A hearty recommend--there's a lot of trash in the co-op survival genre on steam (many half-finished abandonware) and this game bucks the trend. The graphics belie the attention paid by the devs. I think this game is worth it at 15 bucks, nonetheless 10.

If you can convince one of your friends to play with you, it'll be that much more enjoyable--many of the less optimal classes shine when given a bit of support.

It's true permadeath, though--don't go into early runs expecting to benefit future runs in any way--your only true resource is knowledge.

I recommend this game because it's pretty unique.

Multiplayer first person randomized rougelike crawler with traps, puzzles, and a hunger mechanic that makes time a resource.

Its not the greatest quality game, and its sometimes buggy.

But if you can get a couple copies on sale you can have hours of fun with friends.

I love this game. Now that it's open-source, I love everything about it. I grew up playing Rogue on remote BSD systems when I was around age 4 and I haven't stopped playing that & Nethack & others like it. This is the first successful & by-far coolest first person implementation of a truely rogue-like dungeon crawler. It was a hell of a year for me, liking this game so much but (as a member of FSF & advocate for GNU) not really being able to wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone I know. Now I can make every single person who beats me at Netris buy Barony and shift the frustration to their end, muhawhaw! This is my favorite new game in a long time and I can't imagine it coming out of my friends-multiplayer-game-night rotation anytime in the foreseeable future.

Incredibly fun first person roguelike. Played it with friends in coop and will continue to do so. Worth every cent. Two thumbs up!

Why is this game so fun? I've got no ♥♥♥♥ing clue. This game is the best time killer in the world. First night I got it I stayed up until four in the morning playing it with a couple of my friends. Great game, play with friends.

Is fun, is pain.

10/10 played through 5 floors then died to a skeleton. 2 Floors in and die to giant OP scrublord. Would buy again, if you are playing with people.

LOTS OF TEXT, SERIOUS REVIEW -- NO '10/10' JOKES HERE

Let me begin with this review that it being very cheap (only $7!) feels like I'm pirating the game, when you compare the quality to the price. I would pay $20 for this game and still get the same out of it, though if you want to pick up copies for friends (trust me when I say you'll want to after you get a taste) or if you're simply a cheapskate, and the below text appeals to you, you would be making a mistake not to buy this game.


This is easily the best game purchase I've ever made, and I don't regret buying it for around four other people within my first few hours of playing.

Like games such as Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Dwarf Fortress, and other roguelikes, though especially NetHack (which is renowned as the grandfather of every roguelike and video game RPG that exist), this game will eat you, chew you, spit you out, set you on fire, and then stomp on you; and that's on a good day, and usually only if you're playing with friends.
But like games such as Quake, DOOM, and other classic first person shooters, the controls are easy enough to get used to, while not compromising complexity or challenge.

Roguelikes tend to be represented by tileset based graphics like a board game, or letters/numbers/other characters to represent things in the game world. They're also turn based, and typically never multiplayer due to the turn based gameplay.

Barony violates these 'rules of the roguelike' with the following:

- can be played with up to 4 people (extremely important)
- a three-dimensional voxel graphic system (3D pixel-ish, but is still very aesthetically pleasing, and actually feels nostalgic with a 90s feel unlike your average game that uses pixel art graphics for no good reason)
- a first person perspective (as opposed to a board game look where you see everything from above)
- real time gameplay (roguelikes are usually always turn based)

There are probably other important roguelike rules I'm missing, yet, despite these changes, this game is the purest example (besides NetHack itself) of what a roguelike is, and is largely directly inspired by NetHack (not the same story, but definitely the same spiritually). These are not criticisms. The fact that Barony can manage these changes while still feeling like a true roguelike every step of the way is what proves it to be as good as I'm making it out to be. (in fact, these changes make the game easier for people to pick up and get into, but that's just my opinion)


In terms of what a classic dungeon crawling roguelike should have, Barony excels in such:

- death is permanent
- extremely hard and unforgiving
- extremely fun overall (in terms of actual fun, and Dwarf Fortress 'Losing is Fun!' fun)
- cryptic and doesn't make anything obvious (while every bottle of swirly orange liquid will do the same thing, it won't tell you what it does unless the effect itself is obvious, like invisibility -- only if you identified it through appraisal or a scroll of identify will it tell you what it does before you drink it)
- many levels, with randomized layouts that change every time
- is NOT simple, even though it looks like it is (you normally wouldn't expect eating too much to be a problem, until your character vomits and suddenly you're starving to death because your stomach is empty)
- lets you learn from your dying experiences so you know not to make the same mistakes -- this is very important, as death is a learning experience as opposed to you simply not being good enough or bad luck
- also is likely to make your death hilarious as opposed to frustrating
- near death experiences are also very fun (don't believe me? you will after you escape a minotaur)
- many different ways to play
- many secrets
- a lot more that i'm forgetting

In addition, Barony's co-op play is not only extremely fun, but somehow turns the death of every party member except you from horribly frustrating to uncontrollable laughter at the circumstances through which your friends died. It somewhat violates the permadeath rule in that the party heading to the next level respawns who died, but this is offset by the fact that you may not be able to carry all of the equipment that your friends had to return it, and that your chance of surviving long enough to get to the next level to revive them is as low as their chance not to die first was.

My only complaint is that even though I haven't beaten it as of the time of writing this review, and probably won't for a very long time, there doesn't seem to be that much content in comparison to NetHack as far as levels go (from my understanding of the game's insides, the shortest a game can be is 20 levels), and there could be more tiers of equipment beyond wooden/bronze/iron/steel (correct me if i'm wrong).

Condensed, here's what I think of the various aspects:

Graphics - 8/10 (this is probably because i'm biased toward old school voxel graphics, but if Minecraft is pleasing to your eye, Barony will be something your eyes will savor)
Sound - 7/10 (could be more realistic, but the sound effects do easily match the graphics, which are old school)
Music - 9/10 (very fitting, and very nostalgic)
Gameplay - 10/10 (see everything I wrote above)

As far as suggestions go, if the developers or anyone influential on the game's direction can read this, I would suggest more equipment, more enemies and maybe more bosses (skeletons are cool and all, but i'd love to see more), more levels, pretty much more everything if there's no plans to already. NetHack had an absolutely overwhelming number of enemies, items such as wands, weapons, potions (which were randomly generated in every playthrough! I would recommend having a system such as that, akin to Binding of Isaac's randomly generated pill effects), etc. Of all those, my main request would be more enemies. As a nice addition, perhaps sliders or difficulty/'complication' levels would be a good idea to either new or hardcore players, as too much can easily overwhelm a person (which NetHack does with no problem) and spoil their experience -- though balanced in such a way that it still remains true to it's roguelike roots.
All of this said however, the developers are already doing an amazing job, and the above are simple suggestions that I think, from my experiences of playing NetHack and other roguelikes, would greatly enhance the game. This may not reflect the vision of the developers.

Final Judgement - 10/10
If you like everything I wrote above, are tired of more casual games being too easy, want some more challenge, love NetHack and want something similar, love NetHack and want to play it with friends, or are just looking for the next RPG to sink your time into, get this game.

Or get this game anyway and see how many times you die in your first two hours. (My count: 43)

(also add me on Steam if you want someone to play this with!)

Do I recommend this game? Emphatically.

First there will be a general overview of the game, followed by a breakdown of its parts.

Barony is a game that honestly surprised me. I didn't actually want to get it at first, but was convinced by a friend. Don't let the graphics or negative reviews by people who have played for 10 minutes turn you off. This is a genuinely satisfying game with challenging but fair gameplay and simple RPG elements, such as unique equipment, rare encounters, and stats and skills that grow as you use them. Despite its simplistic nature, the game has surprising depth and replayability. A variety of classes all with unique starting equipment and playstyles, random dungeons and loot, so many ways to live or die, and secrets to top it all off, it is well worth the $7 you pay.

While there are some people who can't handle permadeath, the game plays in such a way that failure feels like an experience instead of a loss. If you have a good mindset and learn from your mistakes instead of blaming something else. It makes you want to play again to overcome a failure that was ultimately your own. You need to be careful to survive. Peek around every corner, and keep an eye out for traps. My best character, who'd found the legendary spear Gungnir, become an expert at magic, felled the minotaur, and was strong enough to move boulders, died to a spike trap that I was entirely aware of, I just turned too soon when passing it. If I'd been more careful, I might have beaten the game, as I was very well equipped at that point. The moral of the story is that you are never untouchable. This game doesn't cater to your power fantasies the way games like Skyrim do. You can't faceroll through it without ever dying. You are quite mortal, regardless of how lucky you get with gear. And I like that about the game. It's never *too* easy.

For some, this first part may be enough. But for people on the fence, we'll take a more in-depth look at the game and its features.

Settings: The game supports resolution up to 1920x1200, and other than a few simple features like blood and visual effects such as bobbing and shaking, the game doesn't have any real graphics settings. Both me and a friend have had issues with resolution. If you change the resolution to that of your monitor without selecting fullscreen, the game will glitch out and you'll have to reinstall it entirely. Additionally, using any command that begins with "/res" (such as "restart"), will make the screen go black, and I had to remove every file related to Barony and reinstall it to undo it. The only con with having to reinstall the game is losing your highscores, but luckily I'd taken screenshots. Other than that, I've had no issues. The game has crashed once in the entire time I've played.

Aesthetics: The graphics are simplistic, but have a certain oldschool charm. The screenshots don't really do it justice for how nice it can look despite its simplicity, and they can't convey the excitement you feel in exploring a new area. There's not much to say about the graphics. You can either appreciate the style or not.
Light plays a major role in the game. Torches, spells, and fires provide light to pierce the darkness of the dungeon, and some areas are especially dark, making these tools almost essential to proceed.
The overall ambience of the game is relatively grim, for the dungeon is dark and full of terrors, and the somber music accentuates this when not in combat. It's slow and suspenseful normally, but changes when you enter combat, and becomes frantic if you linger in any particular floor for too long, signalling the arrival of the minotaur. The music is nothing spectacular, but it fits the mood of the game well.

Gameplay: This is the most important part of any game, right? After watching a brief exposition drop that tells you about the town of Hamlet and its cursed mine containing the ghost of the tyrannical Baron Herx, you'll be met with a simplistic character creation screen. Male or female, check. Select one of 10 classes, each given a rating of how hard it supposedly is to play, and each with different equipment, some with spells, and each with its own unique batch of stats and skills, though at low level, no one will excel at anything, and anyone can learn any set of skills with training, so a starting class is an idea more than a formula you have to follow. After selecting your class, you can choose one of five basic appearances. It's a bit lacking, and all but one of the options comes with a beard for males, but it's acceptable. For games like this you don't want a super customized character anyway, because they'll die in a matter of minutes and be gone forever regardless. I do wish it had a white hair and purple eyes option, though. That's my favorite.

Equipment plays a much larger role than classes, I find. You have a selection of basic medieval weapons; swords, spears, axes, maces, halberds, bows, slings, crossbows, and staves (including magic staves with built in spells). Along with weapons comes a variety of armor and clothing, as well as accessories. Nothing special there, really. What matters are the ones that are enchanted, and these are what can make or break your run, as they can have incredible effects like invisibility, levitation, or even the ability to reflect spells. The only catch is that items are unidentified unless appraised, which is very slow and has a low rate of success unless you've trained your appraise skill, which you should. You can use unidentified items, but much of the equipment you find is cursed. Cursed items have a wide variety of negative effects from blinding, strangling, setting you on fire, and so on. And they can't be unequipped unless with a spell or by breaking them. This adds a unique dynamic to the game, in that enchanted items are borderline required to thrive in the dungeon, but at the same time, there is a great danger in equipping them, as they can easily put an end to even the greatest of heroes. It hearkens back to the oldschool D&D days, and it is found well appreciated by me.

The combat of the game is minimalistic. There are weapons, and you click to attack, hitting anything in front of you, even if it's a party member. Along with the basic weapons, there are spells. Powerful but costly, as they can quickly eat up your mana, leaving a magic focused character helpless. Cowardly, but effective, ranged combat and magic are the best ways to deal with enemies while avoiding damage. You can block, but it's not going to save you indefinitely. Should you take damage, there are healing items and you regain health over time, but linger on any floor too long, and you'll be beset by the minotaur, a colossal beast that will tear weak players to shreds, presumably to discourage waiting to regain health before proceeding to the next floor.

The overall goal of the game is to proceed through the floors of the mine without dying, and ultimately defeat the villain, Baron Herx. There is a bit of lore (yes, this game even has lore) that indicates that the Baron isn't the worst thing that lurks below the ruins of the town of Hamlet, however. A tome titled "The Adventurer Who Went To Hell" implies that you can do battle with the devil himself to earn a chance to "live as a God", and put a permanent end to the evils of the mine. Other books can be important too; some explain aspects of gameplay or the the setting of the game, while others are just for fun.

It's a game with surprising depth and replayability for what takes all of two minutes to install. If you enjoy a challenge and can accept permadeath, it's the game for you. There's the sting of loss that comes with every death, as every run is unique, but that's part of it, I think. All those special items, every ounce of luck that resulted in that one of a kind character in its one of a kind run. It's a special experience every time, not in spite of the loss, but because of it.

I originally refunded this game because of a single mechanic: the minotaur. I misunderstood it, it turns out, as he only shows up on floors where you were warned he will show up at the beginning. so I repurchased it, I am enjoying the game. if a disembodied voice warns you about a minotaur, get to the next floor immediately. I feel that is the most important thing to say.

Here is a list of things worth knowing.

Don't stand still near holes in the ceiling. Doing so means you are hit by a very strong trap, that will kill you.

Don't wear things without appraising it first, it might be cursed, which will make your armor class worse and make it easier for things damage you, which will kill you.

Don't leave your viewpoint pointed directly into a corner while reading, a skeleton makes no noise until it is in attacking you, which will kill you.

Don't eat food without appraising it first. It might be rotten or cursed, which will make you throw up and lose sustenance you already had in you, causing you to run out of food faster, which will kill you.

Don't attack things with an especially interesting name without being prepared. Spiders may be okay to fight at level one, Shelob will kill you.

Don't stand around just appraising everything to get the skill up, try to figure out based on in game context whether the item is likely to be good, just standing there appraising all the pig iron made skeleton weapons and shields wastes time and thus food, which will kill you.

Don't pick up every single thing you run across, if its heavy enough it will slow you down enough for that troll you ♥♥♥♥♥♥ off to get close. the troll will kill you.

Don't pick merchant unless you know the game at least fairly well, it will make identifying everything much easier, but fighting monsters harder. monsters will kill you.

Don't stand around when you hear a minotaur is coming. It will kill you.

Don't get angry when you die on the first level to a named boss, in fact don't get mad at video games. This will increase your stress, and that really WILL kill you!

Be safe in there~