2026-2 - Dungeon Antiqua 2 - ★★★★★

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4005090/Dungeon_Antiqua_2/

★★★★★
Playtime: 11 hours

I rather enjoyed the first one, so I gladly picked up the sequel. It's good!

The first Dungeon Antiqua was blatantly Wizardry wearing a Final Fantasy t-shirt, down to silly minutiae like the character alignment system. This one is more of a hybrid, opting for something closer to console-style Final Fantasy games. I think this makes it a bit more accessible to people who'd look at Wizardry and brush it aside for being too stodgy or antiquated.

My recent forays into dungeon crawlers have taught me the appeal of having one (1) dungeon and becoming intimately familiar with its intricacies, and my favorite feature in the first game was reliant upon that setup. Thus, I was ambivalent at first over this game trading out the Single Multifloor Dungeon for a handful of smaller ones, moving closer to its FF stylings. Thankfully it makes some smart plays.

Nearly every dungeon has some kind of roadblock midway that encourages you to head back to town and take stock of the situation. This might be a locked door, or possibly a tough boss that'd be easier with special equipment. The cave floor with a bunch of flying monsters would certainly be easier if you had the Ancient Gloves that let you cast the Air Blades spell for free, so maybe it's time to go back to the castle and take that path. It's all quite charming and I didn't feel any tedium until the last hour or two of the game.

This game opts for a FFV-style job system where you can mix and match unlocked skills. This is probably easier to understand for the average person despite technically being more complex? Only the basic jobs are open at the start and more advanced ones are locked behind brief trial zones that help teach mechanics. For example, the Bishop's mini-dungeon is a "spells only" zone. That sounds tedious until you realize how little investment it takes to slap the first tier of spells onto any character, or that a freshly swapped Mage or Priest can innately cast even higher tier spells as long as you have the accompanying grimoire.

The first game's music opted for NES-style chiptunes, and the sequel's soundtrack accordingly makes the leap to using SNES sound fonts. I am a mere animal; those FF IV-V style tinny horns instantly hook into my brain and drag me back to simpler times.

It's really just good clean fun without any designs on being more than it is, and I find that respectable these days. Easily worth the asking price.