Hi,
I figured I'd start a topic for reviewing the several 7DRLs that are being done this year. Feel free to add your own reviews!
I'll start with
Fatherhood, by Jeff Lait:
As part of the review I must say I couldn't make the game work via the linux executable, nor I could build it properly, so I had to play it via wine.
The game is about you being a father who must save his homeland from the environment, which provides challenges in the form of floods and fire. There is no combat per se in this roguelike. You have to pile stones to stop the different dangers, the more land you keep clean, the better your score.
As a father, you have three sons, which you must keep an eye into. You can make them help you (with a fair bit of work), or you can just let them play about, risking your deaths because of the lack of support.
The game is really interesting, more akin to a turn-based strategy game than a roguelike. You have to place barriers into the path of the flood/fire, so the danger stops there, so you have to look for the better places to cut it quickly and without putting yourself to danger. Every move you make really counts, since the environment doesn't stop, so you'd better have a good plan.
Managing your children is a pain: they almost always do what they want, and help little. Just before, a child pushed one of my rocks out of its place, making the flood kill us all. Oh, the youth of today!
Anyway, the game is really imaginative and interesting, and worth checking out. Please do keep in mind that it'll feel more like a strategy game than a traditional roguelike, but it's nice to see new, original ideas, being worked.
Good work, Jeff Lait!
