First Dwarf, an action RPG with tower defense elements, is on the way from developer Star Drifters. The game will have you take control of a dwarf who can control a mech and his small sidekick dragon.

I got to go hands-on with the demo at PAX West and get a feel for what the game is like.

During my time playing the tutorial, I built a base, destroyed enemy nests, and eventually jumped my way to the next floating island in the game. The base building involved me gathering resources until I could eventually build facilities to gather the resources for me over time. These facilities were powered by pipes built out of energy resources which would connect all of my buildings.

Since my base would be periodically attacked I had to set up turrets to defend my structures when I wasn’t in the area. As for when I was in the area when the enemy attacked, the combat was almost satisfying.

Swinging on an enemy brings up a meter on your screen that lets you know when you should swing again. Missing this timing results in the mech pausing his swing and opening you up for attack. I sometimes found a slight delay in my actions which would cause me to spam an attack, only for it to then count twice and mess up the combo. Hopefully, this will all be ironed out by the full release.

Sound design is another aspect of the game that could use some work. I found myself swinging a pickaxe into a cave and watching it collapse in on itself only to hear the small sound of metal clanking against stone.

First Dwarf takes place in the same universe as Star Drifters previous game, Driftland. The only similarity between the two is the setting, the floating islands.

Corruption is spreading through the floating islands and it’s up to you to build settlements on each of the islands. You’ll also find out what happened to the world below you and what happened to a previous expedition led by your father.

First Dwarf is scheduled to be released on Steam next year and you can find out more about upcoming playtests on the First Dwarf discord.



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Kelton Burns is a freelance games reporter and recently graduated with his degree in Journalism. You can find him talking about the latest gaming news on his podcast Press Why or reach him on Twitter at @KeltonBurns His favorite game is Alan Wake.

Posted: Sep 13, 2023 9:13 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YK6GD-h1ep9Bqln8KprEDHK5S0Y4MT55QPPQ108UYW4/edit