App Army Assemble: Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon - "Is this retro-inspired dungeon crawler a worthy entry in the series?"

Having spent some time as an Apple Arcade exclusive, Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon is now available on iOS and Android without any pesky subscription business to worry about. So, we figured it'd be a good time to hand it over to our App Army to see if they think it's worth picking up.

Here's what they thought:

A simple, maybe way too simple and repetitive (you can just smash attack over and over and you'll beat most enemies), dungeon crawler in the Oceanhorn universe. There's no connection with the previous two games, completely different gameplay-wise (way fewer puzzles, way more combat and smashing everything up for loot, also you'll have to switch between four heroes to solve puzzles and kill bosses), and it's completely different art-wise with pixel art that uses tiny sprites and scatters tiny details all over the scenery.

I had to play on my tablet because everything was way too small on the phone. No co-op options I could find (launching a new game only lets you pick the difficulty, no way to invite people to an already started game). To be fair, I think the Oceanhorn series went downhill over time. The first game was so fun I actually finished it, the second was okay (but became tiresome and I didn't finish it), and this one is just meh. I played for an hour, stopped, and I'll probably never pick it up again. Not recommended. But, hey, it's free with ads, so you can download and make up your own mind.

Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon is, as its name suggests, a dungeon crawler with retro graphics that makes it look like an RPG from the 16-bit era. You guide your party down stairs to levels in a quest to find a mythical device that will take you back in time to stop a calamity from happening.

The gameplay is more on the arcade side as you control one member of your party to smash open crates and kill monsters. You can switch on the fly between members of your party who have different weapons and skills. I did discover one bug on entering a level. I couldn’t move my character, but a restart solved that. The touch screen controls can also be a pain for characters with ranged weapons. Still, this is an excellent dungeon crawler and can even be played for free, while the VIP premium option removes ads.

With its beautiful pixel visuals and complete movement control, Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon allows you complete control over the characters on your portable device. Four characters with varying play styles cover the fundamental playstyles, such as long-range, short-range, heavy attacks, slow-moving, fast movement and light hitting.

Additionally, there are 12 perks and 8 star signs that allow you to get a single boost from each category, such as damage boost or immunity to traps, to make each run different. The game gives endless replayability as new modifications cause the dungeon to change randomly. Since it is free and offers the opportunity to upgrade to the premium version, it is definitely worth it. I'm having more fun with the casual (fighting, looting, exploring) aspect than the RPG(upgrade) component.

For the first few levels, I was very impressed by the level of detail and love that has gone into this game. The character animations, music, voice over, look and feel. But then, into the second or third level, it hit me that all I have to do, combat-wise, is spam attack. As far as I can tell, there isn’t another way to attack. Sure, you can pick up items. And upgrade your character, but another attack button or some combos would vary things up. The power attack aside. Which I think takes too much charge time.

You can change characters, but some only have forward-facing attacks, meaning you have to keep turning to face the enemy, which I don’t really like. Feels like you get overwhelmed when enemies attack from all sides. I prefer the sword swishing-style attacks. Random nitpicks aside. I wanted to give this 8/10, but maybe 7/10 is more appropriate. It pays homage to 16-bit games. But it is lacking something compared to them, which is a shame, as a lot of effort has gone into this. Your mileage may vary. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good game, but something is missing to make it truly great. Maybe my opinion will change after a longer time.

Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon is the third game in the series that takes a different approach this time around by going from a 3D perspective to a 16-bit retro action game, and I absolutely loved the time I had with it so far. The controls were great; I never reached for my controller out of frustration. Everything just worked very well, graphics, sound effects, music were really good and best yet, if you want to give it a try, it's free this time around, and for $3.99, it's well worth it to play this game with no ads.

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Oceanhorn is best described as a Zelda-like, and the latest iteration brought in three new characters you can play as: the Huntress (bow), Grand Master (spear), and Mage (magic ability), as well as your Link-like character (Knight), and each character has their advantages while playing the game. The only thing that threw me off while playing is that when your character levels up, you need to go to the character screen and select the next skill he/she is to learn in order to level up. If you don't do this, you could pass up the opportunity for that character to level up again (which I was guilty of). 

If you decide to run past the monsters in this game and just make it to the exit, it will have consequences for you later, by giving you even more and more monsters. To sum it up, I really love the direction they took on this game; it came as a surprise because I didn't know this was coming out. I've been a fan of this dev team and have played all of their previous entries in this series. But don't worry about missing out on a storyline; each game is a self-contained story, and this is a great jumping-on point, given that it has a different direction than the previous entries.

Even though there are no real ties to other Oceanhorn games, I loved this when it was on Apple Arcade, and I’m glad to have it available in the wider App Store. At its heart, this is a retro-styled roguelite dungeon crawler that takes you through multiple levels across multiple worlds. You’ll fight waves of enemies, sometimes hunting down keys, sometimes shooting arrows across gaps to trigger switches or open gates. Other times, you’ll get trapped in a room and must clear every foe to escape.

There are daily challenges, as well as local co-op for up to four players- though I’ve only played solo, so I can’t speak to how smooth the multiplayer experience feels. The game does include a story, but for me, its greatest strength is the short, procedurally generated dungeons and the four characters with different abilities. They level up as you progress through each world, though each new run resets them back to base. While there really isn’t much variation to the combat (other than different weapons and abilities), the sheer fun and short dungeons make this worth spending time on for me, and I wasted no time getting the paid version.

I also appreciate that you can adjust the difficulty. If you want a real test, crank it up; if you prefer a casual run, you can make it easier. I’ve played with both a touchscreen and a Backbone controller, and actually found the touchscreen more intuitive. Your results may vary. Try out the free version, but I’m happily recommending the full version. The game is easily worth it.

First of all, aside from certain aesthetics, I don't see how this game relates to the Oceanhorn franchise. Secondly, although it's your standard run-of-the-mill rogue-like dungeon crawler with the typical "retro" graphics, it's kind of fun. Simple controls, doesn't get any more basic than slash and dash. 

Graphically, it's inferior to the previous Oceanhorn games, but it doesn't look bad. Multiplayer is where it shines - playing local co-op is fun due to the frantic nature. Just wish there was more to it than hack and slash everything. Not bad for a quick subway ride, but there's not much more to do than kill nameless generic enemies.

Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon, a spin-off Oceanhorn series, is a dungeon crawler with a charming 16-bit aesthetic. There are four heroes, Knight, Huntress, Grandmaster, and Mage, for you to control and navigate procedurally generated dungeons.
The special attack is used by holding the attack button for a while. The minimal story and nameless characters lack engagement.

You can just run past all the monsters to the exit. Ignoring the monster will increase the risk level. Huntress has immunity to spike and fire trap at a certain skill level. You can actually make use of the trap to halt enemies since you would not be affected by the traps.

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Grandmaster has the ability to 1-hit kill basic monsters when the risk level reaches 100. This allows you to basically ignore all the monsters and get to the boss when both the huntress and grandmaster are level 6. So, the risk level actually doesn’t matter much. The ivory tome allows you to revive, so you can keep using the strongest characters.

There are hero totems in the chest that allow transformation into another character, which basically gives you another life. One of the bosses, The Great Chronicler, has teleportation abilities. He just teleports to the 4 corners and the middle of the map. So, you can just wait for him to teleport back to the middle and attack him.

Combat is action-packed but simplistic, relying on basic attacks and limited-use magical items, with boss fights adding slight strategic depth. To complete this game to 100% is a little bit tricky; some of the legendary weapons in the Nexus are hidden pretty well.

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Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon