David Surn's surreal roguelike-ish puzzle RPG-sy type game D.O.E.S. is weird, and I want to make sure you understand the irony of that coming from a woman who went to her most recent spin class in a Deadpool t-shirt and leopard print sweat pants. In it, you play U, a little creature searching the Dungeon Of Existential Surprise for all five Things in order to escape. To play, just click the tiles in the large grid... tiles can reveal anything from nothing at all to monsters (defeated in a simple fast click-fest that might make the game impossible for trackpad users), to "fun things". The latter are a series of random events, and you're given options as to how to deal with them. You'll notice these options rarely seem to make a lot of sense, and here's the kicker... your luck stat, represented by the four leaf clover to the left of the main screen, is then rolled dice-style against the evil dice roll, for each choice. Roll higher than the evil dice and get a good result, roll lower and lose, and some choices have a higher base dice number for disaster than others. So, yes, the game is kinda-sorta stacked against you, and there's a lot of trial-and-error involved in figuring out what does what, exactly, though you can uncover various power-ups that can make things easier, such as allowing you to see the numbers for each option on Fun Things. Die from your hit points running out, and you'll have to start all over, whereupon the board will scramble so you won't know where anything is. Unfair? Sure. Crass? Definitely. Potentially frustrating? Well, that all depends on you.
Obviously, D.O.E.S. isn't going to appeal to everyone, but its sheer strangeness and odd, unforgiving gameplay that's often weighted against you means it might be even more polarizing than other games. How well you do often feels entirely dependent on luck... you can get stronger by leveling up, which happens when the blue bar fills all the way up after defeating enough enemies, but you may never get the chance to make that happen depending on what tiles you happen to click on. The fighting is more than a little frustrating in a game that's otherwise a mellow turn-based affair, though each enemy having different behaviours you'll figure out as you play is a neat touch. Despite this, if you enjoy games that seriously revel in oddities, really rolls around in them, and don't mind taking a beating while you figure things out, D.O.E.S. is worth checking out. There's a weird charm to it, with its goofy surreal artwork and silly enemies and events, and the simple, addictive gameplay is fun to click through and see what you encounter next. Not all the elements feel as if they click as well as they should (I'm looking at you, combat), but the creativity is something to be applauded, and makes you look forward to the next work from the developer in the future. D.O.E.S. is, as mentioned, weird, but that's not a bad thing, and it does what it does... whatever that is... with a distinctive flair all its own.
I just died from
a rash from rolling in poo.
I was just killed by
a dancing turd.
Big piece of advice:
Different monsters require different strategies to defeat efficiently. Some (like the Cigarette) are best defeated with frantic clicking, whereas others (like the TP Troll) are best faced with patience and precise clicks.
Does anything ever come of
coloring the tiles
? As far as I can tell it's just a fun little easter egg.
This game started out not fun for me but once I got the hang of it it started being really fun! I haven't managed to collect all 5 Things as of posting this comment, but at one point I had 9 attack and 7 luck when I died.
This somehow sorta reminds me of I Don't Even Know and I Don't Even Game.
Re: the tile coloring...
I think it's just for "note-taking". Say, to keep track of the hint a good ghost gave you.
I finally beat the game, after uncovering over half of the tiles.
As SonicLover said, keep track of the good ghosts' hints: both where they are and the locations of the things they point you to. You can then avoid squares within the radius.
When you gain a level, you can increase attack, health, or luck. You'll recover all health upon level-up, but unless you're desperate, go for attack instead. The first level-up will double your attack, and from then on most battles are much more survivable. Luck is relatively worthless as an option for leveling up, though it may be possible to have a successful luck-based playthrough by taking some high-risk options early on.
Rolls for random events usually go against you, and many are rigged to always go against you. Some options are high risk - moderate reward (luck bonus), but the low risk options are better late-game. For some, the worst result for one option is better than the best result for another one. Common sense usually helps you, though for the TV:
Scream at it. The other bad outcomes will probably kill you. Alternatively you can try turning it off to summon a monster. I think that's the one that lets you beat the game immediately (mentioned on the in-game hints), but it's hard to defeat. It's huge and I think it stays in place, so just rapidly click it. You need to have very high attack (and probably the wizard power). I had 4 attack when I faced it but wasn't prepared; I don't even think 4 was enough anyway.
Enemy Guide:
Giant Flying Skull - Generic enemy.
Geriatric Cyborg - Dangerous. He'll jump around the screen independent of your clicks. Click him 2-3 times, wait for the jump, and repeat.
Naybur - It jumps rapidly, and it hurts a lot if you misclick. It won't deal damage if you wait, but it has a lot of health. It can also heal itself. I usually try to follow it and click it once between each jump.
TP Troll - Be patient; waiting doesn't hurt. It jumps around too quickly for you to follow, but if you leave your cursor in one spot, it'll occasionally overlap.
Cigarette - Click it quickly! It deals damage rapidly, but it takes one click to defeat.
Bomb - It'll jump once, then stay put. Rapidly click it before it explodes!
Sheepie - Ugh. Generic enemy, but hurts a lot. Takes 5 clicks.
Attack Heart - Pretty generic.
GHOST.wrk - Generic and annoying.
Angry Muffin - Weak, generic enemy.
Bad Ghost - Generic enemy. Sometimes teleports.
Average Human - Hey! No threat, even if you somehow miss.
Scribbley Ghost - It stays in the middle, so mash the attack button. It will attack you quickly too.
Greasy - Stays in place, so rapidly mash attack. It gives a lot of experience!
Haha this was pretty funny:
Eating a mushroom makes the game colors to start tripping out.
Relating to the
TV end boss:
11 attack stat was more than enough to beat it without it having to attack back. Was it an instant death when it attacked or did it do a certain amount of damage?
Also, the game can really snowball in your favor once you get a stroke of good luck. I unintentionally had a luck run after getting consecutive brain/wizard power. Seems like getting a power doubles your attack/reveals dice roll for the next enemy/fun thing, but landing on another brain/power without an encounter boosts the respective stat. It happened to me for both attack and luck. By then I had only minor problem with fun things, which seemed to be my major run killer. Some good dice rolls allowed me to boost my stats even more and steamroll the rest of the game. My final stats were 40 HP, 11 ATK, and 13 LK. Overall the game is pretty cool, but I would have liked it more if it wasn't so RNG based. The whole time I had to pray that I would not get a dice roll that would end up in instadeath.
something i've noticed is at the start, much can hurt you. but thanks to 2 lucky potions, i wound up with round 7 dam... then nothing posed a challange.
beat the game with 38 hp, 17 dam and 12 luck. But once I got to around 6 or 7 attack, able to kill most things in 2, 3 hits... the only thing I had to worry about was the 'fun things'... and half of those was done by just 'play it safe'. look, a toilet. use it, gain hp. food? eat it. Bad? you gain hp. good, it explodes and you gain stats.
then it was just a 'click enough things to find them'.
The game says it has four endings based on your stats at the end, and I think I've figured out how to get each one.
The ending you get depends on which stat is the highest compared to its initial value.
Land of U end: Max HP is highest
Creepy end: Attack power is highest
Leprechaun end: Luck is highest
Space end: Multiple stats are tied for the honor
I've found some options to be always (as it seems) beneficial:
Piss on lava & pour bleach on self
Update: Have won 4 times. Haven't found the Max HP ending yet.
RushBoy said that
11 Atk is enough for the TV boss
But I found out that
8 is not enough. IDK about 9 or 10.
Also,
If you have nothing to lose when you find the bleach, drink it. If you get lucky once, it increases your luck stat a ton.
Same with peeing on mushrooms.
I said in my last comment that this reminds me of I Don't Even Know. It also reminds me a tiny bit of Minesweeper and, weirdly, Binding of Isaac. I don't know, maybe it's the randomness and the art style.
Here's all the items (I think) and all of the possible outcomes:
Some general notes:
If you see +? or -?, it means that I don't know the specific amount that the stat will go up or down by. If your health is full and you get a healing effect, it only lets you know that your health is full. You can actually take advantage of this - your luck and attack cannot go below 1. So if the bad effect of a choice would decrease your luck but your luck is already 1, then you can choose that option and it can't hurt you.
In terms of how likely outcomes are, it seemed fairly intuitive to me for the most part. The less obvious an outcome is, the less likely is it to happen. For example,
tearing apart a turd gives you +3 to all stats, which is not something you would expect to have happen. As such, it's unlikely to happen.
Spiders
Blow on it
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -1 health
Stomp on them
Good outcome: +1 Attack
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Eat it
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: Death
Stick a paw in
Good outcome: +4 luck
Bad outcome: -10 health
Bleach
Dump it out
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Drink it
Good outcome: +5 luck
Bad outcome: Death
Dump on self
Good outcome: +10 max health
Bad outcome: Death
Pee in it
Good outcome: All stats +5
Bad outcome: Death
Big Red Button
Press it
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: Summon an Angry muffin
Throw a rock
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Tear it out
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -1 Luck
Lick it
Good outcome: +5 max health
Bad outcome: -3 health
Pizza
Eat it
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: -3 health
Roll in it
Good outcome: +3 max health
Bad outcome: -5 health
Eat the crusts
Good outcome: All stats +3
Bad outcome: +1 health
Eat toppings
Good outcome: "u r a Hacker" - you're not going to get this unless you've hacked your luck to be well over 9000
Bad outcome: Death
Mushroom
Eat it
Good outcome: +3 max health
Bad outcome: Acid trip - the colors go funky for a short time
Stomp on it
Good outcome: Acid trip
Bad outcome: -3 health
Pee on it
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: -1 luck
Lick it
Good outcome: Acid trip
Bad outcome: -1 attack
First aid kit
Use it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: +1 health
Drink peroxide
Good outcome: +4 luck
Bad outcome: Death
Dump contents
Good outcome: +10 attack
Bad outcome: -3 health
Bang on it
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: Summon TP troll
Rock
Throw it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: Summon enemy
Eat it
Good outcome: +1 health
Bad outcome: -1 attack
Jam it in your forehead
Good outcome: +5 attack
Bad outcome: -3 luck
Screech at it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Hamster
Turn it on
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: Summon vegan
Eat it
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: -1 health
Get in
Good outcome: +5 luck
Bad outcome: Death
Pet it
Good outcome: +1 max health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Lava
Stare at it
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Pee in it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: Summon bad ghost
Jump in it
Good outcome: +50 luck - very unlikely to happen
Bad outcome: Death
Touch it
Good outcome: +5 luck
Bad outcome: -3 max health
Chocolate beans
Eat them
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: +3 health
Smear on walls
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: -1 luck
Eat bag
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -3 max health
Smear on self
Good outcome: All stats +1
Bad outcome: Summon enemy
Glowing potion
Drink it
Good outcome: All stats +3
Bad outcome: All stats -3
Throw it
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -2 health
Smash it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: -10 health
Eat cork
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Toilet
Use it
Good outcome: +2 health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Poop in tank
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: Summon Geriatric Cyborg
Drink from it
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: -2 health
Flush self
Good outcome: +1 max health
Bad outcome: Death
Turd
Screech at it
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: Summon average human
Roll in it
Good outcome: +3 max health
Bad outcome: -3 health
Tear it apart
Good outcome: All stats +3
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Eat it
Good outcome: +1 health
Bad outcome: -3 max health
Candle
Watch it
Good outcome: +3 health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Blow it out
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: Summon ghost.wrk
Pee on it
Good outcome: +1 health
Bad outcome: Summon bad ghost
Touch it
Good outcome: -1 health
Bad outcome: -10 health
Banana
Eat it
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: +2 health
Stomp on it
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -1 luck
Eat the peel
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -3 max health
Smear
Good outcome: All stats +1
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
TV
Watch it
Good outcome: +3 attack
Bad outcome: Death
Smash screen
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -10 health
Screech at it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Turn it off
Good outcome: +1 luck
Bad outcome: Summon Boss
Cheese
Eat it
Good outcome: +5 health
Bad outcome: -1 attack
Tear it apart
Good outcome: +2 luck
Bad outcome: Summon rat
Jump in it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Throw it
Good outcome: +2 luck
Bad outcome: -3 health
Empty box
Sit in it
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Stomp on it
Good outcome: +1 attack
Bad outcome: -1 health
Pretend it's a racecar
Good outcome: Nothing happens
Bad outcome: -15 health
Hide in it
Good outcome: +2 luck
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Cookies
Eat them
Good outcome: All stats +1
Bad outcome: -1 attack
Eat one
Good outcome: +2 health
Bad outcome: -1 attack
Eat all but one
Good outcome: +? health
Bad outcome: -? attack
Eat the plate
Good outcome: +1 Attack
Bad outcome: +1 health
Dead horse
This one decided to stop showing up for me, so I don't know what all the good outcomes are.
Jump on it
Good outcome: Don't know
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Beat it
Good outcome: Win
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
Eat its face
Good outcome: Don't know
Bad outcome: -3 health
Poke it
Good outcome: Don't know
Bad outcome: Nothing happens
You reminded me of another point I wanted to make about the game. I feel that the game is a bit too stacked against you in regards to dice rolling and survivability. One thing I would have liked to do (if it weren't so frustrating) was to take the time to see the positive and negative dice rolls for every fun thing choice. But the only way to do so (at least for the positive dice rolls) is to have a high luck stat... which can only be achieved by getting positive dice rolls to begin with. I want to explore all choices, but in order to do so I need to make progress in increasing my stats, but to do that, I stuck with choosing safe choices that I know will increase my stats instead of exploring new choices, which is what I want to do in the first place. To make things worse, there are so many ways you can instantly die through a negative roll. I feel pigeonholed to only making safe choices because one negative roll can instantly end your run. The only exception to this is the early game when you have nothing, as taking YOLO-risky choices aren't really that risky because you can easily reset your run.
@Rushboy If you want to see all of the good and bad outcomes or each choice, you're going to need to
hack your luck stat. Eating the toppings of the pizza first requires around 9000 luck, which you can't get without hacking. It even tells you "u r a Hacker", and you "win". As for jumping into the lava I'm not sure if it is possible to do without a hacked luck stat - I always saw it as requiring ~2000 luck, but the message it gives you implies that there may be a small chance of being able to do it without ridiculously high luck.
Anyway, take a look at the list I posted if you are just curious as to see what the good/bad effects are. I left out the messages you get so that people can still get something out of discovering them for themselves.
yunrui, about the
dead horse
:
The good outcome for eating its face is gaining health, +3 I think.
IDK about the other 2 though. I got good luck with poking it but I don't remember what happened.
@yunrui:
The good outcome for jumping on the dead horse is an attack increase. Something about it exploding and the sound making you violent. Can't remember the exact number, unfortunately.
Oh, also:
Eating the pizza heals you by 10 in the Good outcome.
And finally, because I just figured this stuff out (sorry - I'd edit my first comment if I could):
10 Attack is enough to beat Tyquatt the All-Consuming. If you don't kill it in a few seconds, it consumes the screen and you die.
Regarding enemies:
The Cigarette doesn't attack any faster if you miss, hence the recommendation to click a lot. And GHOST.wrk, unlike other enemies, will randomly change direction, making leading your target more difficult.
Regarding pickups:
Picking up a Wizard Power when you already have one increases your attack by 3. Similarly, doubling up on Brains gives +3 luck.
Oh, darn it, one more thing regarding a particular enemy:
You can't attack the Sheepie when its spikes are out. Doing so counts as a miss.
Thanks for reviewing my game, Dora. This review was well balanced in it's pros and cons - I liked it!
With the fun things, I recommend taking stupid risks early in the game such as drinking the potion, getting in the microwave or doing anything with the bleach besides dumping it out. That way if you don't get a favorable result, you haven't lost much and you can just hit the reset button.
Also, remember that there is always at least one "safe choice" with the fun things. By "safe choice" I mean one that will never do harm even if you get the worst result.
I have a complete cheat-sheet made up for the fun things. Should I post it or would it spoil the fun of analyzing the game for everyone else?
Update