The Nightmare Cooperative

Developer: Lucky Frame
Publisher: Blazing Griffin
Release: 2014
Platform: PC
Genre: Roguelike

The Nightmare Cooperative is one of the rare cases of a modern game that could be labelled “retro-hard” for the right reason: it’s tough for longevity’s sake, just like old times. Rather than being a compliment that just speaks volumes about the (apparently) deliberate imbalance of the odds against the player, especially in a genre in which making the most of every run tends to be vital: enemies usually take more than one hit to die, don’t drop loot or lend XP and ultimately defeat the purpose of reaching for treasure chests altogether--opening one with 2 coins will bring an equivalent number of enemies to the playfield, and such meagre rewards are rarely worth the trouble. Even growing the party by enlisting soldiers along the way makes it harder, since manoeuvring a bunch of heroes sharing the same inputs within such a crowded 9x9 grid is a recipe for frustration.

Art direction overall ups the game a couple notches.

So, fittingly enough, the fact that it’s on the short side plays in favour of the game since it never reaches the point of overstaying its welcome. The clean, polished art style makes it for awakening the completionist in the player and raises the “one more play” factor--even if it’s just for unlocking yet another new character (with a particular playstyle and neat flavour description of their own) before calling it a day. The controls and scene flows are just as slick as the art and doesn’t hurt the experience a bit either.

The Nightmare Cooperative may not be the best “value” proposition for such a potential buyer--even if the Steam Trading Cards can mitigate that a good bit--but it’s a solid product, the result of an interesting enough premise that’s well-executed enough to be worth being checked out.

Dig Dog

Developer: Rusty Moyher, Matt Grimm
Publisher: Wild Rooster
Release: 2016
Platform: PC, Switch
Genre: Roguelike

True to the modern “I-understood-that-reference-pun-premise” trope, Dig Dog is still fun and competent while at it.

Just like with most rogue-lites out there it has its share of balancing issues, making descents raggier than desired: the 2-hit-death base stats coupled with meager invincibility frames rendering good runs prone to be smashed into pieces under some fickle RNG-god’s (dog’s?) paws, for instance; or getting a favorable “supply x demand” seed (meaning a) finding shops with b) good items while c) having enough money to afford ‘em) being rarer than digging random gold down the way; or procedural level design being cruelly nasty at times; and so on.

None of those are game breaking though; but one structural design decision hurts the experience on a… deeper level. Unfortunately mapping all main actions (jumping, digging, dashing) to the same button makes the controls feel clumsy instead of elegant as intended, and may pile a couple extra frustrating deaths to the ever-growing counter.

Digging all night along.

Despite all that, a player will most likely jump back right away without batting an eye--a testament to the game’s compelling and accessible “one more try” factor.