There´s a lot of awesome Hack and slash RPG´s out there. So if you´re making a game like that. Then it better be really good. Or else you´re just going to end up in the shadows of the bigger names on the market. But i tried to play Phigames and Digital Tribe Games Hack n slash/RPG/roguelike game “TinyKeep” with an open mind.
Well, “TinyKeep” started of pretty well. As i got rather impressed by the games graphics (the rag doll physics are pretty hilarious), humor and really talented voice actors. But things went down hill after that.
And please allow me to explain why. The whole thought behind “TinyKeep” is that you (a prisoner) will try to breakout of a prison. And each and every stage is randomly generated.
That´s nice right? Well, yeah. But here´s the thing. The pattern is pretty much the same throughout the game. And even though you get to pick your own hero at the very start of the game (gender, cloths ect). There´s not all that much room for customizing a unique and creative hero. And to my knowledge, there´s not all that many weapons or armors either.
I can´t say that i enjoyed the fighting style either. As it´s very repetitive and boring for most part. Then we got the most annoying feature of “TinyKeep”. Which would be the fact that there´s no save function (IF Phigames haven´t changed that) in “TinyKeep”. So if you die, then you will have to start all over from the very first level of the game.
And that becomes a huge problem further on in the game. As the difficulty setting becomes almost impossible after stage 5. Imagine yourself playing L4D2 on the hardest difficulty, and you get wave after wave of infected and special infected coming your way. But all you got is a lousy gun.
Because everyone and everything is out to get you in “TinyKeep”. And once you reached stage 5, the bosses has become almost impossible to kill (or even to keep your distance from). And if you just make one single wrong move, then you´re history! Oh, did i mention that there´s booby traps everywhere?
Then we got the somewhat inflexible map function on top of that (it´s not as flexible as the Diablo map for example). The part about spending coins for random upgrades wasn´t my cup of tea either. I did however enjoy playing with fire in “TinyKeep”.
But sadly enough, that warming pleasure alone couldn´t save “TinyKeep” from a mediocre grade from me/us. You don´t have to take my word on it though, just watch our gameplay series of “TinyKeep” (you will find part 1 down below!) and judge for yourselfs.
Pros:
+ Great graphics
+ Talented voice actors
+ The dark humor
Cons:
– No save function (if you day, you have to start all over from the very beginning)
– The difficulty setting becomes almost impossible after stage 5
– There´s not that many different weapons or armors
– The map function is somewhat unflexible
Verdict: 2.5/5
TinyKeep is not a all through bad game. But it´s not an really good game either. And there´s plenty of better games in the same genre to choose from as well.
Title: TinyKeep
Developer: Phigames
Format: PC
Genre: Action/RPG/Adventure/Hack and slash
Resolution: Highest possible on PC
Release date: 2014-09-29
Difficulty: Normal
Spent time: 10+ hours
Average grade internationally: 55% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: 12+
Price: 11,99 Euro via Steam
Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: Action RPG, Digital Tribe Games, PC review, Phigames, The Tinykeep