The Red Lantern is an interesting indie roguelike about Dog Sledding. The game makes a great first impression with its graphics and voice acting, and even though the game is relatively short at about 2 hours long, it ends within minutes of overstaying its welcome. Credit to the team who made this for being realistic about the scope and showing some restraint. I beat it in 5 runs, but if I had to do a 6th, I would have started to sour on it. There is a post game and a way to be a completionist for those who want it, but I felt like I had seen everything after 4 runs.
I love the idea of having non-combat roguelites, but the game would have worked better if it was structured like Oregon Trail instead of having permanent upgrades. I found the basic gameplay loop enjoyable, but the meta progression very lacking. The basics are, you pick a direction, an event is set up, you can engage or not, and if you engage you have a second choice. There’s not much beyond that, there’s only 1 minigame (hunting), and it was so easy I never missed my shot. Most of your time is spent doing resource management, but that’s where the larger loop breaks down. Some of the permanent upgrades are incredibly impactful (like the flint and the dog boots) that it removes the sense of danger. Other ones, like fishing pole, axe, and trap I only used once and didn’t need them by the time I got them. Ultimately my final run was my least favorite run, because much of the challenge was taken away and I had seen enough of the content that I skipped through a lot of the dead ends that eat resources.
The roguelike design also makes the story feel incredibly contrived. You can look at the real-life examples of people who leave for Alaska from Into the Wild or Grizzly Man and they’re marginal outsiders who still have survival skills and know the risks. This story is about a San Francisco doctor decided her pet dog was going to lead an expedition to a remote part of Alaska and only packs enough for half a day of food, 2 fires, a band-aid, and 3 bullets. It’s only due to last minute nightmares of getting slaughtered or dying from exposure that she remembers to pack things like an axe. Ashly Birch’s skillful delivery can only suspend so much disbelief, and the fact that the entire game is voice acted at all times, it gets repetitive after about an hour. The game fails to make any kind of statement about the type of people who give everything up, or if doing that is a good idea. The threat of bears, starvation, and lack of resources doesn’t go away for the character once the game is over.
Still, it’s an interesting game and I’m glad I picked it up on a deep discount. I liked it a lot more while playing it then I do while thinking about it in hindsight.
I love the idea of having non-combat roguelites, but the game would have worked better if it was structured like Oregon Trail instead of having permanent upgrades. I found the basic gameplay loop enjoyable, but the meta progression very lacking. The basics are, you pick a direction, an event is set up, you can engage or not, and if you engage you have a second choice. There’s not much beyond that, there’s only 1 minigame (hunting), and it was so easy I never missed my shot. Most of your time is spent doing resource management, but that’s where the larger loop breaks down. Some of the permanent upgrades are incredibly impactful (like the flint and the dog boots) that it removes the sense of danger. Other ones, like fishing pole, axe, and trap I only used once and didn’t need them by the time I got them. Ultimately my final run was my least favorite run, because much of the challenge was taken away and I had seen enough of the content that I skipped through a lot of the dead ends that eat resources.
The roguelike design also makes the story feel incredibly contrived. You can look at the real-life examples of people who leave for Alaska from Into the Wild or Grizzly Man and they’re marginal outsiders who still have survival skills and know the risks. This story is about a San Francisco doctor decided her pet dog was going to lead an expedition to a remote part of Alaska and only packs enough for half a day of food, 2 fires, a band-aid, and 3 bullets. It’s only due to last minute nightmares of getting slaughtered or dying from exposure that she remembers to pack things like an axe. Ashly Birch’s skillful delivery can only suspend so much disbelief, and the fact that the entire game is voice acted at all times, it gets repetitive after about an hour. The game fails to make any kind of statement about the type of people who give everything up, or if doing that is a good idea. The threat of bears, starvation, and lack of resources doesn’t go away for the character once the game is over.
Still, it’s an interesting game and I’m glad I picked it up on a deep discount. I liked it a lot more while playing it then I do while thinking about it in hindsight.