Written By: Patrick Orquia
Genre: action, platformer, RPG, roguelike
Number of Players: up to 4 players
Release Date: 09 Nov 2017
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $6.99
Also Available On: Android, iOS, Steam, WiiU
Roguelike is fast becoming a favorite game genre of mine, and recently, I have played another one. The game is Tallowmere, developed by Chris McFarland and published by Teyon. It was published a few years back, even appearing on the Wii U, but now it has found a new home on the Nintendo Switch, which I think is the perfect console for it since this game is very ideal to be played on the go and in short bursts.
The game is about you playing as a nameless protagonist out to try the eponymous Lady Tallowmere’s series of dungeon rooms to test your “dungeoneering” skills. Test for what, you may ask? We may never know, but what is for you to find out is how long you can last in this endless exploration. You start with a basic axe and next to useless set of clothing. As you progress in the dungeon, which you can do by finding the key in a room (by killing enemies) to open the gate to the next one, you unlock many different weapons, gears, and power-ups that can make your character stronger and have a better chance of surviving. Each room after the first has a waypoint that teleports you back to the hub room, where you can talk to Lady Tallowmere to heal you if you need it, or talk to the merchant to buy/sell items, or talk to other NPCs (more on them later). After you have caught your breath, healed up, and ready to go, just step back to the waypoint and teleport back to the last room for more hurting and possibly, death.
Each room is procedurally-generated, with different kinds of enemies that will try to kill you at first sight. You can use your shield to block attacks and then fight back with the weapon that you have equipped. There are lots of different weapons in the game, varying from melee weapons such as axes, katanas, and daggers, to long-range ones such as ice wands, grenades, and rocket launchers. Yes, rocket launchers. A pseudo-medieval-themed RPG with rocket launchers. How awesome is that? These awesome weapons can hurt enemies and will also hurt you, like if you accidentally have your own grenade ricochet towards you and it explodes. So you have to be very careful in using what type of weapon to use in killing an enemy and you must also be mindful of where you are. You may find yourself in a narrow corridor or a corner with spikes or acid fumes. You can quickly switch from one weapon to another by pressing the up or down button or pressing A to show the item wheel. Also, you can do infinite jumps by pressing the B button repeatedly, but again, be careful or you may end up hitting some spikes or get sliced to bits by giant buzz saws.
The game also has a level up system. You capture the soul of each enemy you kill, and upon reaching a certain number of souls, you can level up and increase your max health, attack power, etc. But killing enemies is no easy feat. The enemies in these games hurt. A lot. And if you are not careful and do not strategize enough, you will get killed. And like in other roguelike games, once you’re dead, you’re dead, and you’re back to square one, with none of your unlocked weapons and gears and power-ups. This can be very frustrating, especially if you are having a particularly good run, but if you end up dead, it would mostly be your fault, Nonetheless, this game does have a very uneven degree in difficulty that could spike up suddenly, catching you off guard even if you are equipped with some legendary weapons and gears.
To spice up your run, you can alter some settings to make it either easier or harder. To make it easier, you may opt to increase your max health… by murdering kittens. It’s the game’s very humorous way to guilt-trip you into not doing it, but really, different players have different play styles and skills and if you find 10 max health points at the start of the game is seriously lacking (like I do), go ahead and talk to the NPC Esmeralda who will tell you that killing kittens will increase your max health. It doesn’t make the game any harder in difficulty (as far as I know), so just kill away up to 9 kittens if you want. If you want the opposite, you may talk to the NPC that resembles Death and add some “punishments” into your run, like not getting extra health points or coins upon killing enemies, Lady Tallowmere don’t heal you, enemies hit twice as heard, etc. You can also join challenges by talking to the NPC Samuel, the keeper of challenges. You can participate in challenges that only meet certain requirements, like reaching room 20 with only an axe, or with no healing, or fighting just a single kind of enemy, and many others.
Overall, Tallowmere is one amazing game that provides high replay value. It can get very frustrating at times, but after each death comes hope of getting better in your next run, given that you also get very lucky. Oftentimes, the quality of the equipment that you unlock in rooms determine how far you can go in your fun, but maybe, if you play long enough, you can master the art of dodging or effective strategizing. But regardless of how you want to play the game with whatever skills that you have, you may find yourself in a particularly good run, so good that when at last death has come to you, you could say “damn, that was a good run!” and then you try it again. And again. May the odds, and Lady Tallowmere, be ever in your favor.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS
CONS
Number of Players: up to 4 players
Release Date: 09 Nov 2017
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $6.99
Also Available On: Android, iOS, Steam, WiiU
Roguelike is fast becoming a favorite game genre of mine, and recently, I have played another one. The game is Tallowmere, developed by Chris McFarland and published by Teyon. It was published a few years back, even appearing on the Wii U, but now it has found a new home on the Nintendo Switch, which I think is the perfect console for it since this game is very ideal to be played on the go and in short bursts.
The game is about you playing as a nameless protagonist out to try the eponymous Lady Tallowmere’s series of dungeon rooms to test your “dungeoneering” skills. Test for what, you may ask? We may never know, but what is for you to find out is how long you can last in this endless exploration. You start with a basic axe and next to useless set of clothing. As you progress in the dungeon, which you can do by finding the key in a room (by killing enemies) to open the gate to the next one, you unlock many different weapons, gears, and power-ups that can make your character stronger and have a better chance of surviving. Each room after the first has a waypoint that teleports you back to the hub room, where you can talk to Lady Tallowmere to heal you if you need it, or talk to the merchant to buy/sell items, or talk to other NPCs (more on them later). After you have caught your breath, healed up, and ready to go, just step back to the waypoint and teleport back to the last room for more hurting and possibly, death.
Each room is procedurally-generated, with different kinds of enemies that will try to kill you at first sight. You can use your shield to block attacks and then fight back with the weapon that you have equipped. There are lots of different weapons in the game, varying from melee weapons such as axes, katanas, and daggers, to long-range ones such as ice wands, grenades, and rocket launchers. Yes, rocket launchers. A pseudo-medieval-themed RPG with rocket launchers. How awesome is that? These awesome weapons can hurt enemies and will also hurt you, like if you accidentally have your own grenade ricochet towards you and it explodes. So you have to be very careful in using what type of weapon to use in killing an enemy and you must also be mindful of where you are. You may find yourself in a narrow corridor or a corner with spikes or acid fumes. You can quickly switch from one weapon to another by pressing the up or down button or pressing A to show the item wheel. Also, you can do infinite jumps by pressing the B button repeatedly, but again, be careful or you may end up hitting some spikes or get sliced to bits by giant buzz saws.
The game also has a level up system. You capture the soul of each enemy you kill, and upon reaching a certain number of souls, you can level up and increase your max health, attack power, etc. But killing enemies is no easy feat. The enemies in these games hurt. A lot. And if you are not careful and do not strategize enough, you will get killed. And like in other roguelike games, once you’re dead, you’re dead, and you’re back to square one, with none of your unlocked weapons and gears and power-ups. This can be very frustrating, especially if you are having a particularly good run, but if you end up dead, it would mostly be your fault, Nonetheless, this game does have a very uneven degree in difficulty that could spike up suddenly, catching you off guard even if you are equipped with some legendary weapons and gears.
To spice up your run, you can alter some settings to make it either easier or harder. To make it easier, you may opt to increase your max health… by murdering kittens. It’s the game’s very humorous way to guilt-trip you into not doing it, but really, different players have different play styles and skills and if you find 10 max health points at the start of the game is seriously lacking (like I do), go ahead and talk to the NPC Esmeralda who will tell you that killing kittens will increase your max health. It doesn’t make the game any harder in difficulty (as far as I know), so just kill away up to 9 kittens if you want. If you want the opposite, you may talk to the NPC that resembles Death and add some “punishments” into your run, like not getting extra health points or coins upon killing enemies, Lady Tallowmere don’t heal you, enemies hit twice as heard, etc. You can also join challenges by talking to the NPC Samuel, the keeper of challenges. You can participate in challenges that only meet certain requirements, like reaching room 20 with only an axe, or with no healing, or fighting just a single kind of enemy, and many others.
Overall, Tallowmere is one amazing game that provides high replay value. It can get very frustrating at times, but after each death comes hope of getting better in your next run, given that you also get very lucky. Oftentimes, the quality of the equipment that you unlock in rooms determine how far you can go in your fun, but maybe, if you play long enough, you can master the art of dodging or effective strategizing. But regardless of how you want to play the game with whatever skills that you have, you may find yourself in a particularly good run, so good that when at last death has come to you, you could say “damn, that was a good run!” and then you try it again. And again. May the odds, and Lady Tallowmere, be ever in your favor.
REPLAY VALUE: high
PROS
- Minimalist visuals, reminiscent of the 16-bit era of gaming
- Very good musical score
- Simplistic gameplay that can be very challenging but also rewarding
- Has high variety of equipment that can be used to customize your character
- Has a lot of ways to tweak your run into making it either easier or harder, depending on your skill level and play style
- The game can be quite violent, with splattering blood and all, but it doesn’t try to be serious due to the numerous humorous lines from NPCs and the sheer silliness of the game itself
CONS
- The degree of difficulty is very uneven. Yes, it’s a roguelike, but the difficulty could spike up even at just the first level of any run. Unless you sacrifice kittens to have more health and have a lot of luck with weapons and gears found in treasure chests, you might not get past the 6th room
- Room arrangements can become too similar to one another after a while
- Some enemies are very frustrating to fight and you can only hope to be lucky to get powerful weapons and gears. You cannot grind by going back to previously cleared rooms because the enemies usually don’t respawn
RATING: 4/5 pseudo-medieval rocket launchers
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