Yōdanji: The Roguelike 9+

This game offers a wealth of unique and interesting mechanics that differentiate it from other games of similar genres. I will note that it is very difficult, but that is a plus imo.

The UI is actually really nice, the tutorial is helpful in learning said UI, and the game has a unique atmosphere among the genre that I truly appreciate. I’ve played countless mobile roguelikes and this is unquestionably one of my favorites.

Every once in a while, I feel the old itch for Nethack or Dungeon Crawl. Unfortunately, nowadays I have much less time & energy to spend on such games... which makes a smaller and more portable (but no less difficult or charming) game like this absolutely perfect. Admittedly, my prior experience probably made it easier for me to pick up, but I still feel like this game explains itself very well. The controls are smooth, the mechanics intuitive, and the yokai theme and cute graphics are both very fun to look at.

My only complaint is actually the difficulty -- so far, I've had half my attempts end in starvation, UNLESS I'm lucky enough to find a Wood Omamori early. Perhaps I just need to fine-tune my strategy more, but it still feels like my run's success hinges on getting this random item. (I mean, not that I don't still die even with one, but at least it's not to "well I straight up haven't found enough food anywhere, time to lose HP every turn with no options to fix that before I perish.") It feels a bit imbalanced and frustrating, especially when the enemies are often difficult enough on their own!

Still, this is a really easy game to pick up and play during lunch breaks, as advertised, and I consider it to be $3 very well spent. Thanks, Kemco!

The game itself is pretty fun-- simple compared to other roguelikes I've played (there aren't many items, the creature stats are pretty easy to understand, etc.) but deceptively challenging. In terms of gameplay, it's not perfect: some of the creatures are pretty unbalanced compared to others, and some of the in-game explanations are lacking or worded in confusing ways (how exactly do Kōdama's abilities work? and what does it mean in Kannushi's arrow description that reflected arrows do triple the damage?), but it's still pretty enjoyable.

There is one particular bug that keeps frustrating me, though. It's happened 3 times now. At least 2 of the times, I was playing as Kyubi. When getting knocked back by Oni's Kanabo attack, I somehow got knocked slightly off the invisible grid the game uses and thus became unable to interact with any items on the ground, including the stairs (because I couldn't go in their squares), or attack "adjacent" enemies with the normal attack. (Strangely, the Aura Bullet still works.) Because it locked me out of progressing any further, I ended up having to abandon all of the runs, which was quite frustrating because I was doing really well up to that point.

So please fix that when you get a chance.