Shards of Stone

I've been playing a bit of the early-access indie title Stoneshard, and I find it reminds me a lot of games like Fatal Labyrinth and Torneko: The Last Hope.  Obviously, Stoneshard has expanded on the concepts pioneered in those games with the inclusion of an over world; sprinkled with points of interest (including dungeons!).  In other ways, the game has a somewhat limited scope when it comes to foes.  There are bandits, cultists and undead.  However, the more exotic enemies, such as trolls and gargoyles, are used sparingly.  Personally, I appreciate the restraint.  It helps avoid the kitchen-sink monster problem that many RPGs suffer from.

The simple pixel art is also quite nice, and occasionally wonderfully animated.  I can only hope that the upcoming Steam edition of Dwarf Fortress has a similar look.  In a lot of ways Stoneshard feels like more tightly focused take on Dwarf Fortress adventure mode.  

One other thing I want to mention about Stoneshard is the level of difficulty.  More specifically, this game is hard.  I think my poor little character died at least half-a-dozen times just trying to finish the tutorial.  The unique save system means that a non-trivial amount of progress is lost upon death as well.  It's not a forgiving game.  Leveling up only provides small incremental boosts to power.  Equipment upgrades make a bigger difference, but because of meters like hunger, thirst and pain, maintaining a relatively hardy and hail adventurer is a constant drain on one's finances.  Hence, saving up for better gear is a fairly laborious process.  The challenges of amassing wealth are exacerbated by limited inventory space.  It's possible to store items in a private chest in the inn, but the player's character can't carry a whole lot.  Realistic, I suppose, but I found myself constantly wishing I had a porter, pack mule or magic bag-of-holding.  More often than not, I was forced to leave all but the most valuable loot behind.  I suppose one could make supply runs every time their inventory filled up, but doing so would be tedious and kill a lot of the forward momentum of the game.  Having said all that, I hope I don't sound too harsh.  As a Sekiro/Souls/Borne series veteran the level of challenge isn't overwhelming, nor is Stoneshard ripping-off any of the other games I mentioned in relation to it.  If anything, this game feels like it is carving out a nice little niche for itself in the great wall of video games.  How good of a job it ultimately does though, has yet to be seen.  All the same, best of luck to the developers!