Unexplored

Now that I've finally managed to beat the game on Hard level, after about 330 tries, I guess I can share my thoughts on it validly.

When I first took a look at Unexplored, coming upon it thanks to Unexplored 2, which is a very different game, I did not think that I was going to get much enjoyment out of it. After all, ARPGs are not really my thing. But the reviews were so positive, that I eventually decided to take a chance. And did the game ever grab me. From the simple, but not easy, fighting style, to the sheer variety of things in the game, to the clever interactions between certain aspects that it was a joy to discover, such as lighting a torch by dipping it into lava, the game is just fun to play.

The RNG is pretty excellent - I very seldom ran into unplayable situations, and even sometimes when it seems that you are stuck, there is a "pray" option that will resolve most blockages, although you will only have a few opportunities to use it per run without heavy penalties. But I rarely ever needed it, so that's no problem.

The single-eyed characters make the top down combat easy to understand. Sneaking is available, although it's been nerfed somewhat, but that is generally not a problem, except when you start as "The Fool". It is probably my only gripe with the game that the Fool doesn't start with a stealth +1 cloak.

Speaking of variety, you can play as 1 of at least 9 classes in the game, there are at least 16 different kinds of enemies, most of which have at least 1 type of boss version which serves as mini bosses, of which you'll only ever encounter 4 at most per run, there are at least 5 types of Dragons which serves as the end boss (except in rogue-likes it seems that the final boss is never the final boss, is it?), there are a variety of weapons (and magic) to use, lots of potions and scrolls, not all with positive effects, etc.

And all that is before you ever even get to the free DLC - none of which I have touched as yet. In short, if you enjoy a good rogue-like ARPG, I can heartily recommend Unexplored.

As a true roguelike OG beard-lord, I can wholeheartedly say, this game is a banger. It doesn't hold your hand. You're going to get owned, and you'll want to try again. Dark Souls never looked more pathetic. This is the only non-turn based roguelike that's worth mentioning. My only gripe is the cyclops dude, as I am quite partial to two-eyed protaganists. 9.7/10

unexplored is a bit of a mild name for how solid a roguelike adventure this game is
an even, uh, worse name would be
cave exploring cyclops
pros:
-vivid runs; where i have max stealth stuff and the shadows are providing genuinely safe harbour in hell-like depths, or ive gotten ahold of some extensive combo of materials ie copy scroll and scrolls
-a stack of maps for your adventure that are slow to explore and connected sparsely. you need to return after reaching the bottom. everything remains as you go up and down the y axis, stairs
-environmental hazards and chemistry. crafting/cooking of the try and fail variety. light sources and all its cons and pros. actors respond to distraction and alarms, like the alarm bell. religion, and conducts
-weird ass ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ orientation combat, where you effectively wield your hand equipment of choice directly, precisely in front of you, just like how doomguy hold his guns, dead center and w the sight near his chin
shields offer a very good barrier w the side they're literally on, in the live combat of swinging, stepping and strafing as you wait for cooldowns indicated by a differently shaded dagger
-distinct enemies. you will remember the ones that kill you and they will stress you out as you come up to them again even if its that pos mage goblin that uses all his randomly enchanted items and sundries as assigned by the universe run. or the spiders that jump. love spiders, normally, but the spiders in this are a legit minor threat
cons
-the waterlogged areas are AWESOME and they are also lethal run enders
-some iterations or runs can be bugged, in that old school procedural way. the religious system has a pray function which can get you a or whatever but itll happen. or itll appear to happen, but maybe you're just stupid/innattentive and haven't spotted the
-there are cryptic (but very thorough) mechanics normally found in hardcore rogues, namely; mystery. id-ing potions, scrolls and that shirt you just put on that now hurts and wont come off, is vital
-the crafting/stuff enchanting is a pain to really get to grips with (runes and enchant spots are sparce) as well as necessary. and not every enchant rock|enchant rock|weapon go together.
crafting is fine it just contains set recipes tropes. you can make tea, which is hot (yes temp) water plus tea. you can also make strength potions (perm +stat) that are two bodyparts of midtier (at least) enemies.
-sudden, immediate, steep death might be far harsher than youd like, and the results screen might not give you much more context for whatever happened. dont let it happen again? dont lose your temper, the next run has a gun plus gun ammo ingredients almost certainly, or a new gargoyle enemy you've never hit with an unenchanted sword before, and couldnt possibly be completely immune to a tier of damage
or huge murmuring ogres patrolling thin paths across a void, ogres being capable of knockback
or a lich, which rarely isn't a challenge across tropes

This is a roguelike that does a good job of being action-based rather than turn based. It deserves more popularity and success than it got. The only downside is there aren't really classes, while you an select different starting loadouts they all play similarly.

Excellent game. It markets heavily the level generation and the level generation is absolutely superb!

A great game with a few critical bugs. If you've played the roguelike Brogue this will feel very familiar to you. I cannot fathom how they took this incredible concept and threw it in the trash for the sequel. If they added more fleshed out gods like in DC:SS and added magic casting they'd have a huge seller. This game, the original, could have been a huge seller too, but there are many design flaws and crashes.

beat the game and did a couple more runs. It is review time baybeee.
Below are listed selling points listed on the steam page, I will comment on them
+ Fantastic Generated Dungeons (using brand new tech) +
yes, unExplored is 8 years old by now and the procedurally generated dungeons are still quite impressive. My first couple of runs that made it around halfway into the dungeon I felt a sense of genuine magic. These kinds of games are always best when you dont yet know how far the rabbit hole goes.
on further replays i do feel the puzzles especially get a bit repetitive. Also the level generation can still cause some stupidness like a locked room and the only lever to open it is inside that same room with no other way to access it. Ive never seen this happen on the critical path though.
Still, usually the dungeon levels are good, sometimes fantastic.
+ Real Emergent Gameplay with many Tactical Options +
Thisss is the best part of the game for sure. I guess you could say this about any game but unexplored is a game about problem solving and with all the interesting interactions between enemies, the environment, spells, potions and scrolls you have a good amount of tools for getting yourself out of a pickle. Throwing harmful potions into a swarm of enemies that have cornered you, casting disarm on an ogre and beating it to death with its own club, finding a corner to hide and perform a critical sneak attack on a boss that is chasing you. This is what its all about in my eyes.
+ Intense, Real-time, Dual Wielding Melee Combat +
the combat has a surprising amount of depth. it is also fun! Healing is scarce so your mistakes have consequences. you have to weigh the pros of cons of running into enemies or going for a risky swing. some enemies are immune to certain damage types and weapons have different attack speeds, ranges, swings and stats so you have a lot of reason to use different weapons and switch between them in combat instead of using the one sword with optimal stats or something
Stealth Mechanics (dungeon crawling like a real rogue…)
stealth mechanics are simple but cool. I dont think a full stealth build is feasible though... I wish daggers got an extra bonus on sneak attacks.
Over 50 dangerous bosses
The bosses are... okay? They are usually a slightly stronger enemy with a gimmick ability.
Challenging, generated puzzles.
mmm, no. The puzzles are kind of ass. You find notes that say "go to a room and do a thing". You do the thing and if you did it right you get a reward. Thats it for the most part. I guess opening doors can kinda also be considered a puzzle because you have to weigh down pressure plates or drag a wind generator to a thingy but most of the puzzles in this game are only cool once.
Adaptive, original soundtrack
the music is okay
also, crafting/alchemy is very underdeveloped