Dandy Ace Review
Release date: September 28th, 2021
Developer: Mad Mimic
Platforms: Steam (reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series S/X
Price: $19.99 - 29.99
Dandy Ace is a colorful adventure, featuring magic combined with a roguelike. This is an interesting twist to the genre and for fans of roguelikes this might some thing unique enough from Neowiz and Mad Micmic to keep gamers’ interest.
The game features a magician who is trapped in a cursed mirror. The story doesnt get much more complicated than that. Players' skills for combat and exploration are decided by cards, each has their own ability and secondary feature. Players will be able to pick up cards and map 4 different abilities/attacks. There is always one movement or dodge attack. The other three can be tweaked based on a gamers play style. These can be anything from giant bubbles, to a shotgun blast of playing cards, a spray of illusion that poisons enemies or something that lays out traps for enemies. As mentioned the cards all carry secondary abilities that will expand players’ attacks, for example explosive poison bubbles, and these can be swapped amongst the cards the players have at any time.
The game is laid out in an isometric view and the controls are nice and tight. The music and sound effects are fun. The enemies are interesting and look like some sort of bad nightmare mixed with disney characters that might have fallen into an acid trip. The levels have interesting themes such as a fancy dinner party or a garden, compared to a lot of roguelikes this was a lot less bleak.
The good news is when you complete a level you get a chance to upgrade your skills and pick a buff for the rest of the run. While I enjoyed comboing the cards and the different abilities there wasn't much to the story to keep me interested. The game can be challenging but if you play it smart you will do fine.
My other issue is while there is a dodge/dash move that will help you move along I felt like Dandy was much slower than games like Curse of the Dead Gods and Hades. I also wish there was a dedicated dodge that wasn't tied into an ability. I felt like this was probably the biggest hinderest of all.
If you like roguelikes and want to try something a little different with some flashy colors give this a try, most people, not me, managed to beat the game in 7-8 hrs. Thanks to the publisher for a review copy
Final Score
Pros:
Fast
Happier rogue like
Interesting abilities
Cons:
Needs a better dodge
Story is dull