DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale

About

"DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale" is a 2D puzzle dungeon crawl game with RPG elements, where players navigate through intricate room layouts to find exits while managing resources, weapons, and armor. The game features hand-crafted levels with deterministic monster battles and custom power-ups, providing a challenging and engaging experience for players. Decision-making is key, as players must choose when to fight enemies and manage their hit points for optimal rewards.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

81%

Audience ScoreBased on 72 reviews

story4 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

DROD RPG offers a unique and challenging optimization puzzle experience that spans many hours and hundreds of rooms, rewarding careful planning and decision-making.
The game features a fully deterministic design, allowing players to improve their strategies and progress through the game based on knowledge gained from previous attempts.
With a variety of user-created levels and a strong community, DROD RPG provides endless replayability and opportunities for players to engage with complex puzzles.

Players may find themselves frequently needing to restart the game due to poor resource management, leading to frustration and a sense of trial-and-error gameplay.
The lack of clear clues and the need for foreknowledge of levels can make the game feel overly punishing, especially for those who dislike repetition.
Some players criticize the voice acting and the simplistic combat mechanics, which may detract from the overall experience despite the game's strategic depth.

gameplay
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
80%
10%
The gameplay in DROD RPG emphasizes strategic decision-making and optimization, requiring players to carefully plan their actions throughout the game to avoid resource wastage and potential dead ends. While it incorporates puzzle mechanics within an RPG framework, the experience is distinct from traditional RPGs, featuring trial-and-error elements and a focus on solving interconnected challenges. Players can expect a blend of thoughtful gameplay, enhanced by a compelling soundtrack and narrative that enriches the overall experience.
- “In DROD RPG, you do puzzle things using RPG mechanics.”
- “The gameplay experience is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack and an entertaining story that ties into the greater lore of the DROD world.”
- “The gameplay involves figuring out in what order to fight monsters, gain stats, kill bosses, collect resources, and spend keys to ensure that you don't waste enough resources in the long-term to reach the end of the game without getting stuck in an unwinnable position.”
- “But that's not the gameplay I was expecting -- to me, trial-and-error is the antithesis of puzzle games and redo-from-start is the antithesis of RPG games.”
- “Please note that the gameplay is not like your typical RPG, nor is it all that similar to the other DROD games, although it is still a turn-based game that requires a lot of thinking.”
- “The gameplay involves figuring out in what order to fight monsters, gain stats, kill bosses, collect resources, and spend keys to ensure that you don't waste enough resources in the long-term that you're able to reach the end of the game without getting stuck in an unwinnable position.”
story
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
The game's story serves as a compelling side narrative within the DROD universe, focusing on the perspective of one of Beethro's enemies. While it is rich in lore and delivered through engaging voice acting, players may find it lacking in complexity and depth typical of RPGs, as it does not feature extensive side quests or anecdotes. Familiarity with the DROD series enhances the experience, but newcomers may still find the story intriguing enough to explore the broader puzzle game world.
- “The gameplay experience is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack and an entertaining story that ties into the greater lore of the DROD world.”
- “Storywise you'll be a little lost if you're not familiar with the DROD universe, but then again, maybe it'll spark your interest and you'll begin the best puzzle game ever made.”
- “This game is story heavy for a puzzle game, but story light for an RPG: there is no complex story to read or numerous anecdotes and side-quests.”
- “Storywise, you'll be a little lost if you're not familiar with the DROD universe, but then again, maybe it'll spark your interest and you'll begin the best puzzle game ever made.”
- “The story elements are delivered through voice acting and will make you love Tendry for his panache!”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Drod RPG is praised for its engaging resource optimization gameplay, where players must strategically manage their hit points by deciding when to fight, use keys, and collect items. While the game lacks animation, the strong voice acting compensates for this shortcoming, enhancing the overall experience. Players enjoy the challenge of determining the optimal order of actions to maximize their resources.
- “Drod RPG is a really fun and unique optimization game.”
- “The optimization gameplay involves making decisions about when to fight, when to use keys, when to pick up items and stat-boosting power-ups, and determining a good order to perform these actions (e.g., picking up power-ups before engaging in fights to save hit points).”
- “The game is a resource optimization game, where the resource to optimize is your hit points.”
- “Thus, the optimization gameplay involves making decisions about when to fight, when to use keys, when to pick up items and stat-boosting power-ups, and determining a good order to perform these actions (e.g., picking up power-ups before engaging in fights to save hit points).”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game offers exceptional replayability, featuring a robust base game complemented by high-quality user-generated levels. Players can engage in various strategies to maximize scores, explore secret areas, and discover alternate solutions, ensuring a fresh experience with each playthrough.
- “Endless replayability with some absolutely top-notch user-made level sets, as well as a brilliant base game.”
- “Replayability (try for a higher score, look for secret areas or alternate solutions, download user-made levels, etc.)”
- “There's a lot of replay value in this, as maximizing a score point early in the game will often require a different set of actions than if you're trying to maximize one in the late game.”
- “- Replayability (try for a higher score, look for secret areas or alternate solutions, download user-made levels, etc.)”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is highlighted by the quirky dialogue and reactions of the character Tendry, which many players find genuinely funny. While the voice acting is often described as poor—bordering on hilariously bad—some players appreciate it for adding an unintended comedic charm to the experience. Overall, the humor contributes positively to the game's enjoyment, despite its flaws.
- “I also want to mention how funny this game is sometimes.”
- “Tendry talks a lot and his quirky analogies and reactions are hilarious.”
- “The voice acting is pretty poor, though after a while I found at least the main character's voice more funny than annoying.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is highlighted as an excellent original soundtrack that enhances the gameplay experience, complementing the deep backstory and lore of the DROD series. Users appreciate how the soundtrack ties into the overall narrative, adding depth to the numbers-based gameplay.
- “This is a numbers game wrapped in a pleasant interface, an original soundtrack, and a deep backstory sprinkled over all the DROD games.”
- “The gameplay experience is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack and an entertaining story that ties into the greater lore of the DROD world.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players note that while grinding involves significant backtracking to collect health potions, power-ups, and secrets, the well-designed levels with shortcuts and teleports make the experience feel engaging rather than tedious.

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DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale

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