Nyctophobia: Eternal Purgatory Review
A never-ending ride through hell
In the epic poem , Dante had to battle his way through nine circles of hell. Apparently, nine isn’t enough for the team over at ZupperGames. “Their UK outfit recently released its first mobile game, the single-player , which pits players against monstrous creatures in a never-ending series of levels.”
You are placed on one end of a map and need to find the keys on each level to descend to the next. Simple enough, right? The only problem is you can’t see anything. Nyctophobia (to save you a Google search) is “a severe fear of the dark”, so the only way to find your way out of hell is to step into the unknown. A turn-based game, each move to an adjacent tile exposes the tiles immediately around the player. This feature leads to a surprisingly tense play-through; a number of times I’ve ended up face-to-face with Frankenstein-like creatures that leave me scrambling for treasure chests, keys or the exit.
You are given two bars, where red designates your health and blue your stamina. Mercifully, your health is replenished once you reach the exit of each level, but the same can’t be said for your stamina. As you tap your way from tile to tile your stamina depletes, an ever-present timer that counts down to your death. Treasure chests located across each map may offer a small boost to stamina, but sooner or later it will run out and your character will die. This is where the game really gets fun.
Whether you die in the simple hack and slash battles with enemies across the map or by running out of stamina searching for the exit, the game does not end there. When you die, you are given the option to “buy” one of three bags of equipment. Each one costs progressively more than the next, so if you want the good stuff you need to save up coins. The only way to gain this in-game currency is by killing enemies. There is no pay-to-win option at all in , which is commendable. The only way to get better stuff is to play the game.
So after you equip your new gear, you are placed back in the game against enemies that match your improved stats. From here, it’s back to the familiar tap-and-slash scurry through the map, looking for the keys and exit. Should you die again (and you will), nothing is lost. You can simply keep playing or upgrade your equipment with you saved up cash.
While it may seem like a never-ending game would get repetitive, has a surprising amount of replay value. You can earn extra coins from in-game challenges, like not healing at all on a map, or killing every enemy on a map. This turns into a bit of a puzzle game, with players having to decide if they should try their luck against the enemies or bolt for the exit. For just 99 cents, you get a literally an endless amount of game, with new enemies every few levels and seemingly randomly generated maps, each requiring a different approach.
I may not know who my character is or what I’m searching for as I do battle with the innumerable creatures from hell, but exciting challenges and unpredictable nature of the game make it one I find myself coming back to again and again. Dante may have eventually fought his way through hell and back, but I am not so lucky. Fortunately for me, there is plenty for me to do as I forever duke it out with the devil.
Supply Hardcoredroid
Nyctophobia: Eternal Purgatory Review - App Review 4U
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