Deadly Rooms of Death

Take one part Sokoban, stir in two parts Chip’s Challenge, and add just the tiniest dash of the old Unix game Robots (for flavor), and you have a concoction approximating Caravel Games’ flagship title, Deadly Rooms of Death, or DROD for short. DROD is a puzzle game where you assume the role of Beethro, a Smitemaster, who cleans out dungeons using nothing more than his sword and his wits.

The game is turn-based. On each turn, the player can do one of three things: move one step, rotate his sword a bit, or pass. The game’s puzzles involve either dungeon topography (for example, opening doors by hitting switches in sequence), or combat  (keeping your sword  between you and various harmul creatures).

At their easiest, the puzzles require you to do the obvious at your own pace. At their most vicious, the puzzles require you to carefully plan out every single step. At times, you need to  plan what square you will enter the room on, and in what direction your sword will be pointing as you enter. Some of the more interesting puzzles have multiple solutions, and taking one or the other may result in the game making an editorial comment.

DROD is a game with a bit of a history. One of the more interesting aspects is that it was released as open source in 2000. Since then, Caravel has made steady improvements to the graphics, music, and story line of the game. For the new player the best introduction is DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold, which involves Beethro searching for his trouble-making nephew, Halph.

The game is lighthearted, clever, and casual. You can put it down and pick it up again without feeling lost. It has a nice amount of polish and a dedicated fan base. Finish the game proper,  and you’ll be able to play fan-made levels.
One aspect of DROD that I found uncomfortable has to do with the pacing. The game is a pure puzzle game: there is no luck, no chance, no dexterity. How well you do in the game is entirely based on how well you think through problems. From a purely tactical viewpoint, you want to take your time and think things through. But the mise-en-scene is that of a dungeon crawl through a very large space. This encourages the player (or, at least, me) to try to zip through the empty parts of the game quickly. This creates a “hurry up and wait” sort of atmosphere. I’m not certain, however, how much of that is inherent in the game, and how much is simply due to my own personality flaws.

I enjoyed DROD for its quirky sense of humor, simple concept, and clever puzzle design. The game retails for a scant $19.95, and a demo can be downloaded from http://caravelgames.com for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

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