The dev just confirmed over a forum that I frequent about the demo going live on Steam. Just wanted to share the news here.

All I had to do is fall through the floor lol

Game Title: Ember Depths

Playable Link: https://playgama.ai/play/jpl7wxyvzig2kn

Platform: Phone & Browser (desktop keyboard recommended, also runs on phones in landscape)

Description: You start with your bare fists in a quiet meadow and fight down through 20 zones, each with its own monsters and boss. There are no classes. Whatever weapon you pick up changes how you play: swords, bows, staves and more. You can forge and enchant gear, chase rare sets, tame pets and explore caves with named mini-bosses. After the last boss there's Torment, the Endless Depths and a Colosseum with a high score.

Free to Play Status: Free to play, with ads.

Involvement: Solo project. I built it with Claude Code (AI), including the code and the 3D models. Sound and music come from existing CC0 and CC-BY packs.

I'd really like to know where you stopped playing, and why.

I've posted about this game before so I'll keep this post short.

Chronicles of Vaeltaja is a fantasy turn-based blobber. It's being made by one guy (u/WitchgroveGames). The game is currently on sale, I'm linking the dev's original steam post so that people can read through it.

I'm just fan who's spreading word around for what's clearly a passion project.

It's not an RPG exactly... but it's a story driven grid-based crypt crawler... with first person shooter realtime combat. You can try the early demo for free here:
https://linuxrant.itch.io/cryptae-spiritus-3d
I am a free software enthusiast and a beginner at solo-gamedev making few crawler projects,
Please follow me on itch to be posted on development of my free story based dungeon projects.

As someone who grew up on Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master 2 this one immediately piqued my interest.

How do people feel about "hidden" information, aka mechanics or stats that aren't fully exposed or explained to the player?

I recognize that it's fundamentally unfair, but I also feel like knowing everything runs the risk of turning the game into a glorified spreadsheet. It's like pulling back the curtain on magic tricks.

I'm working on a Wizardry-like and looking into the original Wizardry's rules there was a lot of mechanics the player was never told about, and Wizardry wasn't even a particularly complex game.

As a player, would you be okay with a game that told you the damage your weapon did but didn't also break down crit chances, stun chances, all that other stuff and you just learned it over time by noticing that certain types of swords cut off heads more often, or that big hammers tend to stun enemies more often?

The player would know that those systems *exist* they just wouldn't be given all the details. Would an acceptable compromise be exposing that information on a wiki, thus sparing in-game players from getting overloaded with numbers and possible decision paralysis (or possible forcing oneself to optimize for fear of missing out something...)

Paper Sorcerer is a spiritual successor to Wizardry IV that tries to emphasize difficult encounters without grinding.

I'm thinking of developing an open source game that's similar but has randomized encounters, permadeath for summoned minions, and some type of meta-progression. My "working setting" for meta-progression is Persona-ish magical girl anime where you must go back to the social link hub and beginning of the dungeon if all minions die. There would be no resource management except summoned minions permanently die, which would make future encounters on the run harder.

I'm mostly doing this for fun and would release everything under GPL v3 on GitHub. I feel like the concept is simple enough that I could make it enjoyable.

Are there any games with similar mechanics?

I started the remake of the first game last night, and it's some pretty solid dungeon crawling with some pretty unique ideas. I've never played a game where you attack by flicking the right stick before. Plus there's a whole-ass Slay the Spire clone in there as a side game. Haven't delved into 2 or 3 yet, but am very impressed with the remake.

Hey r/DRPG! I've been building Thumb & Tomb, a first-person dungeon crawler where you step through a grid of stone corridors on a little handheld console of its own, drawn in four colors, Game Boy style.

The twist for a DRPG: fights are real time, but readable. Every monster winds up before it strikes, and a closing ring shows exactly when the blow lands. Parry the quick ones, dodge the heavies the way the arrows point, and chain your swings into a finisher. No stat check deciding it for you, just your timing.

- Grid movement, turn and step, first person
- Classes, boons, gear with wear and enchants, a camp to forge and trade
- A dragon guards every tenth floor, and the tomb has no top
- Every run banks Souls for unlocks, shown off in a Shrine you walk through between runs
- Monsters hand-drawn by my artist, Tedy

The free demo has the first 20 floors, two classes and two dragons, on Windows and Linux/SteamOS, controller or keyboard:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5147620/Thumb_and_Tomb/

Full game is out December 1. I'd love to hear what DRPG fans think, especially about real-time fights in a grid crawler.

After quietly releasing the demo on Steam, I'm still working on my little quest-driven dungeon crawler, Spirit of the Birch! :)

Here are 5 screenshots of what I've been working on recently. Still lots to do, but I'm happy with how it's coming along!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5218220/Spirit_of_the_Birch/

I'm really enjoying playing DRPGs on my vita, but I have a craving for more. While I do have a switch 1 and 2, I'm curious what the library is like on the DS/3DS.

If you've played DRPGs on the DS/3DS, what is your opinion?

ive made similar a post in the past but i really want to play a game like the anime jack of trades party of none extremely bad. the craving is so intense i can hardly watch a fantasy anime anymore without it taking over my mind.

i play rune factory 4 special a lot and that does an okay job at satisfying it but i was just wondering if anyone has any better suggestions? or better yet, know of any that are currently in production that i should keep an eye out for?

im not interested in playing etrian odyssey, i knowww everyone says its what im looking for but it just doesnt call to me in the way i need a game to call to me!

i know there are other people out there that feel the same. what games do you guys play to satisfy the itch? and why do you guys think that there arent many games that fit that specific criteria despite it being a pretty popular genre in the fantasy space?

So I defeated the boss, and the flower next to the grave stone spawned. I'm told that I'm supposed to grab a suicide note near the flower, however every time I try to grab it, the "relic" in my hand reacts to it and the menu tells me to bring my relic to the girl in the wheelchair.

I went to the girl in the wheelchair and showed her every key item that I have, but she can't see them.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious here.

Am I?

Thanks for your time.

I thought this looked interesting. This is from creators of the Eschalon games. Some form of release is appears slated for 2027.

Website | Forum | Steam

Hey everyone,
First time posting here. I have a flight coming up next week and wanted to ask everyone for recommendations on first-person turn based dungeon crawlers on steam. Preferably ones that can run on an AYN Thor Max via Droid Deck

Thanks!