TinkerHouse Games recently wowed people everywhere when they showcased a recent alpha build of their latest project, a mixture of dungeon crawling and rotating puzzle mechanics that they called Dwarven Delve. In the game players led a party of six dwarves through a perilous series of tunnels in an attempt to learn more about their past, and potentially discover a way to end the curse the looms over them all. However, the cavernous depths they plumb are a dangerous place and straight forward combat is not always the best of options if they wish to live long enough to recount their exploits.
To this end the adventuresome sextet must do what dwarves are best at: changing the very shape of their rocky surroundings in whatever way possible, all in order to maximize profits and minimize risks. Every level of the dungeon is comprised of hex-shaped tiles, each of which – assuming the dwarves are either occupying it, or in the adjacent segment – can freely be rotated at will. Doing so will be the only way to reach all of the valuable treasures, which can be used to upgrade your dwarves’ combat abilities, and also avoid the various traps and monsters littered about.
Players aren’t merely tasked with exclusively playing keep away from the enemies in Dwarven Delve, and can instead also use the very structure of the dungeon itself – and sometimes other monsters – in an attempt to eliminate their foes. A properly configured dungeon layout will force your opponents to march straight through all sorts of nasty hazards, greatly weakening – or possibly even killing – them in the process. On the flip side – as not all of your foes are the best of friends, per se – a well planned configuration can sometimes lead to your enemies colliding, afterwards fighting each other to death.
While there is only an early demo version available right now, TinkerHouse Games has said that – should their recently launched Kickstarter project succeed – that they plan to launch Dwarven Delve sometime in early 2014. So far the developers have raised nearly a third of their $30k funding minimum, and – with an entire 19 days still remaining – it currently looks like they definitely could go all the way. If you find TinkerHouse Game’s self-proclaimed Diablo meets Pipe Mania gameplay to be intriguing, then now is the time to chip in your $10 to ensure that nothing stops these dwarves from delving well beyond too deeply.