Tangledeep

Tangledeep is a turn-based roguelike video game developed and published by Impact Gameworks, a small studio founded by the composer Andrew Aversa. A roguelike is a role-playing game in which the player explores levels that are generated anew each time, and in which death traditionally means starting over. Tangledeep pairs that structure with the look and sound of console role-playing games from the 16-bit era, such as Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger.^[1:1] The player sets out from an underground village and climbs through Tangledeep, a labyrinth that changes every time it is entered, toward a surface world that no one living remembers.^[2:1]

The game was partly funded through Kickstarter, where 1,211 backers pledged $32,157.^[3:1] It was released for Windows, Mac and Linux on February 1, 2018, after six months in early access, a period in which players can buy and play an unfinished game while it is still being developed.^[4:1] Versions for the Nintendo Switch followed on January 31, 2019, and for the PlayStation 4 on July 24, 2023.^[2:2] Two expansions, Legend of Shara and Dawn of Dragons, were released in 2019. Critics generally recommended the game, while several warned that its many interlocking systems could overwhelm newcomers.^[5:1][6:1]

Gameplay

Setting and goal

For hundreds of years, the people of Tangledeep's world have lived in underground settlements. The only route to the surface runs through Tangledeep itself, and the surface has long since passed out of memory. The player's goal is to climb through the labyrinth, floor by floor, and find out what lies above.^[2:1] The game mixes floors that are procedurally generated, meaning assembled by the computer from rules each time, with maps designed by hand.^[7:1]

Turns and combat

The game is played on a grid, and time moves only when the player acts: each step, attack or use of an ability is one turn, after which the monsters take theirs. This works much like a board game, and it lets the player stop and plan before every move. Even changing equipment costs a turn.^[8:1]

Characters are built from jobs, the game's name for character classes. The released game has 12 jobs and more than 100 skills.^[7:1] Skills learned in one job can be kept after switching to another, so a character can combine abilities from several jobs; PC Gamer described the result as mixing and matching 12 jobs.^[9]

Modes and death

In a traditional roguelike, a character who dies is gone for good, a rule called permadeath. Tangledeep lets the player choose how strictly that rule applies, through three modes:^[7:2]

More than 10 optional modifiers make the game easier, harder or stranger.^[7:1]

Other systems

Around the core of exploring and fighting, the game adds several systems that carry over between attempts. Players can capture nearly any monster and raise it as a pet in the Monster Corral, or breed monsters with one another. A bank and planted magic trees let some progress pass from one character to the next. Item Dreams are short, randomized dungeons the player enters through a piece of equipment in order to power it up.^[7:1]

Development

Origins

Before Tangledeep, Andrew Aversa was known as a remixer and composer of video game music under the name Zircon. He began the game in his spare time in 2016, with no plan or design document; it was his first game as lead designer and programmer.^[9:1] He had taken only a single programming course. Jim Shepard, the developer of Dungeonmans, whose music Aversa had composed, taught him the basics of Unity, the game engine Tangledeep is built in. Shepard later joined the project, first as a writer and then as a programmer.^[9:2]

Aversa does not draw, so he brought in artists. In fall 2016 Andrew Luers, a friend from the remix community OverClocked Remix, began contributing pixel art in exchange for a share of future royalties, and went on to draw all of the game's environments. Aversa paid a separate character artist out of his own pocket.^[9:3]

Crowdfunding and early access

In early 2017 Impact Gameworks decided to crowdfund the game and move to full-time development.^[9:4] The Kickstarter campaign launched on March 21, 2017, with a goal of $15,000.^[3:2][3:3] It passed that goal within its first week^[1:2] and closed with $32,157 from 1,211 backers.^[3:1]

Impact Gameworks then announced that the game would enter early access on Steam on July 19, 2017, for $14.99.^[10:1] At that point it had nine of a planned 12 jobs.^[8:1] The studio had originally aimed for a release late in 2017, but Aversa pushed the launch into 2018, mainly to avoid the crowded holiday release season.^[1][9:4] The full game was released on Steam and GOG.com on February 1, 2018.^[4:1][2:2]

The protagonist

The player character in the main game is always a woman. Some players complained about this on the Steam forums. Aversa said that drawing a full set of male sprites as well would have cost too much time and money, and that he found the objection illogical.^[9:5]

Music

Aversa composed most of the soundtrack himself.^[1:3] Three guest composers contributed tracks: Hiroki Kikuta, who scored Secret of Mana; Grant Kirkhope, known for GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie; and Norihiko Hibino, known for Metal Gear Solid 3 and Bayonetta.^[1:3][7:3] During the Kickstarter, the studio planned two versions of the soundtrack: one in the style of the Super Nintendo's sound chip, and one orchestral, with live-recorded instrumentalists.^[1:3]

Releases and expansions

Nintendo Switch

The Switch version was released on January 31, 2019, for $19.99.^[7:3] Impact Gameworks said it sold more copies in its first week than the Steam early access version had in about six months, enough to cover the cost of making the port. It gave no exact figures. Japan accounted for 33% of Switch sales.^[14:1]

Legend of Shara

Legend of Shara, the first full expansion, was released for PC on April 4, 2019. It adds a prequel story starring a new character, Shara, set before the story of the original protagonist, Mirai.^[11:1] Shara plays differently from Mirai: her story has no town, no job system and no experience levels, and she grows stronger by spending Job Points directly on her statistics. The expansion also adds a 13th job, the Calligrapher, who fights with two weapons and elemental scrolls. Other additions are standalone "Wanderer's Journeys" of 10 to 50 randomly generated floors, a level cap raised from 15 to 20, new monsters and an area to explore after finishing the game.^[11:2]

Dawn of Dragons

Dawn of Dragons, the second full expansion, followed in November 2019. It is aimed at experienced players and adds very powerful boss monsters, new weapon types, a crafting character, new monsters, new magical enhancements for equipment, and new art and music.^[12:1]

Switch update of 2020

The Switch version fell behind the PC version for more than a year. Aversa gave two reasons: partway through the port, the team had split the Switch version into a separate copy of the code, so every PC update had to be rewritten by hand; and each Switch patch had to pass Nintendo's approval process, which could take up to 30 days. For an update released in March 2020, the team merged the two codebases as far as it could.^[15:1]

That update brought both expansions to the Switch.^[13:1] Legend of Shara, which cost $8 on PC, was given to Switch owners for free, and Dawn of Dragons was sold for $5.^[16:1] Aversa said the free expansion was meant to give back to Switch players, who had paid $5 more for the port and had received updates later than PC players.^[15:2] By then, he said, the Switch version accounted for 50% of the game's revenue, up from 23% at the time of an earlier interview.^[15:3]

PlayStation 4

The PlayStation 4 version was released on July 24, 2023, for $19.99, with Legend of Shara included.^[2:2]

Reception

OpenCritic, a website that collects reviews from critics, lists a Top Critic Average of 78 out of 100 for Tangledeep, based on 13 reviews, with 100% of the critics recommending it.^[5:1]

Reviewers praised the game's depth and its presentation, and most of their reservations concerned how much it asks of the player. Dom Reseigh-Lincoln of Nintendo Life scored the Switch version 7 out of 10. He praised its combat, its range of jobs and its art in the style of the Super Nintendo, but found its many intertwined systems and dense help text overwhelming, and concluded that "this is an adventure designed almost exclusively for seasoned players."^[6:1] Neal Ronaghan of Nintendo World Report praised the art, the music, the amount of content and the adjustable difficulty. He criticized the Switch controls, however, writing that "the interface is extremely dense", and that controls designed for a PC fit the Switch's Joy-Con controllers poorly.^[17:1]

Wikidata: Q62748204