Technical Information

Developer: Spooky Buns
Publisher: N/A
Release Date: August 23, 2019

This game manages to mix two completely different styles: puzzle and roguelike.
The story isn’t very detailed, basically, you’re a prisoner and your goal is to escape from prison. Each stage has a hole for you to jump into and fall deeper (hence the name Plunge).

Overall, this is a great casual game. Matches can end very quickly, but you’ll feel encouraged to try again and get sucked into that vicious cycle.

Final Thoughts – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

I loved the art! It’s super creative and well-made. The animations are also really cool!
In more complex stages, there seems to be a lot of information on the screen, and visualization can become a bit confusing, especially since the game is almost monochromatic. But it’s nothing you won’t adapt to.

The main menu is a screen where you need to move around to start the game or see which abilities, potions, and characters you’ve unlocked so far. I liked it a lot because it breaks away from the traditional menu pattern.
During gameplay, your health bar is displayed, and enemies’ health bars are shown above their heads. When you pick up a potion, it’s displayed next to your HP, and you can use it whenever you want. Regardless of whether you’re playing with a keyboard or a joystick, each command has a button indicator beside it, telling you which key to press to use it. Very easy to understand.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

The sound effects complement the game’s atmosphere well.
The music is also well-made, but it’s always the same track. Eventually, it gets old! hahaha

Gameplay

At first, the game’s isometric view caused me some confusion when controlling my character, but I adapted (after dying many times, by the way).
As you progress through the stages, you’ll unlock new characters. Each character has a native ability, which can give them more HP or defense, for example.

You can use items (potions) during the stages, but their effects only become relevant when used. Some potions help you, while others hinder you, forcing the player to be cautious with their decisions.
Every 10 stages, you can unlock a new ability for your character, but if you give up, you lose it.

The stages aren’t procedurally generated (as is common in roguelike games), but they’re very varied and don’t make the game feel repetitive.
You need to think carefully about each movement, because enemies also move and can trap you. Each enemy has a specific HP value and attack range, and defeating some of them allows you to collect items (including the stage’s key).
There are also some traps scattered around to confuse the player.

By combining roguelike and puzzle elements, don’t expect an easy game. You can easily lose a match in two minutes.

The game has joystick support, but playing with a keyboard isn’t too bad due to the simplicity of the commands.

Replayability and Game Retention

You’ll die and want to try again. And again. Until you get tired.
An excellent little game for killing time (and relieving anger as well hahaha).