From the minds of Silent Dreams and Headup Games comes Grotesque Tactics 2: Dungeons and Donuts. Yes, you read that correctly. Unusual name aside, the title mixes classic dungeon-crawler game elements with a tried-and-true role-playing tactical combat system to create something truly interesting. So, grab a sword and get your one-liners ready. It’s time to do some dungeon crawling…with donuts.
The story starts off, as many adventures do, right as the main character sets out on an important errand. Grotesque Tactics 2 doesn’t waste any time jumping right into its quirky and comical style (which is very reminiscent of the Monkey Island series). With a mysterious malevolent fog covering the land and your band of heroes readying for an important meeting within some barricaded catacombs, you converse with the comically self-obsessed demigod named “Holy.” Here, the ridiculously self-centered character informs the player that they must make great haste to a nearby meeting place where they will speak with a powerful Elven leader. As a token of good will, Holy tells you that you must find an Elven item to bring with you to give as a gift; a peace offering of sorts. It would, of course, so happen that the only Elven item nearby is an Elven shield that is currently in the death grip of an Elf corpse. After comically wrestling the shield away from the body, the main character Drake sets out with a small band of heroes to meet with the Elves.
The player is quickly thrown into battle within the catacombs against the aptly named “blobs.” Here, the the player is given a small tutorial that covers the basics necessary to survive as the game progresses. While the concept of both the dungeon-crawling elements as well as the tactical combat may be familiar to many, there are some interesting concepts and tactics reasonably unique to Grotesque Tactics 2. Most notable is the ability to attack targets that are not only at 90 degrees angles from the character, but any square directly adjacent to them. This adds both to the attack range of the player’s heroes, but also their enemy’s; making combat feel less confined and more fluid than the standard RPG fare. Another small, but interesting feature is the ability to drink potions without using up a character’s turn. This is a truly welcome feature as some monsters hit quite hard and healing potions are often the player’s best friend.
As you may have already guessed, things do not go exactly as planned, and Drake awakens days later with the ironically titled, “Hero’s Amnesia,” only to be told he must save the entire kingdom. Now, before you say the concept is enormously cliche, this is actually where the beauty of this title truly lies. Nearly every character and mission in the game takes the vast number of cliches found in adventure games and embraces them in a tongue-and-cheek way that somehow makes them feel fresh and new. From the Smeagle-like goblin trader, to the whiny young orphan boy aptly named “Hope,” to the freakishly-peppy blonde female archer “Candy,” the game covers all the RPG story bases. Even the initial mission has you starting your own guild just so people will talk to you is a sly ribbing aimed at the world of MMOs.
This game doesn’t shy away from the already established concepts and cliches of classic adventure gaming, but it does embrace them and brings you into the unusual world of Grotesque Tactics 2 through the eyes of the ever-sarcastic and irreverent protagonist Drake. He, more often than not, points out the irony and sometimes idiocy of the game’s world and what’s happening within it. This not only keeps the mood light-hearted and fun, but keeps things moving at a good pace as well.
The controls and menu systems are quite easy to pick up and lend themselves very well to the game, allowing players of nearly any skill level to use them. Most of the action is controlled with the usage of simple mouse or arrow key commands and the occasional hot-key. While interacting with NPCs, maneuvering the dungeons, and controlling your party in combat will quickly become second nature, the game lacks a bit too much instruction in the opening chapters. A small tutorial on how the characters’ ability trees work or a quest-log with more specific details for each mission would have been very helpful. The camera, while generally quite responsive, does have a handful of issues with moving around on it’s own or hitching on the environment at times. These are by no means game-breaking issues, but certainly could use a bit of fine-tuning.
While they may not be winning any awards for photo-realism, the visuals found within Grotesque Tactics 2 are truly solid. The dungeons are well-designed and their layout is easy to understand and interesting to look at. The lighting effects truly stand out, bringing a fluidity and sense of motion to the levels. One small, and highly welcomed, lighting feature is a small light bloom that follows the player’s cursor. This helps a great deal when exploring the game’s darker dungeons and labyrinths. The character designs are fun, regularly crazy and eccentrically unique, yet some primary animations do leave a bit to be desired. They are not bad by any means, but not quite in keeping with the quality of the rest of the work and even coming off as a little “stiff” visually. Where the game does truly shine is in the details. From the variety of in-game objects that populate the environments and fill them with a sense of realism down to the dust particles kicked up when the character is running, every little flourish here adds to the look of Grotesque Tactics 2.
The voice acting, while albeit a bit campy and cheesy from time-to-time, is really quite funny. The characters come to life beautifully and the world seems much more three-dimensional because of it. Drake’s sarcasm and the supporting cast’s subtle charms are much more relatable in a way that would definitely not be possible with the RPG standard silent popup text bubbles. Moments like talking with the elderly and borderline senile “Aterius” makes the overall experience a truly memorable one. The soundtrack may not be anything earth-shattering, but it does exactly what it needs to.
All in all, Grotesque Tactics 2 is a truly fun romp through a world of hilarious character archetypes, solid tactical combat, and enjoyable adventures. Anyone looking for something a little less serious or just a fun take on tactical RPG gaming will want to give this one a try.
