So, this review is a little different because I'm not reviewing a game that was built by a team, but by one man. David Vinokurov is the sole developer of everything in this game called Netherguild. To be a sole developer of a game is not easy. I want everyone to take note of this. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication and rough days to want to create a video game from the ground up. Because even though Netherguild is not my cup of tea, I fully respect and admire this gentleman for taking the time and effort to creating his passion project. With all of that said, as I pointed out, Netherguild just didn't resonate with me personally. It's not to say it's a bad game, because I truly don't believe it is, I feel like it's missing things that can make this dungeon diver really shine and sparkle.
The graphics of this game really affected me a lot. I have never been a fan of voxel art Minecraft style games. I have seen some that looked amazing. I did a review of one a couple months back, but this particular one just wasn't for me. The environment wasn't eye pleasing. Don't get me wrong, I am not the type that believes all video games need to have these AAA over budget environments to encase their worlds. I'm a huge fan of pixel art and old school JRPG graphics, even more so than a lot of 3D gaming that's come out today. This game just wasn't grabbing at me. I will say though, that it almost catered to my love of old-style NES games like Legend of Zelda, but since the direction was more of the voxel art, it just turned me off.
What didn't turn me off was the audio itself. The soundtrack and the sound effects were pretty spot on for what you expect in a game like this. It wasn't above average, but it definitely wasn't below average either. As I have made note of plenty of times in the past, this was a safe choice. When the fights start, the shift into the dark ominous music was nice and it did make me want to hard focus on the combat. I enjoyed the menu sounds and just the overall feeling that it gave. Games like this, have to have some sort of good audio for them to be played for long period of time, since graphics isn't the strong point and David nailed this one home.
So now let's talk about the gameplay. Turn-based dungeon diver games are oddly enough, not plentiful. Not as plentiful as I'd oddly like. You don't see many of them. That's not to say there aren't a lot of them, just that there aren't a lot as opposed to other genres. I honestly love the fact that David went this route. I love that he went into this type of game. Games like Darkest Dungeon and the likes are really fun games. They are hard games because they require lots of thought, planning and leveling to be successful. Trying to dig into a dungeon deeper and deeper, where it gets harder and harder with your assorted team of mercenaries really is an enjoyable style game for me. Netherguild didn't fail to deliver on this feeling. Turn-based battles, using your units correctly to survive, I feel he really did capture the dungeon dive feeling. The skeleton of this game, the core, is solid and well done. So, what about this game didn't make he want to say I loved it?
It really was the graphics. They just turned me off. The lighting in the opening story was off, the overworld graphics were off. The underworld graphics was so much better but still eh to me. This game just wasn't ascetically pleasing to me. It really made it hard for me to enjoy the game. I feel if one is going to go with voxel of graphics, they have to be upped somehow. This style of graphics is just overly done and no one, but a few, really look to try and enhance them. Finding a way to possibly combine 3D environments with the Voxel art would go a long way. Having cleaner menu systems, would also go a long way. GUI are important in games like this and this one just didn't cut it for me.
So, with all of this said, Netherguild has a long way to go. Mr. Vinokurov has his work cut out for him and being a solo designer, it can't be easy. I am very happy to see he grasped a lot of the core of this game though. I really did love that feeling. Just wasn't pleasing to the eye for me. Voxel art just is a HARD field for me to get behind. Very few games that I have personally reviewed or played has the voxel art not bothered me. Mr. Vinokurov may or may not be graphic artist or has a lot of graphic background, and that is 100% okay because I do feel like this game has a niche and very well could get a strong following once completed. There is a plethora of folks that love this. But for those that don't, this game will have to have a strong gameplay foundation and I think this does have that.
Good luck to David Vinokurov. I cannot wait to see future iterations of his passion project. Solo designers are inspiring and motivating because they have a lot more riding on their projects. It's guys like this one, who makes the gaming industry such a beautiful place to be a part of because I personally want to see his project go in and succeed. Once he gets into the polishing phase of his project, I would be honored to go another round with Netherguild and to brave its depths.
You can check out Netherguild on G.Round and on Steam. Make sure you click the link here if you want to sign up to be able to play this title for yourself.
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