The gang is back together in The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: Ruins of Limis. This is the first of three DLC’s that are to be released and with that comes new quests, mechanics, and enemies to the game. I couldn’t be more excited. When The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos was released, I was a huge supporter of this game and I still am. In fact, you can read my review. So, when I heard about the DLC’s coming out, I could hardly contain myself. Artefacts Studio and Dear Villagers have me chomping at the bit to jump in and explore the new content with my favorite group of rag-time party adventures, and that’s exactly what I did.
When you first start up the Ruins of Limis, you can choose to either start a new story with just the DLC or import an old save file from the Amulet of Chaos. Since I beat the Amulet of Chaos many times over, I decided to load up my save and go for it. Ruins of Limis puts me right back at the end of the game and started me there, frozen after the battle and being robbed. I got the enjoyment of hearing my Dwarf upset about being relinquished of his gold, but we still had the same gear and levels. From there, we used a loophole in the dungeon so we could continue on without starting over and I was ready to start this new storyline.
The story is perfect for the game. We still get the same sense of humor and some great new items to find. Hell even the back talking when you let them stay still for too long is there. It really feels like another chapter of a book for this unbelievable game. However, that is the best part of this story. The new DLC is way too short. Without the battles, I completed the new storyline in 15 mins. The DLC felt like it was just an extra set of side quests that you unlocked. Now don’t get me wrong I loved playing the Ruins of Limis, but I felt like I was robbed of an actually new storyline.
As far as the new mechanics to the game, they were just reworked to fit into the new DLC. Instead of destroying sausage boxes to prevent enemy spawns, now you have to make your way to statues and shut them off before they spawn another zombie. Another big one is flipping a lever to prevent shutting down the poison gas before it fills the map and you die. I was still entertained with the game, but there was nothing out of the box that made it worthwhile to me. There was no huge new mechanic that I felt should have been a selling point for the new expansion.
When it came to our squabbling heroes, they were still on point. The Dwarf hates the Elf, the Ogre is still your friendly tank, and your Barbarian is still a moron with a sword fetish. The cast had me laughing at a good time. There just was nothing that made this content stand out as DLC. I think there are only like 4 fights and I had the new DLC beat. I couldn’t decide on who I wanted to side with, and it was basically about which boss I wanted to punish. The fights were more of a hassle than the original game. Not because they were harder mechanics to learn, or a new variety of monsters to banish. They made the fights have more monsters in them that did things to make the battles longer.
I think the first fight started with 8 zombies. 3 were spitters (ranged attacks) 4 were up close fighters and 1 was a healer. Then there were 4 statues that after so long would summon another zombie to fight if you didn’t shut off the statues in time. The first 2 statues summoned 2 more healers, and from there it just became a beat-down drawn-out war. If I remember right, the first fight took me almost 42 mins to beat a total of 23 zombies. Yes, I did get some loot and gold for the battle but 42 mins on 1 fight I thought was a little ridiculous. Later on, there were Zombies that froze you so you couldn’t move. It felt like the game just made the battles longer so the DLC would feel more worth it and I hate saying this but I think this was just a lazy way of doing it.
Once I beat the game the first time with my saved file, I decided to start again but with a brand new story to see what changes would occur. Unfortunately, my would-be heroes had most of the same spells and gear, maybe a few items less powerful than I had. Besides that, there was no difference. Sadly less than 6 hours later, I had beaten the game again since I knew what to expect and had a better understanding of the fights.
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: Ruins of Limis is a great idea for their first DLC. The story (although it is very short) is well written and the characters still have some of the best insults and one-liners that I have heard in any game. I am glad I got the DLC because I not only love the game but I want to support the 2 amazing companies that brought this world to us. I just think for the price, this DLC should have had more content in it. I am hoping that Artefacts Studio and Dear Villagers are reading these reviews so that they can improve on the next DLC that comes out. I know there are 2 more and I will get them of course. I am praying that it is a big improvement on this one. The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: Ruins of Limis is available on Steam, Epic Games Store, and Windows for PC for $9.99.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Ruins of Limis for PC provided by Dear Villagers and Artefacts Studio.
