House of Necrosis

The only other mystery dungeon game I've played has been the bonus mode of Ergheiz, and let me tell you...
This was a blast. At first the veneer of resident evil mystery dungeon was what pulled me in, but as I played the game quickly moved, and grew past needing that to keep me engaged.
(to purple hair? why if you insist!)
You go into the dungeon, and can find spells, and pouches to increase your progress run by run, and coins to buy items, or reroll the stats on what you find.
Each time you go back in you start at level one, but keep the spells, equipment you made it out with, and inventory upgrades.
As far as story goes it's pretty light, mostly just the framework to give you a reason to explore with a few bits here, and there, or via one of the rare other npcs in this game to fill in a few mysteries, and leave you with a few questions you still want to know the answer to.
There's a good mix of enemies, and while some of them are the same type (zombies in the first area in the garden area are moss zombies that can poison you for example) just when you're about to get tired of them a new set is introduced from dogs to tricky trapsters to mad scientist and their experiments, or even ghastly ghosts of the dead you never quite know what you're going to get, or face next, or what they can do.
Bosses are pretty decent all told, and there's lots of fun cheeky reference to find. If you're expecting dark souls bosses I mean you know, don't, but I think for most people they'll be pretty decent, and cause a few resets until you learn the best way to deal with them.
There's reasons to grind and upgrade your gear, spellbooks, and the like for as long as you want. A speedrun to 101% completion (and yes the game has more content than just 100%) took about 9 hours even knowing what I needed to do. I expect a player new to mystery dungeons can expect 15-30 depending on what they consider the end of their game.
If you try to just spam space then you'll get replaced. Traps, good, and bad litter the floor and need to be worked around (or used cleverly to injure enemies). There's a lot of unique item modifiers such as letting you steal items from enemies, poison them, level them up (better loot but more powerful) and so on.
There's a normal dungeon, and several post game dungeons, and secrets that unlock yet more secrets, and yet more secrets beyond that.
As far as Voice acting goes they speak in the same style as simlish so you know A+ on that.
Sounds are pretty basic, and fulfill the role you expect without any real negatives. Music is decent, there's a few tracks, including the secret areas that have their own music.
The bonus dungeons I won't spoil save to say that they're both a step up from base game with various floors that test your mastery of the game and each floor comes with unique gimmicks like one hit kills you or the enemy, the minimap is disabled, all enemies become traps on death, and so on.
And that's just one of the dungeons.
Of course the graphics are very charming in that retro pixel style, and I have no real complaints as it seems to be exactly what the dev is going for.
The real draw is of course the love story of the main character, and purple hair that exists entirely in my mind. She's the only other npc that bothers to leave the safety of the main room, and will tell you exactly how little she thinks of you, and helps guide you late, and post game to more secrets.
Clearly it's true love, and I won't rest until our characters are at the altar.
All that to say I was unexpectedly sucked into the game, and despite having no real desire to play them before I'm now thinking I might just start...at least if this dev makes any more.
For the asking price I really don't think you can go wrong with HoN if any aspect appeals to you.

It's a rogue-like themed after Resident Evil. Do I really need to explain it more than that?
Hits all the classics, but does a few things different. Notably, there's a much larger emphasis on multi-run progression, much like Mystery Dungeon and its ilk. You can learn spells and increase inventory slots permanently, and gear (which often has random affixes like "increases drop rate" or "uses HP for ammunition") gains levels as it is used (which don't reset, unlike your character). To facilitate building out your collection of arms, an item called Rescue Crystal - which seems to have a very high drop rate if you don't have one already - warps you back home, ending your run without death or victory. And make no mistake, you will not win unless you flee smartly; the first boss will rip you to shreds if you aren't properly prepared.
I think the two main avenues of improvement are different rooms - right now every level is the classic "box and hallway" with slight theming differences, I'd love to see handmade rooms mixed in - and maybe? some more character interaction / adventure game-y stuff at base.
Still quite excellent though! If you love roguelikes, Resident Evil, and Final Fantasy like I do, this will press all your nostalgia buttons while still being its own beast.

To start, House of Necrosis is fantastic. It is a very apparent love letter to not only an entire genre of games (mystery dungeons, specifically) but also to a wide array of gaming legends which have clearly left a mark on the developer over time. Games like Resident Evil (the setting of House of Necrosis is a large mansion in which you fight a vast array of twisted creatures), Parasite Eve (the stats on the weapons and armour you find during your adventure are shown in a window which is very much influenced by this amazing game), Final Fantasy (7 specifically, in the fact that when you are casting spells, and yes, you can learn magic in this game, your character is surrounded by a green energy which is clearly inspired by FF7), and hell, even Pokemon (you can find an item called Rare Candy which levels your character up once when used). I'm sure there are more references and influences that I have yet to notice, as well, and finding these easter eggs has almost become a form of metagame for me, even after such a short time with House of Necrosis.
So, at its core, House of Necrosis is a mystery dungeon game. What this means is that you will be spending most of your time exploring a dungeon, fighting creatures, gaining experience points, and finding items. Leaving the dungeon, either by your own volition, of by death, means that your character's level will be reset to 1. Usually in this genre, that would be the end of it, but in House of Necrosis each piece of equipment (melee weapons, guns, and armour) can be leveled up independently from the character. These equipment levels, which come in the form of pluses applied to the weapon (a level 3 knife would be shown as knife +3, as a general example) are not reset when the player leaves the dungeon by choice. Death, of course, means that you drop everything you were carrying and it is permanently lost. Thereby allowing both a sense of progression outside of each individual run, but also preserving the permadeath mechanics of a traditional mystery dungeon.
Outside of dungeon runs, you will have the opportunity to purchase items from a merchant who awaits you in the room which functions as this game's base camp, essentially. Items can be carried with you if you leave the dungeon willingly, as stated above, and these items can be sold to this merchant for money, or stored within a stash chest for later use. This allows the player to keep a spare set of gear (or two, or five) on standby just in case death unexpectedly visits. The merchant sells a decent spread of items and equipment, which usually changes between runs. Always available within his inventory, however, is one of my favourite items he has; the Rescue Crystal. This item allows you to leave the dungeon whenever you wish, provided you survive for a few turns after using it. I know there are some people who don't like this item, but to me having an escape option evens out the difficulty a bunch, thereby avoiding the issue that a lot of games in this vein tend to have; the fact that the games tend to feel as though they hate the player even attempting to have fun playing them. Not House of Necrosis, though. House of Necrosis is VERY fun.
The challenge then comes down to the player's ability to learn the patterns of enemies, how to strategically expend ammo, or save up resources, and finding the weaknesses in the behaviours of the various bosses. The bosses, so far, have been fairly varied, and pretty well designed! They're challenging, and extremely powerful, without feeling unfair (at least once you've learned how they work and gotten used to the mechanics of the game itself.)
One of my favourite things about House of Necrosis, though, is the fact that it manages to be a blast from the past and borrow so much from so many legendary games and franchises without feeling like it's bastardizing anything, or falling into the indie game trap of attempting to be a nostalgic trip into a genre from the glory days of gaming while simultaneously failing to realize what it was that made those games and genres fun to begin with. House of Necrosis avoids this issue altogether by sticking fairly closely to its genre's constraints while being allowed the freedom to add beneficial things to the game rather than annoying gimmicks which only serve to ruin the fun factor.
In conclusion, BUY THIS GAME. It's so good! If you're on the fence about it, don't be! If you like mystery dungeon games at all, you NEED to play this one. House of Necrosis is a gem! (If I had to give it a numbered score, it would be 9/10.)

Hot off the presses just in time for Halloween season, House of Necrosis is an exceptional indie game and one of my most anticipated games from the last Next Fest. This game is so well made, I'm honestly baffled as to how it came out without more fanfare. Its ability to run on any hardware and its relatively low cost of $15.49 CAD (or your regional equivalent) are also great selling points, to be sure
As a game first and foremost, the experience is great. For all intents and purposes, it's just a Mystery Dungeon game. For people unfamiliar with those games, its a top down, grid-based roguelike where you go through ever changing dungeons while kicking the shit out of things (in this case, zombies and animals and trees???). It's turn-based, and the enemies don't do nothing until you do something. You have both a melee attack as well as a ranged firearm, the gun only being operable when there is a stack of ammunition in your backpack. And not only can you have a wide variety of melee and ranged weapons, but they can come with modifiers that enhance the play experience further (I have a sword that has a chance to heal on hit, as well as explode whenever I throw it at someone). But a lot of the fun comes from the plethora of items at your disposable. Items that you can use, abuse, ingest and throw for varying effects. A healing item to stave off the plenty harmful status effects? Check. A throwing item that pushes the enemy backwards? You got it. A dangerous, unidentified jar of liquid? Drink it or throw it, hope its what you want. You can even find these magical grimoires that allow you to learn spells permanently. Whether it be a teleport or a room-wide damage debuff for enemies or even just a heal, they're a good back-up source when your inventory runs dry. Be warned though, this game can get very difficult, either through bad RNG or overwhelming numbers, and death means the loss of everything you had on you. Play carefully.
The audio-visual aspect of this game is also nigh perfect. In terms of the aesthetic, its Resident Evil 1 all over again in the best ways. Note for note, from the mansion itself to the surrounding area, it's unapologetically proud of its RE1 inspiration. Even the transitional door from room to room is the same door opening style animation from those games. Hell, the dev went out of their way to recreate the tank controls for the out-of-dungeon sections, which I have nothing but the utmost respect for. Graphically, this game tickles my brain in all the right ways. I normally have problems with games that are labelled as "PSX-inspired". Not for any faults with their creator or gameplay or whatnot, but because the models look way too nice to be from the PS1 era, and they overcorrect with crummy visual filters. I'm happy to say that this game really does just FEEL like it was a lost product of that generation. The models are so low fidelity, yet they just ooze charm and personality. Even the menus play into this old PS1 feeling, with the load game function mimicking a memory card load. It made me smile so bright seeing "Checking Memory Card, Do Not Pull Out the Memory Card" pop up on my screen. Musically, its all so creepy, and perfectly fitting the fucked up situation the main character has found herself in. The sound effects are even better, with amazing feedback for every single possible action. Monster noises are perfectly crafted to emulate that cheesy PS1 horror game vibe. It all comes together to form one cohesive yet beautiful package.
Yeah don't sleep on this, if you like the Mystery Dungeon games you will like this. If not, still worth a try at least <3

Resident Evil Mytery Dungeon.
This game is awesome. Nails the aesthetic and the gameplay loop is SUPER fun.

Amazing f'n game, one if not the best roguelike that came out recently.
The game is brutal, won't recommend this one to anyone that gets upset, frustrated when dying cause in here you will do that, a whole effing lot.
The game will give you whatever resource to get you going, it's up to you when and how you will use them for the benefit of your run, got lucky on mine got my hand on a rifle that shoots two times per turn for double the damage and an elettric switch blade that will cause damage to every adjacent enemies, with my health upgraded to 500+ (you can increase your health with green herbs if in that moment you are at full HP) and those weapons got me going till floor 5 when i encountered my first boss, like a tyrant from the RE saga it hits hard and sended me back to the safe room with just 2 hits.
I was being greedy and arrogant, the game tho humbled me pretty quickly, in restrospect i should v used the cristal thing, go back to the safe room, deposit all the gear that i was not using so they could be saved for another run and go back inside the manor so i would have been more prepared by levelling up and maybe finding better gear.
I can see my self already playing the sht out this game, good job dev. Hopefully we will see even updates along the road.

I never expected the Mystery Dungeon formula to work in a survival horror setting, but somehow it just does. The atmosphere here is just a treat, especially with such a timely October release, and the gameplay is solid too. TL;DR: it's a pretty easy recommendation if you like this particular brand of roguelikes.
While the gameplay is, like I said, solid, it is perhaps a little simplistic, comparatively speaking. The consumables are varied enough, but the equipment leaves something to be desired. Basically there's just 3 types of melee weapons (essentially light, medium, heavy), 3 types of ranged weapons (same here) and armor. Most equipment seals don't really feel as impactful either. Enemy variety is fine, with some of them having somewhat interesting mechanical interactions, every zone of the main dungeon is also capped off with a unique boss. At the end of the day, it is a rather small indie game, I understand that. Still, the developer clearly knew what they were doing and put in a lot of effort, which in my opinion totally paid off.
While retaining items between runs is somewhat common in Mystery Dungeon games, House of Necrosis puts a very big emphasis on retreating, gearing up and trying again, with the items that are necessary for returning to the safe spot being rather abundant - cheap to purchase and having a much higher drop rate if you don't already have one in your inventory or on the floor. You also permanently retain any inventory upgrades and spells you learn, building up power across runs even if you die and lose all your items. Some of the spells are also hilariously overpowered, which is somewhat balanced (but not really) by the fact that you can only use each spell once per run.
That said, you probably won't be dying too much, with the only things really capable of doing you in being a powered up enemy or a monster house. Enemies can powered up for up to two times, gaining HP and damage as they do. The first tier is not too rare and can be seen in the wild, but you probably won't be encountering the second often until you get to the ranged enemies that are able to kill other enemies and power up that way, or unless you use a certain item if you know what you're doing. Monster houses also don't seem to occur naturally in the main dungeon and can only be triggered via a trap. Traps, however, are always marked on the minimap when you're adjacent to them and can be revealed by striking the tile ahead as usual, so they rarely are a problem.
Overall the game is rather easy and short, even if you count the extra dungeons that feature their own unique challenges and some extra postgame stuff. There also doesn't seem to be any kind of time limit nor a hunger mechanic, so you can take your time and play as carefully as you like. There isn't, however, any kind of passive health regen either, healing can only be done via items, spells or traps. On one hand, this keeps the pacing pretty breezy and the game doesn't overstay its welcome. On the other hand, it can absolutely leave you wanting more. Trying to get full completion can be rather grindy and blatantly unfun however, even having the item that is supposed to help with that. The dev is apparently very active in the community and is currently working hard on fixes/changes/additions though, so that might be changing in the foreseeable future.
In conclusion, if any of it sounds even remotely interesting to you, do at least give the demo a shot. It gives a pretty good feel for the game at large, despite being based on an older version. For me personally it was worth picking up at full price after that.