Fight The Dragon (3 Sprockets)

Fight The Dragon (3 Sprockets)

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Fight The Dragon Website

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2014 is going to be a big year for role playing games, with plenty of hotly anticipated titles on the horizon. The problem is who has time for all these in-depth role playing games? Sometimes it is nice to just jump in, hack and slash your way through a dungeon, and stuff your backpack with all the loot. Fight The Dragon is a game that promised to deliver that role playing quick fix, without the need to remember why the world is in danger and how you are going to save it.

Instead of the procedurally generated levels often favored by the genre, Fight The Dragon is built upon user generated content. The Adventure Construction Kit is already present and working in this Early Access version, and provides players with everything they need to construct their own levels. The game is designed to provide levels that take about ten to fifteen minutes to complete, with players that have more time able to tackle multiple levels.

The actual game, which can be played in single player, local co-op, and online, is a hack’n slash RPG that brings back fond memories of Gauntlet. You slay monsters, evade traps, collect loot, and level up while earning tickets to the “Dragon Arena.” Each ticket entitles you to have a go at a massive dragon with an obscene amount of health. You only get three “lives” per ticket, but fortunately the damage you do to the dragon is persistent, so each time you return with new tickets you can continue to chip away. The dragon has to be faced alone, so don’t expect your high level friends to come bail you out when things go south either.

Despite the Early Access status of the game we already had a lot of fun. There are two character classes, the fighter and Fire Lord, to choose from already and one more in active development. Your character can be male or female, and there are more character classes planned for the future. The Adventure Construction Kit is very intuitive, and sculpting the levels can be done without any technical knowledge. Everything from placing traps, enemies, NPCS and checkpoints can be done quickly. While testing out the construction kit, we threw together a level called “A Rude Awakening” so keep an eye out for it in the game.

3 Sprockets have promised new features such as ranged character weapons, a nifty loot shrine, new enemies, new loot as well as more content for the ACK. The developers are very active on the Steam forums and have already released an update, so we have faith that they will keep polishing Fight The Dragon up until the full release. It remains to be seen whether the quality and quantity of the user generated content will remain steady, but the initial offerings are quite interesting. As players get to grips with the ACK we also expect to see more elaborate levels and stories. Even as it is now, we can wholeheartedly recommend Fight The Dragon and look forward to seeing what else the game will have in store for players.

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