Indie Tower of Kalemonvo

[Feyd Rautha]

I found this little Diablo-clone on Steam with the intended release date in Q4 2023.

Instead of descending into the dungeons you ascend a tower (of Kalemonovo)! You can try the game for free here.

Features

Tower of Kalemonvo is designed for veterans of older Action RPGs, with key components such as:

• Randomly Generated Dungeon Levels
  Rooms, rewards and foes are always changing, no two playthroughs will be the same!
  
  
• Classless Character Customization
  If you have the stats, you can equip and use any item, cast any spell or perform any combat feat.

Spoiler

No Lootboxes
Always Offline
No Launchers
No Phones

 

[Feyd Rautha]

 

[Serus]

Release is Q3 of 2024 now on Steam.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

No Phones

OH NOOOOOO!!!
My Chinese friends will be devastated.

 

[Kabas]

I tried the demo of this one some time ago, even posted some pics in the screenshot thread like the one below. Looks pretty sweet.

It's a very Diablo 1 inspired game with the most notable difference being the absence of town. No teleporting back to town in order fill up your potion belt, the only loot and potions you're going to get are the ones found in the tower you're ascending. No shops either except for some weird ones like the one with the demon that can refresh his stock if you agree to permamnetly sacrifice a health point, dev showcased this one on twitter one time.
Edit: I misremembered, it's a mana points that you must sacrifice for a shop refresh.

You also get weapon arts, special warrior abilities that work just like spells except you don't need to find the spellbook in order to learn them. They only require meeting their stat requirements like AGI 11 or STR 16. One-handed and shield Weapon arts include stuff like multi-strike, ability to block enemy attack if you press the button in time and similar ability to deflect any projectile back at the enemy. Two-handed weapons get the ability to rush enemy, throw weapon like a boomerang and execute low-HP ones. Bows get elemental projectiles, pierce shot and stuff.
You get your regular magic too of course like the basic firebolt, deflection field, that one spell that freezes floor or the berserk spell that increases all of your damage, no matter if it's magical or physical. Requires investing in INT in order to learn them from a spellbook but there are also some spells that can be aquired without stat requirements like by touching a special object.

Feels a bit more like a roguelike somewhat compared to the original Diablo 1. Some people might enjoy playing this one with ironman on.

 

[MerchantKing]

Can I spam skeletons with the necromancer class just like Diablo 2?

 

[Aemar]

You can try the game for free here.

A downloadable masterpiece for Windows and Linux

It looks like proper eurojank. Wishlisted.

 

[Serus]

You can try the game for free here.

A downloadable masterpiece for Windows and Linux

It looks like proper eurojank. Wishlisted.

Demos can be masterpieces too! Be inclusive.

 

[Kabas]

Dev released an update recently with a bunch of new stuff.

Trying to be a pure wizard is not as fun as being pure warrior here, at least early on.
You're not locked into a single path however due to the way your stats work. You will need some Dex anyway if you want to make use of increased wand damage from Mind so nothing prevents you from switching to a crossbow while casting bloodlust on yourself and slow on your enemies.

 

[kalemonvo]

Trying to be a pure wizard is not as fun as being pure warrior here, at least early on.

It's not the first time I heard this, I'll look into it.
Thanks for giving it a try, I hope it was fun.

 

[PlayerEmers]

didnt know kalemonvo dev was here

i've been following the game for a while on 4chan gamedev threads and twitter

really looking foward for the release since we have a concerning lack of diablo 1-style games (instead of the ADHD clickfest diablo 2 wannabes)

 

[kalemonvo]

Status update: still aiming for a 2024 release. I'll have to navigate a bit around PoE2 and D4's expansion but it won't be too bad. I'll also put out a DRM-free version on itch for those who dislike Steam.
I also updated a new demo this morning that tweaked a few things, and I feel the demo is a good representation of what the final game will be like. If you're interested, try tit out, it's the first 5 floors and I'd say it's about an hour if you know your way around diablo-clones. Let me know if anything breaks if you do try it.

didnt know kalemonvo dev was here

i've been following the game for a while on 4chan gamedev threads and twitter

really looking foward for the release since we have a concerning lack of diablo 1-style games (instead of the ADHD clickfest diablo 2 wannabes)

Cheers, I hope it will scratch that D1 itch.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

kalemonvo Great demo, I liked it. If I may say so, I'd like some minor QoL:
- Having a position/arrow on the minimap (unless I haven't seen the option for it?)
- Is there a key we can press to automatically load up potions on the belt like the shift+click of Diablo?

Thanks.

 

[Cryomancer]

I played the demo one time and honestly, liked. Just wish that had a "drinking potion" animation.

 

[PlayerEmers]

also tried the new demo today but on the steam deck, good stuff all around

did some testing with a custom controller layout i've made(if you have a SD, check the community layouts for the demo, i've uploaded there) to switch spells, weapon skills and use the hotbar and it works quite well, just need to get used to it a bit

the ingame text is somewhat small on the deck, would be cool to add UI scaling options for deck users (and people who use gigantic monitor setups)

 

[kalemonvo]

kalemonvo Great demo, I liked it. If I may say so, I'd like some minor QoL:
- Having a position/arrow on the minimap (unless I haven't seen the option for it?)
- Is there a key we can press to automatically load up potions on the belt like the shift+click of Diablo?

Thanks.

Thanks for playing!
You show up on the minimap as a red arrow facing the direction your character faces. There's no way to disable that so I have to wonder why it didn't appear for you.
Middle mouse click to add/remove potions from the belt. You can also right click an empty belt slot to set it to only accept HP or MP based potions.

I played the demo one time and honestly, liked. Just wish that had a "drinking potion" animation.

Yeah, an issue with these games is just healing through fights you shouldn't beat by simply spamming potions. It's something I'm aware of and I did have drinking with a cast time before, but it didn't really enhance the gameplay in my opinion - it simply added periods of no activity while you drink and reduced combat strategies. I decided to just leave it as an instant +HP effect since I feel like I was already up to my ears in balance.

also tried the new demo today but on the steam deck, good stuff all around

did some testing with a custom controller layout i've made(if you have a SD, check the community layouts for the demo, i've uploaded there) to switch spells, weapon skills and use the hotbar and it works quite well, just need to get used to it a bit

the ingame text is somewhat small on the deck, would be cool to add UI scaling options for deck users (and people who use gigantic monitor setups)

Glad it worked on the 'deck without me having to do anything. I'm surprised the text doesn't scale, since it's written to scale depending on the resolution. Probably a deck thing. Luckily I bought one some time ago so I'll see about getting it compatible once I finish making everything for the PC, and I'll also look into being able to adjust textbox sizes in options.

Thanks for all the feedback and I am glad it was a fun time for you all. Let me know if any of you have any further suggestions or ideas.

 

[PlayerEmers]

Glad it worked on the 'deck without me having to do anything. I'm surprised the text doesn't scale, since it's written to scale depending on the resolution. Probably a deck thing.

i should've been more specific
i think most text scaling is ok except the description that shows up when you hover the mouse on stats and items: they are somewhat readable but I need to zoom my face on the screen a bit to be more easy to read

either way, i think it would be benefitial to add some option to tweak the text scaling
also have not finished the new demo yet, will post overall thoughts when im done

 

[luj1]

Looks like a spiritual successor to Diablo 1, finally

need better lightning tho

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

kalemonvo Great demo, I liked it. If I may say so, I'd like some minor QoL:
- Having a position/arrow on the minimap (unless I haven't seen the option for it?)
- Is there a key we can press to automatically load up potions on the belt like the shift+click of Diablo?

Thanks.

Thanks for playing!
You show up on the minimap as a red arrow facing the direction your character faces. There's no way to disable that so I have to wonder why it didn't appear for you.
Middle mouse click to add/remove potions from the belt. You can also right click an empty belt slot to set it to only accept HP or MP based potions.

Maybe I'm blind, but I was pretty frustrated with this so I feel it didn't appear lol. I should have taken a screenshot or something.

 

[PlayerEmers]

Forgot to post here
I think my main complaints about the game are still minor stuff like the text scaling on the deck(forgot to say: the npc dialogue text is really small on the deck, worst than item amd stats descriptions) and QoL stuff like shift clicking potions to fill the hotbar
But ignoring that, is a really solid demo, cool items and interesting spells that gives the player plenty of stuff to mess around with.

Oh and another thing that I wanted to talk: might sound weird but it feels like the overall looks of the game (characters, dungeons, etc) are too "crispy clean" even tho there is a clear intent of making the game dark and gritty. Not sure if will catch my drift but its like a janitor just finished their work cleaning all the textures in the game to make them crystal clear even tho its a game about a abandoned tower of a long dead wizard that is full of weird shit, monsters and cultists. But this might be just nostalgia googles for diablo 1 and it's low res (that compliments well the darkness and grittiness of the game)

edit: Take halls of torment as an example. Its one of those vampire survivors wannabes but it replicates quite well the diablo 1 aeshethics. But it uses techniques (or might be shaders) for the low res aesthetics. I guess making things low res really compliments games that try to achieve dark tones.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, you move a lot better than in diablo imho.

 

[Jaesun]

Downloaded the demo and still running around the first level. Fun, good classic exploration and clicky clicky combat just like Diablo 1. Character and enemy and dungeon art looked good. I will more than likely be buying this when it comes out.

 

[kalemonvo]

Oh and another thing that I wanted to talk: might sound weird but it feels like the overall looks of the game (characters, dungeons, etc) are too "crispy clean" even tho there is a clear intent of making the game dark and gritty. Not sure if will catch my drift but its like a janitor just finished their work cleaning all the textures in the game to make them crystal clear even tho its a game about a abandoned tower of a long dead wizard that is full of weird shit, monsters and cultists. But this might be just nostalgia googles for diablo 1 and it's low res (that compliments well the darkness and grittiness of the game)

I think this is a design failure on my part. Something I tried to focus on was to make sure the game was always readable despite the low visibility/lighting. What ended up happening instead was that a lot of things ended up with a bright and clean look to it, instead of serving as a darker background to be used as contrast for enemies. I noticed watching a lot of players that they tend to click props, boxes and the dark barrels lining the walls, thinking they're part of the game instead of just being clutter - that tells me a lot of the dungeon is too clear/noticeable for players instead of being automatically brushed off as visual props. It's something I'm tinkering with.

 

[PlayerEmers]

I noticed watching a lot of players that they tend to click props, boxes and the dark barrels lining the walls, thinking they're part of the game instead of just being clutter

Oh yeah.
I did the same thing... many times in fact

 

[thesecret1]

Yeah, an issue with these games is just healing through fights you shouldn't beat by simply spamming potions.

True Diablo 1 experience.