Barony

The Good
I have earnt every achievement but the two speedrunning ones. I have beaten the game maybe ~25-30 times. And yet, I find myself coming back 3-4 times a week.

-The combat feels crunchy, and no matter how strong you feel there will always be a bigger fish. The game encourages you to always look for an advantage; rather than run in screaming, plan out your attack - should your enemy be great - and keep your distance.

-Barony as a game feels like old DOS text-based adventure games brought to a 3D space. The lore, despite being scattered around in books all throughout your run, feels like a classic fantasy story; (SPOILERS) Baphomet, Ruler of Hell, grants an adventurer much like yourself a great deal of power. The citizens of Hamlet are the price. Realising this, the mines of Hamlet are sealed off, the door to the minehead barred shut. You and up to 3 friends or strangers are tasked with delving deep into the mines to defeat the lich Baron Herx, and afterwards the Arch-Mages Erudyce and Orpheus.

-The wide variety of races and classes to be played is perfect. The base game classes are simple enough, with only a handful having interesting gimmicks. The DLC classes are quite the opposite; all 8 have fun and interesting gimmicks, strengths and weaknesses. Along with these classes come 8 races. Each race is friendly or neutral towards different races, and can recruit npcs of the same race.

-The game is very long. Most roguelikes may last 30 minutes to an hour. Around 80% of my winning runs took around 1.5-3 hours. I have never once considered those hours wasted.

-Dopefish reference.

The Bad
-In the secret level at floor 28, sudden frame hitches are prevalent and often. This can prove problematic, as the level has many strong enemies that require focus to survive. These hitches also happen when the game is opened for the first time. When starting a new run, it is good to open: -the inventory -the spells panel -the skills panel as these can cause a hitch in combat, potentially ending the run if you're weak.

The Bottom Line
Barony is the perfect roguelike. It is simple, at times hilarious, and extremely fun.