Zaga-33 9+

Zaga-33 is a brilliant and compelling stew of roguelike elements (complete with @ as the player character) with a dash of risk/reward.

Each level is randomly generated, complete with different enemy types. You'll find artifacts you can use to overcome or outsmart your enemies, but they are also randomised each game, so you'll never know which one heals you, or which one fires lasers, or which one explodes and destroys obstacles until you use them for the first time in each play through.

Enemies range from randomly moving peons to relentless hunting machines, and you need to use your built up knowledge of artifacts to defeat or evade them. Most of the time you'll want to evade, but many artifacts are powerful weapons or tools when used correctly, and you have a basic attack for desperate situations.

The meat of the gameplay is gauging whether or not to avoid conflict or to take risks to procure another artifact which may or may not be the perfect answer to a problem later down the track. It is impossible to do this gameplay justice in black and white. Take a chance and try it for yourself. Your first few games will likely be confusing or fruitless, but part of the game's charm is learning its nuances through failure. Together with 868-HACK, also from developer Michael Brough, this is one of the most replayable and intriguing games on the App Store.

This little game really is awesome :)

The movement controls stymied me on a few occasions, but otherwise this is a fun little game.