HIGH An extremely satisfying gameplay loop.

LOW It’s not very obvious on how to “win” a run.

WTF Body horror… in my roguelite?

We’ve done it, folks. We’ve made a slot-machine roguelite. I think we can pack it up for the rest of time because we’ve made the single most addicting videogame known to man.

In all honesty, CloverPit somehow works as a videogame on a level that I didn’t know was possible. Instead of sticking to a source material’s roots and then adding endless customization like poker in Balatro, or weaving in story to build a larger world as seen in Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers, CloverPit takes slot machines in a more horrifying direction.

Here, the player is trapped in the “CloverPit,” a 5×5 box of a room with a slot machine, a coin depository, an item shop, and not much else. It’s here where the player must play a slot machine and deposit enough coins by each deadline, or else risk the floor opening up and falling to their death. There are ways to rig the machine and items to save the player in times of distress, but ultimately, they’re at the mercy of Lady Luck.

So much of what makes a videogame great is atmosphere, but atmosphere isn’t limited to just music or the art direction. It’s ultimately a collection of small choices that make the experience enjoyable or memorable — sound effects, lighting, and small programming quirks. 

CloverPit has all of these and more. It’s filled with a kind of alchemy that I can barely explain in words, but it has that special sauce where every mechanic is designed to to keep people playing for as long as they can. Each set of spins sounds off with a garbled, electronic announcer saying “Let’s go gambling!” followed by satisfying sounds whenever the machine scores a pattern, and dissatisfying ones whenever they come up short. 

…But the horror is where CloverPit starts to get interesting.

See, the player is “promised” a way out of the pit if they score enough points on the slot machine – but that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Each time they pass a scoring threshold, they’re forced to play again but just reach a higher point total. Eventually, they’re asked to get enough points to unlock a key that seems like a way out, but…

These evil undertones are even more exaggerated by CloverPit‘s dark, hard polygonal art style – which actually did make me feel like I was trapped in a pit with no escape. I felt compelled to play the slots, not just to beat the game, but to get the hell out of the pit. 

Unlike similar roguelites such as Balatro, it’s not obvious how to build a winning run in CloverPit. A slot machine seems like the most luck-of-the-draw machine out there, but CloverPit teaches the player how to win through various trials by fire. Since each round is a gamble, the player had better capitalize on every opportunity by knowing what they want to get out of it.

Each round starts with a choice — spin three times and get two tickets to buy items, or spin seven times and only get one ticket. Rounds pass with more and more choices, where players need to balance keeping enough coins to pass a deadline against buying items that will ultimately increase that coin total. Sometimes a spin will produce enough coins to pass a deadline early, granting the player an extra bonus of coins and tickets to splurge in the item shop. Yet maybe passing that deadline early isn’t the best idea – maybe they want to keep spinning in order to to bank coins for future rounds if they find their winning strategy is petering out. 

This decision-making in CloverPit feels also more weighty than other roguelikes because of the chances that I would be stopped in my tracks due to bad luck. Many runs become dead-on-arrival if the player doesn’t get items that either increase the score from each successful spin, or items that rig the slot machine to make certain symbols appear more often — and don’t forget about the chance to spin a 666, which causes the player to lose all money earned in that round! 

…But when I put things together correctly, avoided the 666 and I did win – ooh boy, that was the best feeling ever.

I haven’t even scratched the surface of what the slot machine has to offer in terms of winning strategies or clever tricks, as there are countless items to unlock, game modifiers to equip, and just more to play. In a decade where certain titles toe the line between gambling and games, CloverPit performs that dance beautifully and produces an unforgettable roguelite experience as a result — it’s a delight, and one of the most delightfully frustrating things I’ve played this year. 

Score: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Panik Arcade and published by Future Friends Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PC. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is rated T for Teen on the ESRB. The game does have a small amount of gore and blood. Players must equip bloody human bones to get past certain portions of the game and there is blood lining the shelves within the cell the main character is trapped in.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game’s story is text-only but the subtitles cannot be resized. The game is not fully accessible. There are no audio cues needed for successful play.\

Remappable Controls: CloverPit is mouse and keyboard only, and there are a few different layouts for keyboards included beyond QWERTY. There are no remap options besides those.

The post CloverPit Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Weaving RPG mechanics into blackjack seamlessly.

LOW Too many specialty cards gets confusing.

WTF How many times can someone face the gambler?

If I had a nickel for every 2024 release that revolved around taking a popular card game and turning it into a roguelike, I’d have… two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

As a reviewer, I feel something of an obligation to compare the subject of this writeup to Balatro, the smash hit mashing up roguelikes and poker, but Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers manages to carve its own niche into the deckbuilder-slash-roguelike genre, and combining the addictive loop of blackjack with RPG elements made me wonder why didn’t someone make this sooner.

The entire scope of Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers takes place in a series of simulated taverns, clubs, and dungeons full of high-rollers and lowlifes alike. All of these characters — ranging between normal humans, monsters, animals, and ghastly spirits — are staring the player down, trying to take their hard-earned chips in multiple rounds of enchanted blackjack. Inspired by something like Dungeons & Dragons, every match with these goofy characters can take as long as it needs to, or be over in 30 seconds. Every room is both equally inviting and repulsive, begging the player to return for another round, but casting aside the idea that they belong there.

Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers starts the player out with simple rounds of blackjack– they’re dealt cards every turn, the max score is 21, and the closest to 21 without going over wins a hand. The twist that turns this into a roguelike is that it’s played 1v1 against an enemy AI, and every round is a battle to see who can knock the most hit points off of the other.

Each match starts the player with 100 hit points and a selection of enemies to play against. Once a confrontation begins, the amount of hit point damage dealt per hand is determined by the difference in scores between players. For example, if I decide to end my turn (stand) with a 20, and my opponent scores a 21, they win and that would be one hit point dealt to me. The catch is that if the player busts (goes over 21) then they are dealt damage equal to the full amount of the enemy’s score, as long as they themselves don’t bust.

It’s here where the rules become a bit confusing, and too much to go into in any great detail in this review. There are a plethora of bonus cards to choose from after each round, all with varying effects that require deciphering and experimentation to figure out how they work in practice — and that’s not even mentioning how they interact with the opponent cards. After a few hours I started to really understand the deeper mechanics, so like many roguelikes, people should expect to stumble a bit at first.

As with real blackjack it’s ultimately a battle of luck, but Dungeons isn’t an experience that requires only caution. The best moments happen when making a risky gamble and hitting 21, knocking an enemy flat on their back. However, playing too risky can come back to bite the player later. Drawing over 21 too many times often left me without any recourse, and would end a promising run early. Ultimately, Dungeons is about striking a balance between swinging big while taking a few hits along the way.

It’s not just about the cards, though. The design of the NPCs and the gambling dens where the players will spend their time is where the atmosphere of Dungeons shines. Every area has its own charm and a cast of characters with well-written quips. I started out in a simple tavern with gamblers, drunks, and somewhat misplaced characters like teachers, bards, and giant rats. Later, I was presented with a decision – continue into the upper echelons of high-rolling gambling clubs to reach heaven, or descend further into the dungeons of depravity towards hell. Both offer rewards and plenty of random pop culture references like any D&D campaign would.

Dungeons is playable for hours, but eventually the player will see an end in sight. It’s a true roguelike experience with no permanent progression between runs, but each time I learned a little more about playing, the various bosses between the upper and lower levels, and how to beat them. I learned how the special cards worked and what strategies worked for tough enemies. The player can reach the end with a final boss and see an ending featuring either heaven or hell levels, but there are countless unique events that can happen on each run, ensuring that no one set strategy will always work — yet with enough attempts, the player perseveres. 

While Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers may be tough to grasp at first, it doesn’t collapse under the weight of its mechanics. Every run is a unique adventure that surprised me more times than I thought possible, and it ends up a solid entry into the budding roguelike deckbuilder genre.

Rating: 7 out of 10

— Jack Dunn

Disclosures: The game was developed by Purple Moss Collectors and published by Yogscast Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 6 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB. Obviously, it revolves around blackjack and gambling. Some crude themes are mentioned, and there is a character smoking setting that can be turned off.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: The dialogue in the game is communicated through speech bubbles. The text for these speech bubbles cannot be resized.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: The dialogue in the game is communicated through visual speech bubbles. The text for these speech bubbles cannot be resized. No audio cues are required for successful gameplay.

Remappable controls: Controls are not remappable. The game uses a mouse.

The post Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

In this episode, Carlos & Brad cover:

Unicorn Overlord

Suika Game

Pepper Grinder (demo)

Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!

Sheepy

Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions

Smalland

Balatro

King Arthur: A Knight’s Tale

Sanabi

Pacific Drive

…And more!

You can also hear the show on iTunes and Spotify!

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to SoVideogamesPODCAST (at) gmail (dot) com, or post them in the comments section below. Thanks!

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