First person dungeon crawling games have been around since the early days of gaming (not as early as text adventures but still, a long time).  For the most part, if a platform could display graphics, even those as basic as early computers such as the Color Computer, there is a good chance that there is a dungeon crawler available for it.  Before you go and start complaining in the comments that the Virtual Boy didn’t have a first person dungeon crawler and neither did the Game Gear, I already know that.  The question is, can you name some other platforms that never received a first person dungeon crawler (there are a few).  Ruzar- the Life Stone is looking to bring this genre back to life on Windows (and Linux if things go well).  Read on to find out what is interesting about this attempt.

Ruzar has a serious Alternate Reality feel to it.  There are a ton of stats that will upgrade, or can be upgraded manually, as you play, gritty dungeons and secrets galore.  For retrogaming fans that have played Alternate Reality will know what I mean.  For everyone else, Ruzar has grid based movement (one step is one square so grab some graph paper for maps) and finding secrets are akin to Wolfenstein 3D (bumping and clicking).  Also, Ruzar pulls inspiration from the Eye of the Beholder series in many areas such as switches that will require a keen eye to notice.  One thing that bothered me about Alternate Reality was that it was never finished, we got two of the planned seven games.  In the design docs/interviews with the main developer we have learned that there was to be a hub system (The City) complete with outlying lands, bazaars to purchase and sell goods and other goodies.  Why am I bringing this up in an article about Ruzar?  Because Ruzar has all of that coming in one game, not seven.  For me, Ruzar feels like a spiritual successor to Alternate Reality.

Right now, Ruzar- the Stone of Life is on Steam Early Access as the developers are looking for assistance in making it better.

Source: IndieGames.com also covered by Indie Retro News

Carl Williams

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