Flash Mob: The Enchanted Cave 2

With no warning whatsoever, I've decided to do a semi-regular cblog of any notable Flash games I find. These will vary in genre and length, but I'm hoping to keep the quality of reported games high. I am a regular player of Flash games, having played them since the early 2000s when the best you could find was stick figure ultraviolence. Don't worry guys, I've got this.

To break in this series, the first game we'll be looking at is The Enchanted Cave 2, sequel to The Enchanted Cave, a procedurally generated classic Roguelike. In these games, you delve into the titular enchanted cave, going floor by floor in search of valuable treasure, gems, and artifacts. A key component of these games is the "escape wing" which allows you to leave the dungeon with your money, gems, and any artifacts, but nothing else. While at first an odd mechanic, it becomes clear that knowing when to fold your cards and start over is incredibly important to making progress.

The first game, made as a small budget solo project by developer Dustin Auxier, received a fair amount of love and acclaim on Gamestop owned Flash website Kongregate, having a lifetime total of over three million plays, and over one hundred thousand ratings. Met with such a strong following, he launched a Kickstarter project for The Enchanted Cave 2 and began development in mid April of last year, finally releasing the completed product five days ago.

While the original Enchanted Cave was a rather simple and classic Roguelike, with minimal animations, and no world outside the cave, the sequel has added two small areas outside with a handful of NPCs which change as you progress the plot, and learn of the sinister nature behind the cave's creation. These NPCs aren't just for cosmetics, however, they can offer valuable advice and warn of some major dangers that rest deep into the cave.

There's an immediately noticeable increase to the quality of the sprite art and animations, as well as general UI changes to allow for more screen space to go to the game, and it's clear a lot of time and love was poured into this project by Auxier. The Enchanted Cave 2 goes to show that even a Flash game you play in your browser can be home to a work of passion. If you enjoy Roguelikes, I would highly recommend you check both games out over at http://www.kongregate.com/games/DustinAux

LOOK WHO CAME:

Chist   

Agent9   1

vinegargamer   1