Delver is a lovely light-weight adventure that's easy to get into and out of again. You can enjoy the thrill of exploration and battle in short bursts without getting overly invested in a character or the world, which makes it great for random casual play. The new graphics are fantastic and charming, suited perfectly to Delver's overall lighthearted approach. Strongly recommended!

A window in to the old school ways of dungeon crawling and FPS gameplay that's just as approachable for new and old gamers alike!

Back when games didn't bog you down with forced tutorial segements where the game treats you like you have the IQ of a bee against a window, games presented you the tools and the world and said "you're on your own, good luck! You're gonna need it..." Through careful traversal of the world and observation of your enemies and the effects of your gear you became your own tutor. your victories and your failures were down to your strats, observations and reactions. This is what made games like Doom, Half Life and other 90's titles such classics and Delver brings back that style of gaming with grace and it's such a joy to see this approach to gaming still existant and appealing in this era of the industry!

Delver is a dungeon crawler, first person roguelike where permadeath results in the loss of your character upon death along with your items and level. That SOUNDS punishing but with out it, the appeal of this game is simply lost and it takes the experience of being in this amazing game to really appreciate that. You do however keep any gold you find which allows you purchase items you feel may help either balance the weaknesses in your gameplay style or further boost your strengths.

The game is split in to dungeon levels which go:

Dungeon 1
Dungeon 2
Caves 1
Caves 2
Sewers 1
Sewers 2
Ruins

The objective is to make your way in to the cursed ruins and obtain an orb to then double back and actually climb your way through those levels back to the surface, all while being pursued by the undead that roam the ruins looking for their orb!

Enemy types, difficulties and tactics vary through each level, constantly keeping you on your toes to see whether or not the enemy is fast, slow, hits hard or poisons or maybe they use projectile attacks. Eventually you'll come to recognise things like audio cues of monsters, the sounds of traps being detonated or particle effect remains on the floor, giving you clues as to what's gone on in the area.

The game's golden feature which makes this such an appealing experience is that everything is useful and thinking outside the box is critical to success. And the beauty of it is it's all down to you which makes the gameplay so rewarding with even the simplest of feats. for example. I noticed my run speed was still too slow for me to run over a trap and not get enough distance to get away from the blast radius it triggers but I remembered seeing enemies also trigger traps so I thought "what about items?" I took a broken wand with no charges left in it and threw it on the trap. Sure enough it detonated and I could move through it during the down time while the trap was resetting. Not only did that feel rewarding that my plan worked but I now knew that 'useless' items like empty wands still served a purpose, so I kept on to one or two as I explored.

Another example was when I was using a bow. I noticed sometimes when I missed, the arrow would bounce off a wall and I could pick it back up. When I came across the mage skeletons who are very projectile heavy and can easily be a problem, I wondered if I could bounce my arrows off the wall around a corner to fight them whilst being safe from their projectiles. I aimed at an angle and fired, sure enough the mage caught the arrow in his eye socket and he popped! Another rewarding feeling and a little more understanding of the game's mechanics!

Delver is a very small budget game and when you get the hang of it, it can easily be done in under an hour which results in the game resetting after a victory screen as if you died which is a shame because it feels like all the content can be experienced in a short manner of time and I want to spend so many hours in the world of Delver! The game is still early access as I write this so here's hoping the amazing guy behind this high potential title keeps dishing out further quality content!

(P.S. The projectile particle effects remind me so much of Heretic's visuals and that's just another 1000 bonus points to this title :P)

Delver is a roguelike where you have to enter a dungeon randomly generate. The game is still in early access but I think it has potential. Unfortunately, it is very short ; you finish the dungeon in about 1 hour. The bestiary, weapons and the list of items are not very comprehensive. Fortunately, there are mods that add more diversity to the game. The soundtrack is very good and the retro style is great and there are texture pack if you want. The game has a level editor too.

Finally, I would say that this game is not too worth it if you expect to spend long hours. But this game has potential, continues to be updates by the developer and for 7€ is cheap.

Ok, so let me be perfectly blunt here. I have played little more than an hour of this game so far, but I can already sum up everything I have to say about Delver in one word: Potential.
Delver is a fresh, unique take on the rogue-like games that have been pouring in recently from many indie developers from all over the world. It takes on many thematic rogue-like elements: It's challenging, randomly generated, and as fun as a bag full of rabid chipmunks dumped into an elementary school.
I'm not saying this game is without its issues, but it's still in its early access phase, and must be taken with a grain of salt. Considering this fact, Delver is chocked full of endless potential. Its first-person perspective and highly pixelated environment and graphics allow this game far more room to breathe then one would expect at first glance. Even in its early phases, the amount of different consumable items and pieces of unique equipment are quite impressive, and the level-up system that resets after every miserable failure allows a very immersive RPG-like quality to the game. You're able to play differently every single run. Want to focus on high armor and melee combat? Go right ahead! Feel like going for a more mobile, long-range bow combatant? Be my guest! Or maybe you just want to pump all of your points into magic and blow the CRAP out of every enemy in sight with one of the many different elemental weapons in the game. Why wouldn't you?!
It is this amount of flexibility within a game that is comprised of so little options as of right now that makes me positive that there's no where to go but up from here for Delver. So many environments yet to be created; so many monsters yet rendered in that simplistic-yet-beautiful art style; many more items, potions, and pieces of armor yet to be looted off of bandit corpses or found in the dank corner of a cave! Heck, there is even a large part of the Delver community that claims this game has everything it needs to move on to an online co-op mode! Who knows?
All I can say is, that even after only an hour of gameplay, I can already close my eyes and imagine what can be done with a game this inventive, this creative, this simple, and this ambitious! If you haven't taken a peek at Delver yet, I suggest very highly, for the love of yourself AND your rabies-free elementary schoolers that you do. This game is nothing but raw potential and ingenuity, and I KNOW you don't want to miss out on it! That being said:
This is the Captain, Signing Out.

English version
(Wersja polska poniżej)

This charming little piece of dungeon crawling may have nothing truely unique to offer, but besides that, it's simple,solid and stylish. And it provides that eerie feeling I remember from exploring the caves in the Minecraft.

The combat is simple, yet engaging. There is a variety of melee, ranged and magical weapons available and balancing quick, strong and ranged attacks is the key to survival.

The graphics of this game are really appealing. While pixelated, they perfectly fit together to create a consistent "minecrawl" experience. Special mention goes to the utterly hilarious, 80-90s anime styled facial expressions the human enemies make when hit. Music is also likable and moody.

What I didn’t really enjoy is the character leveling system. While it is traditionally experience based, on every level the player is given 3 choices on what to upgrade. The problem is that there are more than three stats and thus sometimes there is no option to improve the desired characteristic and the progress gets a bit random. Furthermore, there is no description regarding what a particular stat does. While most of them are self-explanatory, a seasoned RPG gamer in me desires at least a basic defining of the difference between the Speed and Agility. Not much of a problem though – characters don’t usually live long enough to regret.

On the other hand, the game goes to the great lengths to make itself as user-friendly as the dungeon crawler can be. Traps are always clearly visible, and one cannot die of hunger, food restores the hit points instead.

The greatest problem with this game, at least for me, is the fact that it gets boring after a few runs. Nonetheless, it is perfect for the short evening sessions. Furthermore, when I decide to play a rogue it means something, since I’m usually too tired of starting over again and again in the real life to follow the same pattern in games. Still, Delver seems to be the right choice to spend a few nights with sword in your main and a glass of whisky in off hand. Yeah, I too used to play an ambidextrous character in the good, old DnD days.

Wersja polska

Delver jest uroczym, małym dungeon crawlerem. Nie wprowadza do gatunku nic nowego, ale za to jest prosty, solidny i stylowy. I powoduje to samo osobliwe uczucie co długi spacer po jaskiniach w Minecrafcie.

System walki jest prosty, ale wciągający. Gra daje do użytku spory wybór broni białej, dystansowej oraz zaklęć i znalezienie między nimi balansu jest kluczem do przetrwania.

Grafika, mimo pikseli na pół ekranu, robi świetne wrażenie. Kolory są jaskrawe i dobrane tak, że idealnie pasują do tego „minecrawla”. Gra dostaje ode mnie dodatkowe punkty za miny które robią niektórzy przeciwnicy kiedy oberwą – przypominające anime z lat 80-90, potrafią naprawdę rozbawić. Muzyka też od razu wpada w ucho i świetnie buduje nastrój.

Gra podpada za to sysyemem levelowania postaci. Tradycyjnie, opiera się on na expach zdobywanych na wrogu, a przy każdym levelu dostajemy do wyboru 3 staty które możemy „podbić”. Problem polega na tym że cech opisujących postać jest więcej, więc czasem nie dostajemy opcji ulepszenie tego co akurat by się przydało i sprawia że rozwój postaci przebiega nieco losowo. Dodatkowo, cechy nie są w żaden sposób opisane. Niby nie problem domyślić się od czego jest atak a od czego wytrzymałość, ale zatwardziały RPGowiec we mnie domaga się jednak wytłumaczenia różnicy między szybkością a zręcznością. Inna sprawa że nie jest to jakiś straszny problem – bohater i tak na ogół nie żyje na tyle długo żeby żałować dokonanych wyborów.

Z drugiej strony Delver stara się jak może, by być przyjaznym graczowi. Pułapki zawsze są widoczne z daleka, a jedzenie odnawia HPki – nie można tu umrzeć z głodu.

Największy problem, przynajmniej dla mnie, to fakt że gra nudzi się dość szybko. Na krótkie sesje jest jednak idealna. Co więcej, jeżeli polecam jakiegoś rogulca, musi coś w tym być, na ogół brakuje mi cierpliwości by zaczynać grę od początku po tym jak zginę. Podsumowując: Delver nadaje się idealnie do spędzenia kilku nocy z mieczem w jednej, a szklaneczką whisky w drugiej ręce. A co? Też grałem „oburęcznymi” postaciami w starych, dobrych, DnDkowych czasach.

What a pleasant surprise this game was. First of all I love the art direction and music (especially near the end!)
Work keeps me busy and I don't have as much time to invest into other games. This game is PERFECT for those who want a casual (yet also challenging!) RPG/Rogue-like/Dungeon crawling experience neatly wrapped up into the charming game that is Delver. Overall it took me a couple hours to complete but with the perma-death system and randomly distributed dungeon layout and loot, it certainly has hours of replayability. If you're on the fence about buying Delver just jump in. You won't be disappointed.

I had just beaten the game for the first time. And ive gotta say, this game is truely amazing.

It has a very challanging difficulty, and the rogue-like attributes make this a very fun game. I would recommend this to all rogue-like lovers like myself.

This is one of those games that don't look as fun as the playthroughs of it. I was in love with the graphics, but the charm soon wears off, within only three hours for me personally. Regaurdless, don't be completely deterred from this game by my review. You can still get some enjoyment out of it (though I would never recommend it at full price). Don't have high expectations though. After watching several playthroughs of the game and seen what I thought was a ton of fun, I was disappointed with the actual product.

I've seen this being described as a "a rougebased 3d RPG game with permadeath" To put it more basic, it's a dungeon crawler at it's simplist. There's nothing complex about it. Explore the dungeon fighting enemies, leveling up, and picking up loot like weapons, food, potions, and armor. So anyone can jump into it right away. However it's not exactly easy either. In the beginning I struggled with not succumbing to foes as it's an art to get close enough to hit an enemy with your beginning weapon (a very short dagger) without getting attacked yourself every time. You have to be at just the right distance to hit them without getting hit back, and since you only start with a mere 8 HP, it can be tough for new players, but it's just something to get used to. The goal of the game is to descend down 7 floors, defeat a boss, collect an orb from him, and to work your way back up the 7 floors to leave without dying.

Some people have said the game is very easy, and that they were able to beat it in a mere hour or less. I've had a hard time with it, and I'll explain why. It's typical logic that you need to be a high level the farther you advance. Althoguh other players may disagree about this with me, I've found that I've needed to grind, or else I'm just not leveled up enough the deeper into the dungeon I get. The big problem with this is that it's almost impossible to grind in Delver. After you clear the floor the first time, enemies will continue to spawn a little (for a short time), but they'll spawn less and less until they stop all together. When I backtrack, I only run into a few to zero enemies, which means I have to go back and forth on a floor over and over again to try to level up. It's a very slow process.

I also have to cover the two glitches I noticed. The first thing I noticed was how very laggy such a graphically simple game was, and then I noticed more specifically, it was lagging in time with the music. I had to turn the music off because it really slowed down the game. Maybe it's just my laptop and won't happen to all computers, but I figured I would give the heads up to people. The sound effects worked just fine however, and I want to mention the nice touch it added to the gameplay. The enemies would say phrases like "I heard something" and "What was that?" that would make you aware of their presence. Now you could still be spooked by an enemy, because some enemies wouldn't make much noise, but it did cut back on the startling surprise. The second glitch only happens in the caves, which are the 3rd and 4th levels in the game. The cave walls are very uneven and blocky, over all very odd looking. It's not easily clear where you can fit through and where you can't. Quite a few times, I got a little too close to just the side of the wall when I was walking, and I immediately got stuck. I refused to start over, and so I would spend 10-15 minutes trying to get myself free. For anyone else who experiances this, first take off your helmet, and then repeatedly use a weapon (I found the dagger most helpful) to hit either above or below you while holding in the key to go backwards. It's very tedious and annoying, and there are no changes to show your progress, but all at once you'll be free. The very last time however, I got stuck for good and tried for probably a half hour to get out to no avail. There's nothing more frusterating then losing precious progress.

There are three other minor things worth mentioning. You collect gold, but you can't buy anything during that playthrough. Instead, the gold carries over when you die, and you can buy items the next round, before you enter the dungeon again. The way you leveled up bugged me. There are six different attributes, but when you level up, only three available ones show up, randomized each time. If you want to upgrade a certain skill, it often isn't there to choose. There are also different kinds of pressure plates in the game. Some hurt you, but one kind is a teleportation pad that will teleport you to a random place in the level. In all my time of playing, I have not once come across a single teleporter. I wondered if they had removed it in an update, but there are places in the level that you can not physically reach yourself.

You'll see in other reviews that this game doesn't have a lot of replayability. I didn't believe this at first, but it rings true. You'd think a game with randomly generated dungeons would have endless fun, but it actually gets old fast. I can't put my finger on as to why, but it does. Perhaps it's *too* simple, and needs something more to spice it up. It's still in it's beta state (at the time of writing this review) so I won't knock it off yet. It still has time to grow and evolve. I personally did not enjoy it a lot, but I feel like other players will get more, longer lasting fun out of it than I did because I'm very picky about dungeon crawlers. They are definately not my favorite genre, so that may have contributed to why I didn't enjoy this game more. For the record, this game isn't horrible or even bad. I just thought it was okay, and that's the only reason I'm not recommending it, but that's just my own opinion. It is surely possible to enjoy this game, so give it a try if you've had your eye on it.



Useful guides:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=219609427
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=198620967 for the basic tips and inventory section
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=234835170 a more specfic, common strategy

Granted I'm not old enough for this game to be as nostalgic to me as it would be for someone in their late 20's to early 30's (i'm 16) this game is a nostalgic masterpiece. Its 16-bit graphics is the bulk of its charm. But thats not all thats great about it. This game has the potential to be one of the greates rogue-likes on the market. At the moment it lacks any replay value. Once you beat it once, you lack the motivation to play through it a second time. But the game is still in development and looks very promising, If the devs were to add more randomization or and endless game mode, I would play this game for days at a time.

This is a solid randomly-generated dungeon crawl. I think the graphics could use a boost, but the controls are good. The traps are annoying, and I would like to see them rethought and reimplemented. The music and colors are perfect, tehy just need to up the resolution a tad (the gold coins look particularly awful).It is worth 5 bucks.

I bought this game after learning that it can run on Windows XP, even though it doesn't say so in the system requirements. It runs fine on my pc and i can play it without any technical problems. Performance and controls wise it is the same as on other OS as well and i can play it no sweat with max graphics and particals, this may not be the case for others though. As for gameplay, combat ranges from going up close and bashing enemies with your newly found gilded axe, to staying away and firing lightning from a staff. There are a range of items you can find that can help you progress through the dungeon floors such as food to heal, or scrolls to act as 1 use magical spells. In the end you will often end up with a full inventory containing a few staffs, a couple of scrolls, a bow, a melee weapon of some sort, some food and a range of potions. Deciding what to keep in your inventory that will help your progress feels like one of the core funtions of the game meaning leaving behind items for when you come back after you get the crystal/orb-thing an important choice. Dying is pernament, but you do keep the gold you have collected along the way allowing for you to buy items that can help you in your next run. Overall i have had a great time so far and i hope that this game will develope more, especially seeing as its early-access.

This game is amazing, but I think having controller support is important and i would like to see it in the future. It doesn't have to be soon but seeing it would be really awesome.

Probably my favorite Roguelike that I've found on steam. Absolutely worth it.

Delver, oh Delver, wow you've come a long way. So many good updates, such wonderful music, and just the right kind of game.

This game has developed a lot from when I used to play it (you crashed if you went down a ladder). This game has become a real fun, exciting game. My only concern is that once you escape the dungeons, then the game is finished. I'd prefer if you could maybe go into another dungeon or something like that, especially as there are traders in which you can buy stuff from them. But because the game finishes you can't spend your coins... hopefully as this is only a early access game, the developers will add more of a storyline. Overall, I found this game extremely awesome to play and I would recommend it to anyone.

One of the best Rogue-Like games I've played in a long time. Interesting and surprisingly diverse weapon selections, a simple but rewarding leveling system, and most of all: an infinite supply of procedurally generated dunegons, caves, and castles to explore. My advice? Try not to curse too much when you finally get clobbered and lose it all.

This game is worth every penny.

Great game! Really makes me feel nostalgic, but yet it shows new things that just makes me want to play it more! It may not be long, but hey.. It's still only an Early Access Game!

It's easy to get into, and it's simple and beautiful.

I really recommend this game! It is very good, fun and challenging. Also I didnt discorver any bug until now. To everyone who is not sure about buying this game, buy it while its on sale! You wont be dissapointed!

A good game to *delve* into ahahahahahahaaa.....I'm gonna stick to not interacting with people now

A game that is as much about luck as it is about knowing what to do. Sometimes you can reach the end (which can be done within thirty minutes or so) with rubbish gear and lots of food, and other times you will reach it decked in prime gear but no food or wands to help outwith the next step. While it is a fun pick me up, to say it is anythign moret han that for now is overselling it. It has lots of potential, but the potential needs to be fully utilized.

For now, I recommend on the condition that it is 50- 75% off.