Steamband – an Angband variant
Now, I used to be partial to a quick blast of ADOM, and I’m led to believe that Angband and ADOM are very similar beasts – ASCII ‘graphics’ games of dungeon crawling and stat gaining. Much using of arrow keys to move your “@” character around a randomised ASCII text dungeon (while killing “r” rats and “M” mummies).
So imagine my surprise and cautious enthusiasm in finding Steamband! This time, you can choose your Steampunk character (I have a liking for ‘Female British Engineer’ characters – there are few games that will let me play one), kit out your character with top hat and shotgun, and boldly delve into a (text generated) dungeon to fight the bally monsters!
But alas – I was terrible at it. I remember ADOM being hard to get into – and so it is with Steamband. Character creation was simple enough, but when in the game I fumbled around, tried to buy a weapon, failed to work out how to equip it and went into the dungeon anyway. Got a few good hits into a couple of rats – but they ran away. Then, I was zapped into immobility by a sentinal. Death was swift thereafter.
I tried again – this time, I bought a weapon, equipped it and was just about to leave the shop doorway when an NPC called Baldric blocked my path, drooling on me. I couldn’t get past him, and died of hunger. *sighs*
Third try – I dodged any and all NPCs because I feared the evil Baldric (I died of HUNGER!!) and bought a great big sword off the black market. Equipped it and through stumbling through the FAQ worked out how to assign my skills (press “G”). Ah ha! Now – now I was ready for the dungeon! I descended the stairs – it seemed to be dark. I moved once and ZAP! I was immobile. From there, I could do nothing but watch my HP plummet like a popped balloon. I died.
But – it has potential. I fully expect that were I to give Steamband more of a chance, I could get the hang of it. I’m sure that people of stronger constitution than I would no doubt embrace Steamband – it would reward those who do with well described Victorian style clothing items, steam based automaton pets, fantastical magic devices and spells, characters from so many cultures (British, Indian, American, etc) as well as fictional races (Dwarves, Sealie Fae, Old Ones, etc). So to those who don’t mind ‘retro’ graphics, and can fight past the downright bewildering array of key presses and randomness – Steamband is still linked here. Good luck!