[Saxon]

The game idea is good and the graphics are reasonable, when you can see them. The problem is a game design choice. Recognizing that dungeons are supposed to be dark and unknown, there is the variable lamp with a fuel supply. When you turn it down, you save fuel, but can not see as far.

In the games I played last night, I died several times due to fuel shortages. So I turned down the lamp and found that I was not able to see much. All working as designed. The problem is that it is not much fun. I run around looking at the minimap, turn the lamp up and down quickly and am always watching the fuel level. I am not hacking and slashing, I am playing a fuel management simulator.

Truly. There are twice as many controls for the lamp as there are for combat. Fuel is more dangerous than the enemies, because you can at least run away from enemies. Your stats don’t really matter, but the number next to the fuel level is critical. I learned where that was before I learned where my health bar was. The focus of the game is oil.

To make it worse, the better you manage your fuel, the less you see. Instead of rewarding good play, it punishes it with less visual stimulation. The reward structure of the game needs to be looked at. I would not go so far as to say gold is needed, as another poster has, but gold is a popular reward. Look at Diablo. You don’t need the gold and eventually it is just a scoring system, but everyone still picks it up and likes it. You get something for doing well. Here, you lose something (visuals) for doing well. I know the concept is fairly integral to the game, but I feel it needs to be reviewed.