Written by Patrick Orquia
Title:
Dandy AceDeveloper: Mad Mimic
Publsiher: Neowiz
Genre: Action, Adventure, Roguelike
Number of Players: 1
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Price: $19.99
I got my first taste of roguelike games a few years ago with The Binding of Isaac. It was a very good game and I liked it a lot, but I remember getting very frustrated with it at times. The notion of starting all the way to the very beginning of the game upon death can lead to much frustration, especially nowadays when people yearn for instant gratification. Roguelikes will make you grind and play over and over and over again so as to make you tough, both on the actual game and in real life. As you die over and over and over again, you learn bit by bit and eventually, you will get good enough to beat the game.
Dandy Ace is the newest roguelike game to get released on the Nintendo eShop. Ok probably not really the newest, as hundreds of indie games get released on the platform every week and probably at least a roguelike game or two gets thrown in there somewhere. Nonetheless, this game is good enough to get my attention and hence we are reviewing it now.
In this game, you play as the titular magician Dandy Ace, who gets trapped inside a spellbound palace within the Cursed Mirror by the evil magician illusionist, Lele. Lele is jealous of Dandy Ace’s charm and magical abilities, so he devised a plan for Dandy Ace’s capture. This palace is ever-changing: each new run features a different floor plan for each of the levels. Like any typical roguelike game, you battle against waves of enemies. The further you progress into the palace, the tougher the enemies get. And of course, the tougher the enemies get, the tougher you should be. The palace is divided into different areas, each with its own theme. You will eventually be able to collect keys which open up new areas, which allows you to take different paths on each run.
You start each run with three magical abilities, in the form of Cards. You can set these starting Cards to one of the four face buttons on your controller, and you press the corresponding button to activate the ability you set on it. There are 3 types of Cards: Blue, which affect the way Dandy Ace moves; Pink, which are primarily attack abilities; and Yellow, which can cast debuffs or attack multiple enemies at once. These Cards can be set as primary ability or a supporting one. Each Cards has a separate characteristic as a primary or supporting, but still similar with one another. For example, a Cards that casts poison as a primary ability can add a poison effect to a primary ability that it is supporting. The beauty of this system is that you can mix and match Cards and just go crazy with varying attack types and effects, depending on your playstyle. As you progress into the game, you get to collect blueprints of new Cards, which you can then unlock in between levels with certain number of Shards. These blueprints serve as permanent upgrades, and you can spend Shards accumulated over multiple runs to unlock them. Once unlocked, they will be available to be used on your current run and on each succeeding runs.
Shards can be obtained from defeated enemies, aside from the usual gold coins. They are similar to the souls collected from fallen enemies in soulslike games. Coins can be used to buy new Cards in the game from shops. All unspent gold disappears when you die, along with all the Cards that you have collected and equipped. By the way, you can only equip up to eight Cards per run. Those that you don’t equip, you are forced to either drop them or sell them.
Not all fallen enemies drop Shards, though, but it still is a good habit to kill the enemies before they kill you, because most of them can hurt really bad. There is a wide range of enemies that can be found in the game, with a good number of them that can only be found on certain levels. Levels are designed as long pathways that branch out to different directions into sections. When you first reach a certain section, multiple enemies will appear and it is up to you to evade them and, when you get the chance, attack them, either from a distance or up close, depending on your equipped Cards. Some sections get sealed and you have to defeat all the enemies that appear in order for you to progress further. The goal for each level is to reach the mirror that acts as the gateway to the next level.
In-between levels, you can find a safe area where you can heal yourself, equip new Cards and Trinkets, or unlock new upgrades. You will also have to interact with some NPCs. One is Jolly Jolly, who allows you to unlock upgrades and new blueprints that you have collected. Another NPC is Jenny Jenny, who enables you to equip up to 3 Trinkets. Trinkets provide you additional buffs, such as getting more HP or having more attack power, etc. You can mix and match and unlock some new ones and even reset and equip a new set of Trinkets, depending on what you need and your play style.
The last NPC is the Mysterious Guy, who provides you info for the next level that you will be entering. He also provides narration for the game, which consists of humorous commentary on how you play and act in the game, which are oftentimes insulting, but with some humorous pop culture references, such as Monty Python jokes, etc. Spoiler alert, he is Lele in disguise. Hold your horses, it is not really a spoiler, as it is very, very obvious from the get-go. One clue is they have the same voice and same color of clothes. By the way, all interactions have excellent voice acting.
As you progress into the game, you continuously collect new Cards, which can make certain Cards that you have in hand obsolete. You have to make sure that you are equipped with the highest level of Cards that can obtain at any given time. You can of course stick with the Cards that you have even if they are not leveled up, as long as you think that they give you the most advantage. Aside from Cards, you can also collect blueprints for new Cards and Trinkets. You have to survive the level in order for you to bring the blueprints to Jolly Jolly.
You have the ability to heal yourself by drinking Tea Potions, which replenish a good portion of your HP, and you start with only just one at the beginning of the game. Later on, you can upgrade it so that you can bring up to four Tea Potions per run. Fallen enemies may also drop cupcakes, which also heal you. Equipping certain types of Trinkets will allow you to make cupcake drops more frequently (but making them heal less) or make them heal more but over a period of a few seconds. It is up to you what you want to use and when to use them, or not use them at all if you favor other types of buffs. Just always make sure that you have enough HP to survive.
The game can be completed in about an hour. Theoretically, that is. Like all roguelikes, the game is designed to be played over and over again, with you having to die over and over again until you develop the skills to efficiently attack and evade enemies. And even if you are already good enough skill-wise, you still have to unlock new abilities and skills so as to make your chances of surviving your runs, and there a lot of unlockables in the game which will entice you to play some more.
Aside from Lele, which is obviously the final boss, you will have to contend with at least a couple of other bosses on each run, given that you survive the onslaught of hordes of enemies between them. These bosses are much bigger and hit much harder, and they also tend to bring about other regular enemies on the arena that you fight them in, which compels you to be continuously on the move. Their attack patterns are easy to figure out. These boss fights favor Cards for long distance attacks, but if your skills allow it, you can fight them up close if you want. Beating bosses rewards you with lots of Shards, a high-level Card, and a new blueprint (if you still have some left to unlock).
After beating Lele, which you will eventually be able to do, no matter how long it takes you, you will be able to escape the Cursed Mirror. The end, roll the credits. But you will be able to unlock the next difficulty, and of course you will have to play another run. Because this game is really addicting, just like any other roguelikes. There are 3 difficulty levels to unlock, so just continue to play and die and rinse and repeat until you have completely beaten the game.
Overall, Dandy Ace is one fun game to play. It may have a cliched premise with little to no story to really support it, but you play a roguelike game for the gameplay, not much for the story. And this game is really fun to play, and performs quite well on the Nintendo Switch. I did, however, encounter some game-breaking glitches, like getting stuck between gaps or floors which cannot be resolved by reloading the game, which forces you to abandon your run and start a new one. That can be infuriatingly frustrating, especially if you are already well-deep into your run, but it doesn’t happen very frequently. I hope that gets patched soon. Despite that, there is plenty of content to enjoy in this game. It is not really unique, but the developers have given it good, funny dialogue and lots of different types of attacks and buffs and debuffs and you can mix and match them together to really customize your run and that is just fun most of the time. For $20, this game offers a good bang for your buck. There are other games much better than this one, such as the incredibly awesome Hades (to which Dandy Ace closely resembles) and the unforgiving Binding of Isaac and even the ever-challenging Dead Cells, but maybe this game deserves your attention. Maybe wait for a sale and give it a try? Regardless of how you acquire the game, again, this game offers a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
REPLAY VALUE: Very high
PROS- Bright and colorful visuals
- Awesome soundtrack
- Performs well on the Nintendo Switch albeit with a few dips in framerate when the action on screen gets too crazy
- Good voice acting for the humorous dialogue, which oftentimes reference pop culture, such as some Monty Phyton references, etc.
- Excellent gameplay and feedback system
- The level of difficulty ramps up rather gradually
- Multiple difficulty modes
- Wide customization options
- Good variety of attacks and buffs/debuffs to unlock, which encourages you to play the game again and again
- Good variety of enemies
- Good use of HD Rumble
- Good price
CONS- Bland story
- Encountered some game-breaking glitches, such as getting stuck between gaps on the floor or going out of barriers and not being able to go back to the main path; reloading the game does not resolve the issue most of the time, forcing you to restart another run, which can be very infuriatingly frustrating
- The game crashed at least once
RATING: 4.5/5 magical Cards, Shards, and Trinkets
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