action-roguelike dungeon-crawler
Playtime: 37.1 hours (35.1 hours past refund)
Price: $14.97 USD, £12.54 GBP (at time of review)
I paid: $1.99 USD
Let's just get this out of the way right at the start: I started playing Barony on the evening of the 1st of July - it's now the 12th, and I've played 37 hours of it. That's more than 3 hours a day, and it's been pretty consistent. I love this game.
Barony is a 3D pixel-based action-roguelike dungeon-crawler for 1 to 4 players. You choose a race and class (and gender, though it doesn't matter), then enter the dungeon. You're given some starting equipment, some bonuses to your stats and skills, and maybe some spells, and then you're off on your own. There is basically no meta-progression: the only thing is that the in-game wiki becomes more fleshed-out as you play, in a way that gives you agency without overwhelming you with information. As you unlock achievements, you earn lore points, which can be spent to research creatures, items and places you've encountered.
Overall, I'd describe the gameplay as a cross between Dungeons of Dredmor, Dungeons and Dragons and Skyrim, with a couple of elements reminiscent of other games, like Minecraft and even Talisman. There's a very D&D feel to how creating your character feels like filling out a character sheet; the same applies to things like how your ability to do certain things is a function of your proficiency in that skill as well as your points in the stat it corresponds to - appraising items in your inventory, for example, involves both your Lore skill and your Perception stat. But like Dungeons of Dredmor, there's quite a tongue-in-cheek feel to it, and like Skyrim, actually using your skills is an important element of the gameplay: your skills improve when you use them, and you also gain experience from skill increases.