Reaping the Dungeon is a turn-based, randomized dungeon crawler in the vein of Rogue and Hack.
Below the surface of Jupiter, a machine runs out of control and floods the underground tunnels with synthetic creatures. You must descend into the depths to find and destroy the machine. The adventure is split into a freeware episode of 15 levels titled The Weapon Recovery and the second episode The Machine, which contains 50 more levels and must be purchased.
The basic challenge is to explore each dungeon level and collect treasure while fighting enemy creatures in simple hit-vs.-hit fashion. Precious metals and gems can be sold in shops to buy better weapons and equipment; raw crystals gained from defeated enemies help improve your character’s abilities, such as damage ratio, sight range or performance speed. Through battles and careful exploration, your protagonist becomes increasingly more powerful and efficient.
All level layouts and contents are randomly created. Each level introduces one new creature and at least one new map element or item.
Reaping the Dungeon adds a number of original elements to the genre:
- The drop shaft that leads down to the next level relocates in random intervals. It must be found and tagged. Data chips scattered throughout the level reveal its current location;
- In addition to weapon/device energy and health, your character has an oxygen pool. Each step consumes oxygen, which makes uncoordinated running-around in the dungeon wasteful and potentially life-threatening;
- Energy, health and oxygen can be harvested from cell plants, which grow in a five-step life cycle. Good timing is essential to maximize the cell harvest;
- Reaping the Dungeon’s magic system is based on rare mushrooms that give special powers for several turns, such as improved sight range, perfect weapon proficiency, seed planting or the ability to walk through walls.
Reaping the Dungeon’s graphics consist entirely of customized 16-color ASCII characters. The sound is limited to PC Speaker noises.
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