The Caravel DROD franchise has been in development for over a decade and is beloved by thousands of players across the world. DROD is a thinking man's dungeon crawl. Each room is a unique, hand-crafted puzzle that you solve by clearing out all the monsters. Game mechanics are turn-based, and by making moves as fast or as slow as you like, you can experience the action and solve puzzles at your own pace. This game is designed as an entry-level offering to the DROD world, with both new players and veterans in mind. The level layout is designed to be more forgiving, with multiple hub areas to explore. The game starts easy, has a smooth learning curve and an integrated online hints system. If DROD has seemed too difficult for you to get far into, then you should be pleased by the design that went into this game, making for a delightful blend of fun and challenge. The game features all-new puzzle elements and enhanced level crafting abilities that add more depth to the previous offerings.
Great puzzle solving with an interesting and funny story and characters. Well designed levels and the ability to stop and think about your next move makes this a highly recommended game.
Simply the best logic/puzzle adventure game series I have ever played.
DROD - Gunthro and the Epic Blunder is a very good evolution of a true classic of puzzle gaming. The fantastic gameplay is complemented with a very solid script, and the difficulty of the puzzles is well managed, from a very gentle begining to a really difficult point that makes the game very addictive as all of its predecesors. I'm an early adopter of the DROD games, and DROD - Journey to the Rooted Hold (highly recomended) was my very first online purchased game, being Eric and his team (and bunch of loyal fans), notably in the very active Caravel forum, a nice and dedicated group of gamers.
Fantastic puzzle game, and very successful introduction to DROD.
There's a cute trailer for the game, but I'd ignore it - find a pure gameplay video or better yet play a few levels from the free flash version to get a better idea of what this game is like: a sometimes brain-bending turn-based puzzle game with an adventure theme.
What's really nice here is that it's not just screen after screen of puzzles, but there is some story interjected and a handful of optional/hidden/significantly more difficult levels sprinkled throught the game.
The game, while graphically just decent, has amazing endless gameplay with the amount of holds that are avaiable. This game blows your mind in terms of how some puzzles can be built.
Simply an amazing puzzle game.
This is a fantastic game, in my humble opinion. If you like puzzle games at all -- or even if you have never tried one -- you should at least try out this game. It is definitely extremely unique, especially when it comes to elements like tarstuff and briar (which were not included in the main hold, but can be found in many of the user-made holds), and even the humble roach has properties that have yet to be fully discovered and exploited.
So I think it compares very well against other puzzles games. Now, how does it compare to the previous classic DROD games? Well, that is a little harder to answer.
KDD has the advantage of innovation, originality (being the first game), and being the standard upon which many other holds since have been based upon. JtRH has the advantage of excellent puzzles, amazing graphics, amazing music, and a generally much smoother experience than KDD. TCB has the advantage of plenty of elements and element interactions, very satisfying puzzles, an incredibly intriguing story, and better level interaction (I like my level non-linear, but this is just me).
And yet, GatEB is my favorite game in the classic DROD series. I found its puzzles were thought-provoking without being brain-busting, its media (graphics, music, and presentation) was far superior, and it had a storytelling aspect that, to me, filled a void in DROD that I never knew it had but I am very happy it no longer has.
So, yes, I think this is a fantastic game, but it was also built on a fantastic base. This game might be my favorite, but I challenge you to make your own conclusions. Until then, happy smiting.
I love this game.