Anguna Scourge of the Goblin king 1st Look Review

I woke up to a message last week inviting me to test out the new upcoming NES game Anguna: Scourge of the goblin king..... and of course, i jumped at the chance.

Its a completely new adventure game that looks and plays very much like The Legend of Zelda NES game & is being published by The 6502 Collective. Its currently on kickstarter with 4 days left to go & unsuprsingly it completely smashed its funding goal within just a few hours of going live.

The kickstarter goal itself was set quite low due to the game already being completed (with only minor changes needed) meaning the game is 100% going to be released. There will be no 12 month development delays or panic attacks wondering if your moneys gone down the drain...Anguna is already being manufactured in their homeland USA right as we speak. So head over to kickstarter & take a look for yourself.

What is Anguna?

Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin king is a sequel to a series that started on the GBA way back in 2003. It has been developed from the ground up in 6502 assembley language by Nathan Tolbert and comes combined with a perfectly suited soundtrack composed by Thomas Cipollone. Even though the game is a sequel, you do not need to of played the previous titles to get into the game, or to understand its storyline. However, in order to bring you up to scratch, heres the official storyline snippet for the current release.

You awake in a dungeon, captured once again. Yes again; this seems to be your perpetual fate. This time, your quest was to slay the Goblin King, but his henchmen caught up with you before you could plunge your sword into his meaty sides. That was to be expected, it seems, since his followers have increased in the wake of acquiring the magic gauntlets of Andron and becoming even more powerful. That's the brakes, though, and you will first have to battle your way out of his dungeon before you can resume your quest to defeat... The Goblin King!

Pressing Start

Right from the offset your thrown into a dungeon & its clear that your prime objective is to escape. You set off searching room to room where you meet a number of enemies that give you a taste of whats to come, and theres also a couple of mini-boss battles just to keep you on your toes.

Once you do finally locate the exit youl be taken into an overworld map that has a very Zelda like feel. From here you need to locate other caves & dungeons in order to find items that will help you out. The map itself is like a maze and you need to keep a close eye out for pathways as you can falsely think youve fully explored a certain area, yet theres another route that lies ahead.  The keys & items you collect can all be used in multi locations, so expect a lot of traversing back & forth to unlock areas previously unreachable.

Various enemies are strewn along the map and all vary in defence. None really oppose much of a threat, though some do move quite evasively, and at times you seem to be chasing them round to no avail. Luckily theres not always a requirement to defeat every enemy on screen, but at times they will drop food & weaponary items so its worth noting which ones are the easiest to attack. Boss battles are more of a problem & some seem to franticly move around. Im sure they each have their own pattern of movement, but so far im yet to figure that out & have been brute forcing my way through with my trusty sword & a lot of luck.

So far ive been playing the game for around 6 hours in total & im at a stage where im stuck searching for what i beleive is the final key (Update: ive discovered its not the final key) . Im certain ive explored every square of the map i can get to but theres obviously somethig ive missed or hidden away. There is a handy on screen map in the game menu, but im still about to go and construct a visual map together so i can guarantee ive visited each square. Its definitely a game ill be playing until the end, so stay tuned for a full review & gameplay video coming soon. Until then dont forget to check it out on kickstarter.

First Look Impression

Anguna is a really nice looking, sounding & fun to play game. But make no mistake.... its NOT an easy ride. Even the first dungeon will have you repeating areas & boss battles will take a few tries at least. I wouldnt say its a game for hardcore gamers, it would suit players of all abilities. But you can expect to press the continue button quite a few times no matter what your skill level.

So far im having a lot of fun with it, the only issue i have is that for an A-RPG there doesnt seem to be much text in the game. After the first initial storyline segment your pretty much on your own. I guess its not really that big of issue, and after a while you realise that theres no way to guide yourself away from the storyline as its open ended. But for a short time, i did feel quite lost.

Would i recommend it?

.... i certainly would. Its always nice to see new NES games appear, but its even better when they play as good as Anguna. The initial playthrough so far is granting a decent amount of gameplay, and i beleive that will become much shorter the more times you play through it, so therefore it could be an interesting game for speedrunning.

kicstarter Reward Tiers:
  -Digital (NES ROM) - $10
  -Regular Edition Cart-only - $50
  -Regular Edition Complete in Box (CIB) - $60
  -Limited Edition Complete in Box - $100 (limited to 115 copies, 100 of which are available)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/solegoose/anguna-scourge-of-the-goblin-king

Features:
  -A variety of terrain and obstacles
  -Five dungeons hidden across a vast overworld
  -Many items and power-ups to aid you in your quest
  -Over 20 enemies that will try and stop you along the way
  -A fully illustrated bestiary
  -Flash saving; no more holding reset when powering off, or batteries that will fail
  -An open ended quest, allowing you to choose your own path!

Social Media:
  -The 6502 Collective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The6502Collective/
  -Bite the Chili Productions Twitter: https://twitter.com/nathantolbert
  -The 6502 Collective Twitter: https://twitter.com/6502Collective/
  -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the6502collective/