Twin-stick shooters, rogue-likes, Vampire Survivors clones… they’re the current trend, and except for the odd USP/gimmick, they’re all mostly the same, yet I still can’t get enough of them. Dino-Ducks Mayhem follows this trend, and its USP would probably be the cute factor. A lot of these rogue-likes – addictive as they are – aren’t the best to look at.
Duckosaurus Games’ array into the genre is a pleasant one on the eyes. Selecting from a couple of ducks to begin with, you’re dropped into an icy region and must keep back the (cute) evil hordes that swarm you. Unlike other titles, you have companions from the very get-go. These little ducklings, with their own free will and fashion sense, will attack enemies when there’s enough weaponry to go around, but will predominantly collect lil’ chicks to level you up.
That’s right, Dino-Ducks Mayhem follows the Vampire Survivors mould where you increasingly level up, opting for one of three power-ups, each on a different tier of level and rarity. The standard formula exists where you’ll level up, the screen will pause while you select the next power-up, and you’ll restart and repeat. In addition, when you first play the game, there will be an incessant amount of pop-ups explaining the mechanics such as gem raids, healing pools, vendors and crafting new gear. The latter was a little complex on the surface and slowed the pace down further unnecessarily.
On my first run, the game ended immediately, throwing me back to Steam without any fanfare. Refusing to think this was it, I jumped back in and started a new run and could see that some of the progress was there. As can be expected with these games, you’ll either be able to get stuck in straight away and enjoy it, or you’ll grind until you get it. I didn’t really pick up either one at this stage, as the game was just a little too sluggish for me.
There’s no doubt about it: this is one of the better-looking games of its ilk, but that’s really not important. We need that hook and rogue-like loop that will make you want to keep playing. All the ingredients are there, but Dino-Ducks Mayhem was too much of a slog from the get-go, and not being able to dodge/roll unless upgrading the dodge skill and hoping for an automatic olive branch made this unnecessarily frustrating to begin with. Bear in mind that the game is in Early Access. And this isn’t throwing this out there to be positive for the sake of it, but there is a good variety of weapons, skills and upgrades, plus the game isn’t going to be locked to one biome. The best thing I can suggest? Play the demo on Steam now.
