Deeper than it first appears
Delve Deeper is a strategy title with gameplay roots in board gaming, and it shows, both for good and for ill.
In Delve Deeper, the goal is to lead your team of five Dwarves on a mining expedition and return more loot than the other teams. This can be done by mining more efficiently, or by looting the other teams and monsters so that they do most of the work for you. Monsters ranging from goblin fodder to powerful dragons inhabit the mines, and serve as obstacles to your success.
At the start of the game, you choose your map, then select your dwarves, then see the map and choose your starting location. Not getting a preview of the map is a nuisance, since the best team is going to be impacted by the opportunities presented by the map, either because you are so near or so far from your opponents. Once you have played on a map you might remember what it looks like.
The three dwarves are distinct from each other. There are powerful fighters, with excellent combat stats but poor speed. There are miners, who have lots of space for loot and are otherwise very average. Then there are the poorly named scouts, so called because they are fast, but scouting is unnecessary since the whole board is visible at all times. The fighters are difficult to use for mining, because their speed is so low, and so are not very useful if there isn't a lot of combat. On the other hand, they are so good at combat that if there is a lot of it, you really want to have them because they are often equal to two or three of the other dwarves. This is a big part of why not having a map preview is so frustrating, because some maps place you in close proximity to your opponents, and others put you so far away you'll never encounter them.
Turns start with placing a new segment of tunnel. This gives you the opportunity to either connect tunnels, which allows you to reach more loot, or to screw over your opponents by making it very difficult to connect their tunnels. It is also possible to connect tunnels so that monsters will swarm over an unfortunate player. This single major play each turn is usually the biggest decision each turn. Some maps start with many empty tiles, and present many options for delving, while others have only the tiniest number of spaces and don't present much strategic placement at all. When it plays well, this is great, but on maps without many options this becomes boring.
Turns for your opponents can also get rather dull, as you sit back and do naught but watch. Combat plays out similarly, presenting no opportunities for the player other than selecting the combatants. Although this is common in board gaming (where players also take turns), on computers it can feel slower and duller than in person, where the social experience alleviates the slower parts of the game.
This isn't to say that the game is all bad -- it was actually pretty good. Delve Deeper did surprise me with the overall strategic depth, which isn't immediately apparent the first time you play it. After a few games, it started being more fun, as I became familiar with what the different options are.
I also appreciated the light-hearted attitude of the world. The graphics weren't technically stellar, but they look good enough and get the job done. My biggest gripe on this front is the placement of the signs telling you what you can mine, which are often behind things that make them difficult to read. Cleaning this up would help.
I'd guess there's 10-20 hours of decent gameplay here. For me, I tried the demo, then put it down, but kept coming back to it. Eventually, I decided to just pick it up, because it's only $5.
In summary, you get what you pay for with Delve Deeper. It's not the pinnacle of strategy, but it doesn't try to be. It is a fun little title with different heritage, and because it is so cheap I feel comfortable saying "That was alright". Delve Deeper is not the best, but it is far from the worst. Anyone who is intimidated by more complicated strategy titles might find themselves enjoying this one.
