Doom & Destiny Review AND GIVEAWAY - Farce +4

Let me start off by simply saying that Doom & Destiny absolutely surprised me. All that I knew going into it was that it was an RPG and it was all about mocking other RPGs. What I didn't know was just how awesome it would be! The game rarely lets a moment go by without being funny, and despite the fact that it could have simply been another RPG Maker game that used boring game play along with the humor, the game itself is really fun and incorporates a lot of unique, genius ideas that work amazingly well. I actually found myself running around and power-leveling quite often and actually enjoying it!

Chrono Cross may not have been as beloved as Chrono Trigger, but it had the most awesome item I'd ever come across in a game - the Time Shifter! Like Chrono Trigger, you could play the game again once it's completed to get different endings, and the Time Shifter allows you to fast forward or rewind pretty much the entire game. This way, you can quickly get through easy battles and dialogue you've seen before, something that I wish every game with any sort of replayability had. The reason I bring this up is that Doom & Destiny allows you to auto-battle by holding down one button and run quickly on maps with another. This makes things like roaming for random battles or traveling from place to place a breeze!

Kapow! Nigel is a master wizard!

Battles in Doom & Destiny are actually fun - not only do you have a battle system where speed is an important factor (see the bar across the top in the image - it shows when each character will fight next depending on what they do), it can be fast-forwarded at will like I mentioned before and there's an awesome side quest system that rewards you for killing, say, 10 dragons or 50 magic casters or collecting 2 Warg pelts. Each time you finish a battle that works toward one of the side quests, it shows you your progress using a five star system, and each time you complete one you receive some awesome goodie(s) and a bigger goal - kill 150 magic casters total now! There's also a really cool concept I'd never seen before, food and water rations, which automatically restore HP and MP 25% respectively after a battle if you need it. They're really cheap, so it's easy to stock up and not have to use healing items after every battle like lots of RPGs require. Oh, and you can save anywhere, which is also really refreshing. You purchase your skills at different towns and secret locations and then equip them, but there's a limited number of equip points on each character so you've got to use strategy with them. Some are skills like magic or attacks and others are passive stat-boosts like extra HP or Intelligence.

When you level up, you get free reign over what to do with new stats. Hitting a taller block gives you an extra ability slot.

While I haven't finished the game yet, I'm about 15 hours in. It seems like I can head to the final battle, but I've been going around and exploring a lot. The game has a great way of giving you items that are usable in previous locations, so you've got to go back and forth, re-exploring areas and finding new things. The game pops up a "Secret found!" dialogue box whenever you find one, and it counts them as well - there are 39 of them in the game and I've currently got 13. It also counts your side quest status; I've got 15/39 of them. I've always been one who loves to 100% games, so I'm sure I'll be playing for quite a while longer!

A Gollum-lookin dude named Judas guides you up Mount Doom.

Oh, and the humor! I can't even cover everything that's funny in this game... From the flux capacitor mention at the very beginning of the game, your D&D playing group getting sucked into a new world and told they suck as heroes, chapters and areas that mimic Super Mario Brothers, Zelda and Lord of the Rings, a lightning spell that is cast by saying the true name of the Unnamed (and later is upgraded simply by saying it three times!) and way more that I won't give away...

Purchasing and selecting skills to equip is just as much strategy as battle itself!

All in all, Doom & Destiny is a fantastic, surprising gem of an RPG that anyone lucky enough to play RPGs in the SNES days should pick up without hesitation. It's certainly on enough game platforms to negate any excuses you might have!

The Giveaway!

HeartBit Interactive has been kind enough to agree to give away a copy of EvilQuest to one lucky winner on PC! Complete as much as you want in the Rafflecopter below; the more of them you do, the more entries you'll get and the better your odds of winning!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given a review copy of the game.

Available for: XBLIG ($4.99; reviewed), PC ($4.99 digital, 10€/$13.76 + shipping costs for boxed edition that comes with all kinds of awesomeness), iOS ($2.99), Android ($2.99), Windows Phone ($2.49)

Website: http://doomanddestiny.com

Developed by: HeartBit Interactive