Delver
Developer(s)Priority Interrupt
Designer(s)Chad Cuddigan
Programmer(s)Chad Cuddigan
Artist(s)Joshua Skelton
Composer(s)Tobias Arnold
EnginelibGDX
Platform(s)
Release2 February 2018
Genre(s)Roguelike
Mode(s)Single-player

Delver is a 2018 first-person roguelike action dungeon crawler video game developed by Priority Interrupt. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux on February 2, 2018.

Gameplay

Delver is a first-person roguelike where players assume the role of an explorer as they explore the dungeons in search of the Yithidian Orb. The game's mechanics and presentation is similar to the dungeons of The Legend of Zelda, while incorporating random, procedurally-generated levels in the manner of a roguelike game. There is no jump button. The game always starts on a campfire where weapons and scrolls can be acquired, with a randomly generated loot that includes 2 weapons and 2 potions/food. On each level, the player must explore until they find the rope ladder that can take them to the next level, while avoiding traps and enemies. Dungeons contain varied loot, like potions (whose effects are not revealed until the player actually consumes them),[1][2] lamps/candles (that work as light sources), books, armor, skulls, luxury items (that are automatically traded for gold), wands, arrows, and melee weapons. Defeating enemies grants experience, once enough experience is gathered, the player will advance one level; something that will grant them an extra hit point and one point to assign to three random stats that vary with every level reached. The player's health is tracked by a number of hearts; if the character loses all his hearts, the game ends in permadeath and the player must start over from a freshly-generated dungeon.[2]

Development and release

In April 2012, an alpha was commercially released for Android.[3][4] The last update was received in December 2013. The game was placed on an open vote on Steam Greenlight on August 30, 2012, and was greenlit a year later.[5] The game was released to Steam Early Access on September 6, 2013.[6] The game continued to receive updates,[2] and on February 2, 2018, Priority Interrupt officially released the game out of early access for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a level editor and Steam Workshop support.[7][8] In November 2018, the source code for the game was released on GitHub under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2,[9] but now it is currently using the zlib License.

Reception

A 2012 alpha build for Android was reviewed by Paul Devlin from Pocket Gamer, who rated it 4/5, praising the "fluid experience" of the alpha build, but criticized the "clunky" inventory system.[10] The 2013 initial Steam Early Access release was reviewed by John Walker from Rock Paper Shotgun, who criticized the lack of collectibles and noted a lack of "purpose", and suggesting the inclusion of shops, while also praising its potential.[1] A 2016 build was reviewed by Brendan Caldwell (also from Rock Paper Shotgun) who praised the opening moments and liked the absence of any plot and the additions to it since the initial 2013 release.[2] It was included in the "10 Mac games you need to play from February 2018" list by Andrew Hayward for Macworld.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Walker, John (10 September 2013). "Impressions: Delver Alpha". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Caldwell, Brendan (21 November 2016). "Premature Evaluation: Delver". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Delver".
  4. ↑ Diener, Matthew (9 May 2012). "Super-retro dead-when-you're-dead dungeon RPG Delver arrives for Android". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (28 August 2013). "Steam Greenlight's latest batch includes 100 games". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  6. ↑ "Now Available - Delver - Early Access". Steam. Valve Corporation. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  7. ↑ Horti, Samuel (30 January 2018). "First-person roguelike Delver emerges from four years of Early Access this week". PC Gamer. Future plc. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Caldwell, Brendan (2 February 2018). "Dungeon-diving Delver done and dusted declares dev". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  9. ↑ Kidwell, Emma (16 November 2018). "Delver devs release their tech publicly under open source license". Game Developer (Gamasutra). UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  10. ↑ Devlin, Paul (21 May 2012). "Delver review". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  11. ↑ Hayward, Andrew (27 February 2018). "The 10 Mac games you need to play from February 2018". Macworld. International Data Group. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
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