Ducky Obrien Show 034 - Indie Games Galore (Rungore, Labyrinthatory, Growth, Tribe Primitive Builder)

Video Game News, Reviews, and Guides (and sometimes random things)

Rungore

Rungore is a fast paced card combat game with the trappings of a roguelite. You fight one enemy at a time. Before each battle, you usually select three items from a random assortment of cards and armor. After selecting your items, the characters fight automatically in real time but you can use cards to make the battle much easier.

The cards you get can range from effects such as giving your character bonus armor, dealing extra damage, and applying the marked status effect. The marked status effect is used for bonuses on other cards such as dealing extra damage to marked enemies or receiving extra armor.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2113040/RUNGORE/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/11/29/rungore-gameplay-preview-fast-paced-card-combat/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/jrJIxXLt5EA

Labyrinthatory

Labyrinthatory is a 2D puzzle game. There’s a very light narrative about an eccentric relative that passed away. During the funeral you receive a call from said relative asking you to discover the truth to what “man’s greatest need” is. You go to said area, meet a robot assistant, and the game starts and then from there it kind of devolves into a series of disjointed puzzles.

While the puzzles themselves are OK and standard fare, there’s really no underlying mechanic or theme uniting them all together. Even the narrative backdrop is pretty much forgotten. Before I go on to explain, I am mentioning this from the spirit of offering possible feedback rather than taking a dump on the game. I enjoyed the game so I have no desire to put it down, rather I saw some shortcomings that could be improved upon for the developer’s next game.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2132770/Labyrinthatory/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/11/30/labyrinthatory-gameplay-preview-indie-puzzle-compilation/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/tvSeKh_N76w

Growth

Growth is a very relaxing board game. The premise is very simple, you send out animals from their habitat tiles to explore the board with the hopes of discovering new habitats. When you deconstruct the game play loop, it’s sort of like a less lethal mine sweeper with a range on how far you can explore.

The end goal is to uncover enough of the board, which then adds a new board to explore. The immediate goal is to uncover new habitats since discovering new habitats increases the number of animals you have. The animals are sent forth to explore and each animal has a different range and ability.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2300300/Growth/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/01/growth-gameplay-preview-relaxing-board-game/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/tYqbua0JCcI

Tribe: Primitive Builder

Tribe: Primitive Builder may look like a standard survival crafting game but it introduces an interesting mechanic that threatens to break the illusion that is the survival crafting genre. What mechanic is that you ask? Unlike survival crafting games, you don’t have to grind all the way to the platinum axe to find out the answer.

The game incorporates a management sim aspect and the results are very interesting to look at. The game lets you build huts with specific functions, i.e. a fishing hut, and then assign workers from the tribe to said hut. They will carry out their duties as long as they have two things, food and tools. This has a greater impact on the game than one would think, it’s just unfortunate that the survival crafting mechanics of Tribe are too shallow to let the game really shine.

►Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1059900/Tribe_Primitive_Builder/ ►Article: https://duckyobrien.com/2023/12/01/tribe-primitive-builder-gameplay-preview-survival-crafting-with-some-management-sim/ ►Video: https://youtu.be/Tjq1__fhiKI

Thanks for listening!