RPGWatch Feature - Heroes of a Broken Land Review

Forgottenlor takes the rol of demigod in the retro dungeon crawler Heroes of a Broken Land and penned down this review.

I chose a large-sized world (size four or six) and have played about 45 hours already, and am only beginning to come within sight of finishing. After so much gaming time, I've become increasingly aware of the limits of the game. I can forgive the painfully mediocre graphics, which have a hard time competing with Wizardry 6's 25 year old sprites. I can also forgive the repetitive and somewhat out-of-place sound track. For me that is part of playing an indie retro game. However, for a game of this scope, which theoretically offers endless play, I would have hoped for more content. For example, there are skeletons, ghosts, rats, bats, slimes, and elementals in the game. Sure there are more than 10 different kinds of slimes, all with different colours and powers, but even so, after 40 hours I'm getting kind of sick of slimes. Also dungeons are divided into caves, mazes, towers, and mines. Even though the floor plans are random, I'm also getting tired of seeing the same tile sets repeat themselves.

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Thank you for the review Forgottenlor!
…and I agree: Look past the gfx and music and you'll find a very good game.

Nice review! Looks like one to add my wishlist. Thanks!

Great review. Fun and addictive but also somewhat limited game. As a reviewer hinted, when starting a new game and choosing a world size never go for anything above normal. Even the game itself suggests that anything bigger is "kind of silly".

Ha, and my inclination would be to play the largest world. Thanks for the heads up!

I was one of the first purchasers and one of the earliest people to play the first alpha he released, I knew it all along. I pointed it out to the developer but he had reached the limit of what he could do.

Still an intriguing experiment, too bad that the mind-numbing repetition and genericness keep it from getting good. Like the reviewer points out you're going to get sick of seeing the same stuff over and over again.

Absolutely never use any world size but the smallest, otherwise you'll never have the resolve to complete it.

Thanks for the review Forgottenlor. Nice job. After reading it, I may try this one out, after I get my backlog to a reasonable level.

Is it still under development?

Originally Posted by you
Is it still under development?

I don't think so, I'm subscribed to his e-mail updates. He used to send an e-mail for every new build, and he hasn't sent anything in months.

Slimes are easy to draw and animate it seems.

Originally Posted by Humanity has risen!
I don't think so, I'm subscribed to his e-mail updates. He used to send an e-mail for every new build, and he hasn't sent anything in months.

Over on the Steam forums he posted this after the last update so I would say it is still in development

Monster variation will be increased in the next major update.

So I have been holding off till that update to purchase

For me, HoBL is a compulsive/relaxing game, like Diablo or some rogue-likes. You play it while hearing an audiobook, thinking about trascendental idealism, or any similar daily activity. No matter the repetitive tileset or poor graphics… and it´s turn based, so you can leave anytime and then resume. In a word: a comfortable game.

Update from 12/14/2014:

A new version of Heroes of a Broken Land is available!

Version 1.10 brings a bunch of new content, with over 20 new monsters to fight, plus some new Steam achievements and the usual round of fixes.

Version 1.10:
* Bears, Serpents, Zombies and more! 20 new monsters added.
* Monster information is now per-Wizard, not per-Game
* Monster quantity added to game customization options
* Retroactively add core class skills (fixes skill changes to classes in previous updates)
* New Steam Achievement, some achievement targets have been reduced
* Add message when waiting/passing in a dungeon
* Fix issue where battle can hang after merging parties
* Fix arrow directions on descending dungeons

Already posted as news last month.

Link -http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27027