrade modules works out against the game. It's far too easy to upgrade the wrong thing and screw yourself over. Also, the controls are nethack-ish, which is to say there's a learning curve. You really NEED a numpad. I'd recommend this, though. It's a hidden gem. Some tips: * Enable the fixed map option and get some graph paper to draw out a map. Trust me, it'll make your life easier. * The SMG is for close range fights. the AR is for medium range retreat tactics and the rifle is for hitting things that are small and things that are far away. The laser is for things that are we...

An ode, a love letter to the computer games from the 16-bit era in the early nineties. Titles such as 'Corporation','Infestation', 'Hired Guns' or 'Cybercon III' will pop into your mind from the very depths of your memories. A game to be played in front of your computer while you draw maps of the areas, no matter a minimap is provided (when the time comes, you'll see it's much better to trust in yourself than in technology). A tough game that demands a lot from the player, starting for his time, and encourages him to use his imagination in order to get past his techical aspect and get immersed into his story and lore (more demands). Definitely not a game for someone that yells at first sight when a game "doesn't take his time with the respect it deserves". This time, to close doors behind you won't save you from an enemy that has clearly spot you since enemies can open or even break doors but this is still useful since enemies will have to lose one or more turns so that you'll ...

You know the expression "handling something with kid gloves"? Yeah, Der Geisterjäger does - except its "kid gloves" are boxing gloves with horseshoes in them. Basically, DGJ is a mecha dungeon crawler that not only isn't afraid of being "unfair", but it actually incorporates savescumming as a canonical ability for your main character - something like precognition from Katana Zero, if you will. "This is only a dream" is a sentence that if you, like me, are not a particularly sharp tactical mind, you'll get used to seeing. A lot. "Wait, so is it just hard for the sake of hard?" Not really: it *starts* on a steep learning curve but kinda mellows out over time, as you upgrade your mech and get a feeling for how to coordinate combat stances, firing modes and battery usage for shield, boosters and the new "Pulse" ability (an AOE attack that uses tons of energy). Also, a fucking beam saber that works as a "nah i don't actually want to engage you" button. It'll cost a lot to upgrade as ...

this game is really fun and is... oddly creepy. the environment randomly shaking from earthquakes, sometimes not knowing where enemies are in comparison to you, it's definitly something I still need to finish but I really love it so farand just how well a mecha dungeon crawler works.

Another good dungeon crawler. Love the setting and lore. Combat is on point, but make sure to find the healing/repair area quick! Happy to have the automap. Mapping is fun, but hard when I'm playing on the couch. Played a lot of the demo and need to get back to full game now!

DGJ is a good old school indie dungeon crawler with sci-fi theme. It's quite challenging game - it won't let you roam careless with crazy builds. In most cases you need to carefully plan your fights, often rotate weapons depending on what enemy faces you. Sort of like in Doom, but dungeon crawl style. I find joy in such approach, especially when you make through the level. One warning though, make sure you loot/check every newly discovered room. Backtracking causes random encounters which costs resources. Other than than, nice minimalistic aesthetic accompanied with pleasant synthy soundtrack. No bugs encountered whatsoever and, of course... runs great on Linux.