Emperor Engine by Kaw
Guest Reviewer Eben Howard (aka Deej) (http://adoxographist.livejournal.com/)
One of the first entries completed, because he started a week early, is Kaw’s Emperor Engine. It’s a steam-punk style game in which the protagonist’s old mentor apparently created some unspeakably evil mechanical abominations, shortly after which he disappeared. This naturally leaves the hero as the only hope for all humanity.
The unique mechanic in this game, besides the hero, is that you not only grab parts from defeated enemies to make new items out of, you actually have to study the smashed remains of clockwork automotons to learn how to make the items. There are some serious balance issues in the version I played, 1.04. I never got the right combination of parts to make anything. This is the point where you’d expect me to start ranting and raving about how bad the game was, but that’s not what’s going to happen.
Despite the balance problems, the games unique look and flavor make it quite enjoyable. You have to accept that you’re going to die when you meet the brass spiders, but that’s okay. There’s a thrill to seeing what random thing you’ve learned from your most recently defeated enemy that taps into the basic loot-pleasure center of the gamer’s brain. Once the balance issues are fixed, I have a feeling that this will become an instant classic in the rogue-like genre.
Along with the description of the setting, there’s a great deal of uniqueness provided by the display itself. The colors chosen are nice and give a steampunk feel without being either obnoxious or silly. The information display is clean and it’s easy to follow what’s going on and what your character’s status is while playing. A little more work could be done with the menu system, picking up things is a pain when you can only grab one item at a time and you almost always want everything that’s in a pile.
Overall I would say that Emperor Engine is well worth spending some time with. Watch for the future of it as well, as I’m sure it’ll evolve into something even greater than it is today. Any game where you can double die has to be worth trying out!
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