The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk - parodic fantasy tactical RPG - now with Back to the Futon DLC

[gurugeorge]

The thief's portrait is so adorable I had to write a comment about it.

It's all very light-hearted and charming. The only thing I really hate about the game is the shader outlining (it's not outlining really but it's like fake backlighting or something that goes with the characters wherever they go). I wish you could turn that off.

 

[Lacrymas]

That first "real" fight on the highest difficulty, though. I had to reload like 5 times to do it. Rationing of abilities and positioning are ridiculously important. I like it.

 

[Erebus]

Just replayed the original campaign, this time on Nightmare. I did much better than I expected : I only had to reload for the Wheel of Misfortune fight (it took me three tries).

I took the priestess. The paladin is a decent fighter and the minstrel has some useful abilities, but healing really is essential in fights.

When levelling up, I focused on raising Agility (it increases Accuracy, but also Parry/Dodge) and to a lesser extent Courage (improves your initiative and your saving throws). I completely neglected the other attributes, except of course for the Wizardess and the Priestess (I raised their Intelligence/Charisma instead of their Agility).

The first time I played the game, the Losax fight gave me a very hard time. But it's easier when you known what to expect. Losax is immune to a lot of things, but not to poison/fire (very useful to inflict damage even when his protection is buffed) and to immobilization (and you really want to prevent him from moving).

Now to play "Ruins of Limis" again (siding with the vampires, if only because it makes the last fight much cooler).

 

[Grunker]

It's also easier with the priestess (she's much better than the other two).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It's also easier with the priestess (she's much better than the other two).

Rough rule of thumb, the effectiveness of the member is proportional to how randy the ranger acts around them.

 

[Erebus]

Finished "Ruins of Limis" on Nightmare. I didn't have to reload, though the last fight was touch and go for a long while.

The priestess probably is a bit too good. As long as she doesn't get knocked out or run out of mana, her healing spells make the team considerably harder to defeat. And she can even inflict a fair amount of damage with her Chain Lightning.

One of the problems of that DLC is that your heroes are already level 10. You've already picked all the active and passive abilities that you really wanted them to have, so gaining one more level isn't as exciting as it was in the original campaign. The DLC offers a few magical items (mostly rings) that work pretty much like active abilities (allowing you to immobilize a target, to cast a fire spell, etc.) ; it's a clever idea, but it's not quite enough. I hope that the third and last DLC will either add a significant amount of new abilities or lower the level of the heroes.

 

[LESS T_T]

Third DLC Back to the Futon in Summer.

 

[LESS T_T]

Press release has little bit more details on the DLC ("roughly half as long as the base game", level cap to 16): https://www.gamedeveloper.com/press...final-expansion-back-to-the-futon-this-summer

The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos to receive its final expansion, Back to the Futon , this Summer

Montpellier, France, May 25, 2022 - Indie developer Artefacts Studio in partnership with Dear Villagers have revealed the third and final expansion of their hit RPG The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos with Back to the Futon. Due this Summer on PC, Switch, PlayStation 4&5, and Xbox platforms, Back to the Futon holds four brand new chapters, filled with shenanigans and epic hijinks, and brings about the conclusion of their adventures in the wackiest of all dungeons.

In Back to the Futon, the adventurers are sent on a quest through time and space to solve once and for all the temporal anomaly that has enveloped the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. During these time-traveling shenanigans, our heroes will face off against multiple challenges and enemies, including the zealous cultists of Dlul, the drowsy God of Sleep, as they search for the statuette of Gladeulfeurha.

Back to the Futon is an epic undertaking that’s roughly half as long as the base game. The culmination of everything introduced in The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and its previous expansions (The Ruins of Limis and Splat Jaypak’s Arenas), Back to the Futon will allow players to reach level 16, offering them several new passive and active skills, along with new gear.

“Back to the Futon is our love letter to everything that made The Amulet of Chaos great,” said Bruno Chabanel, CEO of Artefacts Studio. “As the title implies, Back to the Futon’s time-traveling concept gives us carte blanche to revisit the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk from an all new perspective. Seeing it in its early days, while it was still under construction, will rekindle players’ memories of the base game and its previous expansions, while adding all new comedic twists and lore to discover.”

“The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos has been one of our most cherished titles, and Back to the Futon is a stirring tribute to everything that made it such a success,” said Guillaume Jamet, Head of Publishing at Dear Villagers. “We wanted this saga to go out with a bang, and we feel like Artefacts Studio has more than delivered!”

The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos’ is a turn-based tactical RPG chock-full of charm, humour and chaos! Leading a ragtag company of unlikely heroes, players will embark on an epic adventure combining the fun, creativity and chaos of an epic fantasy tabletop campaign with the challenge of the very best tactical RPG games, delivering an adventure unlike anything you’ve played before.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Ahh.
Buying time nears.

 

[Mauman]

I really need to get around to finishing this. I'm at the last fight of the base game and I just got distracted by something else and never got back to it.

 

[Robber Baron]

Damn is this game a blessing or what

 

[Erebus]

Tried Nightmare difficulty with the Paladin. On the downside, she's less useful than the Priestess ; on the upside, she's less vulnerable. All in all, it doesn't make the game that much harder, though you'll have to use healing potions more often.

It's always kind of painful to start a new game, because the hard-hitting characters have such terrible accuracy at low level. It makes support quite essential (whereas it becomes rather useless at high level).

 

[NJClaw]

I finally decided to give this game a try and... wow, it's good. Definitely one of the best games I played in the last few years. Now I'm just sad I didn't give it my vote in the GOTY poll.

Difficulty falls off during the last chapters, but it's still fun to try all your upgraded abilities. Honestly, I can't remember another game where I NEVER thought even for a second that fights were getting boring. All the TB games I played somewhat recently (Kingmaker, Solasta, Wrath of the Righteous, Troubleshooter, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Expeditions: Viking, and Knights of the Chalice 2) had me yawning at combat in the end, but not this one. Sure, the fact that I finished this in under 25 hours while the others are 50+ (or even 100+) hours games definitely plays a part in this, but knowing when to make your game end is a plus in my book. Also, each character has an entire other set of skills I didn't pick in my playthrough, so I still have a lot to try and discover if I decide to replay it.

I don't really have any complaint about any character, apart maybe from the fact that the Priestess felt so strong I can't imagine playing without her. The Thief seemed underwhelming at first, but once I started playing around with bombs and potions he began to shine. All the others have skills that work perfectly together. They really knew how to play around the strengths of a fixed group.

From what I had heard, I expected the humor to be outright bad and cringe-inducing, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover this absolutely isn't the case. You won't be laughing your ass off for the entire playthrough, but each character will get a laugh out of you once in a while. The Dwarf was always funny to me, up to the very end with the "I said sock!" line, and the Barbarian almost always managed to make me chuckle with his not following the plot. Making a "ironic" game isn't easy and I think they hit the mark most of the times.

I was curious about the general reception, so I checked a couple of Steam reviews and, honestly, I expected the final score to be a bit higher considering how fun and polished the game is. This and Solasta share the same score, which only proves what Thac0 said: it's too easy to satisfy D&D fans with any kind of D&D product. Still, and God only knows how much it pains me to admit this, French people are on a roll in the RPG-making department right now.

 

[Grunker]

Told you bro

 

[rusty_shackleford]

3 years from now:
"wow, how come none of you told me that King Arthur: A Knight's Tale is actually good????"

 

[Grunker]

Tried Nightmare difficulty with the Paladin. On the downside, she's less useful than the Priestess ; on the upside, she's less vulnerable. All in all, it doesn't make the game that much harder, though you'll have to use healing potions more often.

It's always kind of painful to start a new game, because the hard-hitting characters have such terrible accuracy at low level. It makes support quite essential (whereas it becomes rather useless at high level).

For how long did you try? Because Paladin is excellent and very fun for the first few levels where her Parry is actually useful. It's only after that she becomes both boring and clearly the worst character in terms of usefulness.

 

[Zombra]

I have to admit I bounced off this pretty hard at Epic Gest difficulty, after failing an early fight twice with no evidence of anything I could have done smarter. Pure strategy or puzzle games are great but the RNG here is just too harsh. Not interested in playing the same fight 5 times in a row with good strategy but requiring lucky rolls as well to proceed.

Hope to try again at Normal difficulty soon, and maybe learn all the hacks and tricks to get gud for a more difficult try later in life. But hey, there are lots of games out there to play.

 

[Grunker]

I finished this on a higher difficulty than you without suffering from RNG, so there was definetely another tactic you could try.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, if your tactic involves reloading until you get good RNG, maybe try another tactic ;d

 

[Nortar]

the RNG here is just too harsh

There's a built in compensator for RNG, - the Randomia gauge.
The more misses and critical failures you get, the faster it fills.
The stuff it unlocks, like extra action or large heal, was essential on Nightmare difficulty.

Besides nothing's as painful and hilarious at the same time as the Ranger slipping and falling on his ass while trying to heal downed Priestess.

 

[Zombra]

Thanks friends. Could be I'm just dumb, or maybe I just got really bad rolls those first couple tries. Still, probably a first playthrough on Normal won't be too dull.

 

[Grunker]

Thanks friends. Could be I'm just dumb, or maybe I just got really bad rolls those first couple tries. Still, probably a first playthrough on Normal won't be too dull.

You’re not dumb, the first couple of levels of this game are challenging. Wheel of Fortune fight is the hardest in the game probably. I wrote a tips post a couple pages back

When you claim RNG, my immediate suspicion is that you’re not flanking enough?

 

[NJClaw]

3 years from now:
"wow, how come none of you told me that King Arthur: A Knight's Tale is actually good????"

Hey, it's not my fault that game costs more than what I spend on food in 10 days.

I'd buy it now if there weren't 100 games I want to play in my backlog, but as things stand I can't justify breaking the golden rule:

 

[Grunker]

3 years from now:
"wow, how come none of you told me that King Arthur: A Knight's Tale is actually good????"

Hey, it's not my fault that game costs more than what I spend on food in 10 days.

I'd buy it now if there weren't 100 games I want to play in my backlog, but as things stand I can't justify breaking the golden rule:

well there goes that excuse

Spoiler

you can thank ERYFKRAD for starting the soon-to-be time-honored tradition of forcing codexers to play games you like by gifting them

 

[NJClaw]

What a blessed man. I will shit-rate your enemies in all discussions to come for all eternity.

Now I just need someone to gift my entire country an Internet infrastructure that will allow me to finish downloading this before I die of old age: