Eldritch - Preview @ Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has posted another of their hands-on preview articles this time for the Dungeon Roguelike Eldritch.

You are a librarian. No, you are. But some dreadful spell means you don’t remember your own library, and nor indeed the worlds hidden inside its magical floating books. Rendered in Minecraft-a-like blocky textures, any concerns about fatigue at this art style are quickly abandoned as you stop noticing and start exploring. Even the hub library itself deserves a thorough poking around, built as it is out of multiple layers and floors, impossibly floating about, packed with hidden holes and a few expository books to read.

There’s still work to be done, of course. Most significantlly, it’s not yet nearly difficult enough, which isn’t a phrase I usually find myself saying of the genre. The first book’s enemies don’t offer anything in terms of a fight, and even casually knifing at most of them is a quick button mash. They’ll likely only kill you if they surprise you from behind, and that’s most likely due to a lack of audio cues. Come the second book and this picks up enormously, so some balancing is needed in there.

Eldritch really nails its atmosphere, and the desire to delve into its randomly generated, multi-tiered dungeons again and again. With more balancing, and perhaps a few more floors added to each book’s realm, this could be a real hit. I can’t wait to see what more is added before release.