Developer: MyDreamForever, Drageus Games S.A.
Publisher: Red twice potato, Drageus Games S.A.
Platform: PC, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Diabolic – Review
Join the fight, for what was once a prosperous land, as a nameless and faceless hero in Diabolic. Diabolic is a game set in a dark fantasy world brought to you by developer MyDreamForever and publisher Drageus Games. This adventure mainly focusses on destroying hordes of skeletons, monsters, magic trees, and insane bosses. Save the terrified villagers by answering their calls for help and become the hero they need, but never knew they wanted.
Story
The game does not have a storyline that follows through. Diabolic does not have any story value outside of the few lines of text you get each quest. You do not get an intro or any information whatsoever. You are thrown in the game with no knowledge at all and are supposed to get from objective to objective.
The first NPC you encounter is a woman; she panics because of the undead that attacked her and probably the other villagers, but the game does not add any details about who the undead attacked. She asks you to find the portal which will lead you to a field not far from the kingdom so that you can report the event to the king. The next NPC you encounter already offers a side-quest to save his sheep, and this is pretty much the whole setup of the game; going from quest to quest.
Those two are the only verbal interactions you get in the first chapter of the game and even beyond that, the conversations are pretty vague and incoherent. Because in the second chapter another NPC starts talking about a labyrinth behind some bushes in the next part of the area. The labyrinth will house hidden treasures but everyone entering it supposedly perishes.
Those conversations keep on happening a few times every chapter but overall if you are looking for an in-depth storyline this isn’t your game. We don’t know if a more elaborate storyline would add value to the game as Diabolic is so bland and combat-focused that it would’ve probably been a waste to include even more meaningful conversations.
Graphics
If we look at the overall look of the game, it is nothing more than your average (maybe even below average), pixel art game. The environments are timid and repeat themselves way too much in our opinion. All areas are separated from the void or darkness that surrounds the whole level with basic barriers like walls or edges. Somehow the developers did not manage to keep the loot, in this case, the golden coins or swords inside of those barriers. They are floating in that void sometimes, which should be easy to fix if they put a little more effort into the small gameplay details like this.
Luckily they managed to do something right art-wise with their monsters, bosses, and even some of their buildings. The bosses look stunning, even with the chosen simplistic design, and are well worth the effort that is put into them. Also, the mobs and some of the little buildings are quite beautiful and are a joy to look at.
Sound
Soundwise the game is adequate but not the best in its genre. The instrumental music that accompanies each level is soothing yet precisely right for the feelings the game should give you. It intensifies at some points but not necessarily when you get into a fight with the numerous mobs that spawn out of the ground beneath you. The game also added some basic noises that your nameless hero makes when receiving damage or attacking a monster. We previously mentioned there isn’t much of a storyline, so there are only some quests given by random NPCs that you encounter in the chapters, these aren’t accompanied by any voice acting.
Gameplay
Diabolic is a top-down adventure game with roguelite elements. The game is a little more softcore than a roguelike because when you die you only get a slight penalty on the gold that you’ve earned inside the level. It is heavy combat focussed with little to no story to follow up on your journey throughout the game. The main goal of this game is to complete each chapter or stage of the game and defeat the massive dragon boss at the end. So in fewer words, it is a grind fest.
The game doesn’t have much to offer in terms of goals instead of killing the boss at the end and grinding your way throughout the chapters. Each chapter provides you with one main quest that usually has something to do with finding a way out of the area and progressing to the next. Besides the main quest, you also get the option to do secondary quests that will result in giving you chest or bonus gold before you progress to the next level.
In Diabolic you get showered with loot, almost literally. Sadly there isn’t much to say in terms of variety when we are talking about what you can find. Mostly it is ammunition, gold, health, and mana. The gold also scales up from one to five throughout the chapters.
With this gold, you can upgrade your talents. The talent tree or diagram you can access in the main menu is extremely basic and not much to write home about in our opinion. So, in short, the gold you earn can only be used to make your character stronger or more capable to handle its weapons. This game does not provide you with fancy new swords or weapons, because you don’t even have an inventory.
Conclusion
Diabolic is an attempt to create a fun and grindy game but fails in a lot of aspects. It lacks goals and proper loot where you really want to grind for. The art style has a lot of potential but is executed poorly and only certain details and designs pop out, making it quite sad for such a small game as Diabolic. While we can’t call the game a complete failure, it’s just bland and never truly motivates you to keep on playing. The game itself isn’t the hardest to plow through, but you will feel no sense of achievement when playing through the different chapters.
Diabolic - Review,
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