Game News The Sargosian Abyss Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Esturia Games; The Sargosian Abyss

The Sargosian Abyss, roguelike followup to last year's retro RPG Battle for Esturia, was released as a free Early Access beta on Itch.io back in March. Turns out this is one of those rare cases where the term "beta" was used appropriately to describe a brief pre-release testing period, as the game is now suddenly available for sale on Steam. Here's the trailer developer nlfortier put together for it last month:

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You can grab The Sargosian Abyss on Steam for $8, with a 20% launch discount until next week. The game is still available free on Itch.io as well, though that version is missing a couple of classes and difficulty options.

 

[CryptRat]

Battle for Esturia was cool.

 

[PompiPompi]

I think this games plays by having levels of combat?
So each level is a scenario of combat? Then you advance the levels?
Pretty similar to GF in that way.
The review said that it's draw back is that you don't have a lot of balance, and you just fight up on levels, until you reach a level you cannot win again.
It is Procedural though, I think.

 

[Sin2x]

So Ultima-esque in feel, love it.

 

[PompiPompi]

Kind of boring game to be honest.
Battle is solid, but not too special.
I got a few levels bellow, and didn't even die. But stopped playing.
I think part of it is UI, because I didn't exactly know the stats of enemies, and didn't bother to check. Just guessed what each enemy is like.

To summarize:
1) Very minimal exploration. You just swipe through the map until you defeat the boss.
2) Combat is a bit Mid, it's not bad, just wasn't too exciting/sepcial.
3) UI could be better, making it easier for me to see stats immediately. Some items didn't have enough stats. Or spells, or attributes and etc.
4) Monsters were also... not interesting. I mean, I figured almost what each monster is what... but like... didn't feel any atmosphere or like anything makes sense.

 

[nlfortier]

I think this games plays by having levels of combat?
So each level is a scenario of combat? Then you advance the levels?
Pretty similar to GF in that way.
The review said that it's draw back is that you don't have a lot of balance, and you just fight up on levels, until you reach a level you cannot win again.
It is Procedural though, I think.

The reviewer is correct that the game is very combat focused, although there are a few non-combat elements. For instance, you can find shrines that can be prayed to and books to read, both of which give you combat bonuses. He was unlucky that he only ran into a single shop, as there are usually several per run. The balance criticism is probably legit though. I underestimated the difficulty of balancing the various combinations of the nine different classes, so there are some pretty unbalanced party builds.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

As long as itchio has the full version soon I'll snag it. Fuck steam.

That screen... reminds me of

 

[luj1]

Kind of boring game to be honest.
Battle is solid, but not too special.
I got a few levels bellow, and didn't even die. But stopped playing.
I think part of it is UI, because I didn't exactly know the stats of enemies, and didn't bother to check. Just guessed what each enemy is like.

To summarize:
1) Very minimal exploration. You just swipe through the map until you defeat the boss.
2) Combat is a bit Mid, it's not bad, just wasn't too exciting/sepcial.
3) UI could be better, making it easier for me to see stats immediately. Some items didn't have enough stats. Or spells, or attributes and etc.
4) Monsters were also... not interesting. I mean, I figured almost what each monster is what... but like... didn't feel any atmosphere or like anything makes sense.

figures

low effort game

 

[Mortmal]

Kind of boring game to be honest.
Battle is solid, but not too special.
I got a few levels bellow, and didn't even die. But stopped playing.
I think part of it is UI, because I didn't exactly know the stats of enemies, and didn't bother to check. Just guessed what each enemy is like.

To summarize:
1) Very minimal exploration. You just swipe through the map until you defeat the boss.
2) Combat is a bit Mid, it's not bad, just wasn't too exciting/sepcial.
3) UI could be better, making it easier for me to see stats immediately. Some items didn't have enough stats. Or spells, or attributes and etc.
4) Monsters were also... not interesting. I mean, I figured almost what each monster is what... but like... didn't feel any atmosphere or like anything makes sense.

figures

low effort game

What to expect from most lone guys except project similar in scope to the 8 bit era, would not call this low effort still , it certainly took some. In 1980 he could have some success. Today , whats the point to release games like this except as an hobby.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I get ACS flashbacks looking at it which isn't bad.

I have many fond memories of my c64, vic-20, colecovision and nes days. I found the gfx quite close. The room structures reminded me of this a little (and tricks one could do). The engine is obviously superior to acs remibding me immediately of shining force.

As an old school gamer i get drawn in by what is written and drawn quite easily.

 

[nlfortier]

What to expect from most lone guys except project similar in scope to the 8 bit era, would not call this low effort still , it certainly took some. In 1980 he could have some success. Today , whats the point to release games like this except as an hobby.

You're not wrong. I developed the game as a hobby over the course of a year. I'm a part-time dev with two kids and a full-time day job. I like making old-school RPGs because I grew up playing 8-bit RPGs, D&D, and Roguelikes. Seeing people enjoy my games gives me the same feeling I used to get from running D&D session in high school and college. I can promise this game was not low effort but, at the end of the day, I'm just a middle-aged RPG nerd with a busy life who likes to make 8-bit RPGs in his spare time. I realize that sort of game isn't for most people.

 

[Nazrim Eldrak]

The music is very relaxing.
It has a pinch of desperation and a slick breeze of oblivion in a good way.
I can't say more about the game based on the video.
I might not play it unless there's a good reason (so many other good games on my to-do list).

 

[PompiPompi]

What to expect from most lone guys except project similar in scope to the 8 bit era, would not call this low effort still , it certainly took some. In 1980 he could have some success. Today , whats the point to release games like this except as an hobby.

You're not wrong. I developed the game as a hobby over the course of a year. I'm a part-time dev with two kids and a full-time day job. I like making old-school RPGs because I grew up playing 8-bit RPGs, D&D, and Roguelikes. Seeing people enjoy my games gives me the same feeling I used to get from running D&D session in high school and college. I can promise this game was not low effort but, at the end of the day, I'm just a middle-aged RPG nerd with a busy life who likes to make 8-bit RPGs in his spare time. I realize that sort of game isn't for most people.

You should never use the "I have no time, I suck" as an excuse.
Just lean to choose designs that will be better for the time you have.
Choosing the right game is 80% of the marketing and who it will appeal to.

 

[nlfortier]

You should never use the "I have no time, I suck" as an excuse.

I may have worded my response poorly, as that isn't what I was trying to say. I was mostly just trying to give context around why I developed and released a game in the style of the old 80s CRPGs. Time was certainly a factor in choosing the aesthetic, but I don't think my games suck. I think they are fun games with a minimalistic aesthetic that appeal to the niche audience that still appreciates that visual style.

Just lean to choose designs that will be better for the time you have.

I think this is excellent advice and that is what I was trying to do in developing a game with a minimalist 8-bit aesthetic. I'm not much of an artist and I knew that if I spent my time making more modern game art, that I wouldn't have as much time to focus on the game's mechanics, which for me is the bread and butter of this sort of game. So I chose the design that I felt would allow me to make the best game I could given my time constraints and I'm pretty happy with the results.

 

[Grauken]

You should never use the "I have no time, I suck" as an excuse.

I may have worded my response poorly, as that isn't what I was trying to say. I was mostly just trying to give context around why I developed and released a game in the style of the old 80s CRPGs. Time was certainly a factor in choosing the aesthetic, but I don't think my games suck. I think they are fun games with a minimalistic aesthetic that appeal to the niche audience that still appreciates that visual style.

Given how Pompi's games look like, I wouldn't take any advice regarding aesthetics or game design from him in general

 

[AdolfSatan]

Ditto for how they play and sell.

I'm away from home, but will buy once I get back. I enjoyed BfE, my only hope is that the combat is harder in this one.

I actually think you did an excellent job in making a game readable and aesthetically pleasant with those self-imposed restraints. Lurking II is another game that made the best out of a limited palette.

 

[nlfortier]

Ditto for how they play and sell.

I'm away from home, but will buy once I get back. I enjoyed BfE, my only hope is that the combat is harder in this one.

I actually think you did an excellent job in making a game readable and aesthetically pleasant with those self-imposed restraints. Lurking II is another game that made the best out of a limited palette.

Thanks! This The combat is definitely more difficult in this one. You will die a lot unless you're quite good. PC Gamer included the game in a recent article and called it "one for the more masochistic tactical RPG lovers." Which is probably an accurate assessment of the difficulty.