Is Dwerve: Prologue a good game to play on Windows? Yeap. Super Good, if you played with a joystick controller*.
* The author of this post only played this game with a joystick controller, and really enjoyed the experience during the gameplay.
This article is in English.
TL;DR
Dwerve: Prologue is a demo game that I am really eager to recommend you to play if you have plenty of time to spend as a leisure time.
Notice
- This article aimed to review and spread the information about this game.
- There is no copyright infringement intended.
- Copyright toward images or videos or any kind of media used in this article goes to the owner, such as the developer or publisher.
- The author is not affiliated in any way with the developer, or publisher, or any other possibilities regarding this game. This article is purely a review from a gamer's perspective.
Introduction
I think I knew this game when I browsed an indie games website, entitled IndieXpo. As my aim at that time was to collect every game first, then play it later, I downloaded this game too as it seems fun to try. After playing this game yesterday, I'd like to upload the gameplay and post a review of this game as soon as possible, as it's such a gem to be missed. Anyway, prior to read the review below, you could watch the trailer to the game here:
Game Details
Specification
This information is acquired/cited from it's official website1, the officially released press kit2, it's page on IndieXpo3, it's page on Steam4, and from my own understanding5.
| Developer | Half Human Games |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Half Human Games4, Electronic Sheep Games4. |
| Released On | 03 September 20214, 13 September 20213. |
| Platform | Steam (Windows, macOS, SteamOS + Linux)4, Nintendo Switch2. |
| Genre | RPG3,4, Action4, Adventure4, Indie4, Strategy4. |
| Required Specifications (for Windows)4 |
|
| Game Size | 1.1 GB3 (downloadable for free through Google Drive, includes all three PC OS, packed into this one zip file); or 1.47 GB4 (Windows), downloaded directly through Steam desktop application. |
| Available Language on Game |
|
| Price | FREE~~~~ 🎊🎉🙌🏻. |
| Player | Single player. |
| Connection | I don't think this game needs an internet connection to play5. |
Features, Mode, Area, Quests
Features
Based on it's official website1, this game offered six main features:
- Fight with Turrets and Traps.
- Upgrade your Arsenal.
- Discover Powerful Artifacts.
- Explore Ancient Dungeons.
- Story-Based Campaign.
- Complete Daring Quests.
Also please take note that the above features are written based on the official website1. Even though this version looks like "a demo", which aims mainly to introduce potential gamers to the game, most of these features are available on the game already, which also means that the demo is successful enough.
Modes
The only mode available is "Story Mode", I think5. After you click "Play", there are no other options on the Main Menu.
Areas + Quests + Enemies + Boss
Based on my gameplay5, there are nine (9) areas in the game, and nineteen (19) main quests, with some having mini-quests to do, then one (1) main boss. Please remember that this is based on my gameplay, and it's an unfinished one as I gave up on defeating the main boss in this stage. Here are more details:
| Areas |
|
|---|---|
| Quests (and Mini Quests) |
|
| Enemies |
|
| Main Boss | Grombil. |
My Review
Played On
Played on Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 AMD Ryzen 5 4500U. Joystick used was the Gamesir T4 Pro.
Game Play
Upon playing, you (at least, me) probably gonna get reminded of two games, which are Garden Defense (released in 2007), and Stardew Valley (released in 2016). Garden Defense revolves around a main theme, where we need to defend plants in our garden, by placing some zombie-monster-ish creatures that will shoot insects-bugs-like-enemies. As for Stardew Valley, this game kinda resembles some aspects in Stardew Valley, especially those trees and landscapes. But it's probably due to both being pixel(ated) games.
In this game, we will play as Dwerve, a blue furry haired (?) dwarf, accompanied by a pet named Aerie. As I played, I saw no function of Aerie aside from friends (side character) to talk to.
Anyway, the gameplay is actually simple, even though sometimes a bit confusing if you didn't remember your joystick controller buttons from time to time. You only need to move, then place some traps or turrets to kill the enemies that will swarm you in each area. Then at the same time, you need to collect some items such as blood/power (shown as erlenmeyer flask with red liquid inside), armors, stone powers, keys, chests, and coins.
Also as the tutorial in the early stage is bare minimum, you're probably gonna end up like me who's trying to understand the game flow as you play the game. Like me, I spent probably around 30-min-ish in the early game to understand what strategy do I need to do or why is this button working and such. But it's no biggie.
As I have deleted the game file from my PC, there are some questions that I have right now in my mind as I write this post.
- What is the purpose of the blue bar above the red bar on the right-bottom corner? I knew that the red one showed us our power/blood. But the blue one? Or probably this is for dashing...?
- If I decided to quit the game in the middle of playing, do I need to re-do everything again from the beginning, or can I continue? I didn't see any "Save/Load" option in any menu, so I wonder...
Anyway, I have recorded myself playing this game for two hours. This also makes it the longest recorded game I have played and it's full from beginning to the end (at least one main boss). In total, all of the recording files (videos, audios, and such) reached 85~90 GB, and the final edited video reached ~9 GB, which is the biggest one till today. I'm still not sure whether I will backup this to the cloud or not as it's really huge...
As I played the game, I reacted by speaking in various languages, mostly English, sometimes Indonesian and Minangkabau, and sometimes Korean. Please bear with my audio as I used a smartphone microphone only... Also... I am not sure if this is correct, but as this is a demo, I think that the main boss shown here probably is the last one. But I am not that sure as I couldn't defeat him..........
As I watched and edited the footage, I realised that my confused feeling in the early part of the game was correct. The early dialogue was kinda... misplaced. There were some dialogues that were supposed to be said by Arik (Dwerve's Father) or Esben (Dwerve's Grandpa), but were placed as if Dwerve is the one who said it. But it's not a biggie, tho...
Pros
Small Requirements and Size
The game doesn't require you to have a high-end PC to play, as the requirements start from Windows 7, which means it is suitable for old PCs too. Other specs in the requirements also showed it could be played on a low-end type of PC, so it's gonna be suitable to be played on a wide range of PC.
Well-Designed
Everything is just... so good. Music? Good. Sound effect? Good. Visual? Good. Dialogues shown on screen? Good. I couldn't see any bad things that they showed in the game as I played. It's just good, good, and good.
Story-Rich
This game is rich with it's own story, but at the same time doesn't bore us as a gamer. The more something unveils, the more it addicts us, and each also has its own important continuation, which makes it fun to stay.
Clear Quests and Aims
This one... Some games that I played usually couldn't convey their objectives/quests/aims clearly, which makes it hard to keep playing. But Dwerve: Prologue could convey everything clearly. The quests are shown on top-right corners, and there are brief aims shown there. Even though there are no special hints or clues pages/books available, Aerie, and other characters will explain each item available throughout the story.
Cons
Much Turrets = Confusion
This probably just me, but I find it quite hard as I encounter more and more turrets. I don't know if it's due to me still not remembering each button on my controller precisely, or if it's really confusing on its own. There are a lot of instances where I wrongly placed out turrets that I actually wanted, which ended up at me being easily attacked by the enemies.
Placing Turrets
As for this one, I don't know if it's me who finds it hard to do... But it's not that easy to place Turrets, where I wanted. There are a few instances where I wanted to place the turret in front of me, it was placed beside me. But as I keep progressing, everything is good.
Main Boss is Super Hard to Defeat 😢😭
Ha for this one............ I despised this one so much.... 😠😡
Like... I understand, if I lose due to my own competence, but as for this one... I spent more than 30 minutes, only to defeat this main boss. It's... I don't know, probably incomparable? Like the main boss has a lot of things to defend. Thorns, Shrublins, it's own bullets, it's hands, and even blood/power that is possibly three times more than mine. 😢
I mean... if it's possible for me to get additional blood or power in this stage, or probably able to acquire armors to defend my power, probably it's defeatable... But I can't... 😭 I decided to give up at this stage and not play anymore 😢 I am tired of keep losing and losing... Life has been hard, and I don't need that too when I play a game you know... 😢
Closing
To conclude, I think...
Dwerve: Prologue is a really good game that is hard to miss. It's such a gem to miss, and if you have plenty of time to play this game (trust me, it's addicting), then I'd really like to recommend this one. Aside from the "Save/Load'' option that I still don't know if it's possible or not, and that main boss that is super hard to defeat, this game is really good on it's own, and it's definitely successful as a demo, prior to it's full version.
So, my rating for this game is...
As I believe this is a demo version of a full version that will be released this first quarter of 2022, I am probably gonna buy the full one, if it's suitable with my budget. The demo itself is just really good and successful in attracting me to keep playing, even if it's just a demo. Probably it's gonna be good too, if it's possible to import/export your game progress from Demo to Full version once it's released.
Thank you for reading this post, and see you on another one :)