Microgue Review

Microgue is a bite-sized roguelike that has players attempting to make their way up 10 floors of a castle. There are just a few rules and enemies, but all of them play off of each other in interesting ways that ultimatelly allow the game to strike a great balance between depth and accessibility.

In each level players have a basic, grid-like floorplan that they can move their character around on. The goal of these floors is not to thwart all of the enemies or try to get loot. Rather, the game is about movement and trying to get up to the next floor without dying. Accomplishing this goal is harder than it sounds though - especially condsidering there are monsters that can turn players to stone from across the room, teleporting ninjas, and more that can make one false move result in death.

The great thing about Microgue is that each playthrough is different as a result of randomized levels, though players improve their ability to make progress by learning how to manipulate enemies and the environment to their advantage. This makes Microgue satisfying as a result of learning rather than a game about accumulating experience or gear.

Because of this some might see Microgue as overly simple, but that's not a bad thing. In fact, the things that make Microgue fun are due to its distilled nature - not in spite of it.