I’ve played through the Temporal Sanctum Dungeon about 10 times now, and as a proof of concept of map randomization it works well: I’ve never had a single uncompleteable layout, the time travel mechanic works smoothly, and every tile fits together seamlessly. As a beta game’s first Dungeon, I’m glad to see that EHG has managed to nail the back-end nuts and bolts without any noticeable bugs on the user end of things.
However, as an enjoyable level I think it is lacking in several respects.
1: The Absence of Any Apparent Organizing Principle
While the Dungeon works insofar as it cannot generate unwinnable layouts, it is obvious that the maps are randomly generated because they lack any similarity to a building people would use. There are no discernible central hallways or primary chambers, just a mishmash of corridors and libraries that blend into one another without any apparent care for the convenience of the Dungeon’s residents before it became a combat zone.
Contrast this with the maps from Path of Exile, a game that EHG is surely familiar with: one of my favorite tilesets, the Haunted Mansion Map, always generates with the player spawned in front of a foyer that leads into a central hallway, from which various courtyards and dining rooms then stem. While few Haunted Mansion runs will be exactly the same, they all follow this organizing principle and thereby feel like a believable location.
2: The Lack of Variety and Contrast Between Tilesets
So far, I’ve noticed three types of tileset (six, if counting the time-travel variants): Library, Mat/Bedroom, and Hallway. Perhaps there are more, but the fact that this is all that springs to mind even if there are more means that whatever actual variety exists is dulled by an absence of sufficient contrast to differentiate all of them. So, my first criticism for this section is that existing tilesets, however many there are, need to have enough visual distinction that they refuse to let themselves be mistaken for one another.
my second criticism under point #2 is related to point #1: one solution to the lack of map structure would be to give maps a focal point, but a focal point would need to be visually distinct for it to serve the purpose of being a focal point. Perhaps there could be some rare rooms that are much larger than normal chambers, and can never generate more than once per dungeon? A room filled with pulsating flasks in the Divine Era and laboratory debris when Ruined; a torture chamber made even more nightmarish by the coming of the Void; a restricted library whose centerpiece is a caged tome in the Divine Era, but broken from its case and radiating blight and decay in the Ruined time… you get the idea.
To end this section, I’ll cite Torchlight II as an example of an ARPG that has fantastic setpiece tileset (“chunk”) design: all of them have great visual distinction while slotting into the game’s overworld seamlessly. Check out this mod by a Torchlight 2 dev to get a feel for how much variety their chunk system offered.
3: The lack of variety in Time-Travel Obstacles
While this is technically encompassed by point #2, Last Epoch bills itself as a “Time Travel” game, and as one of the first pieces of content to make that billing a meaningful part of gameplay, I believe the Temporal Sanctum deserves particular criticism on this front.
While the concept of using time travel to avoid obstacles is great, and the mechanical implementation is smooth, there is no variety in obstacles. There’s endless series of (at least practically, again, see point #2) identical barred gates.
Firstly, these gates are far too common; going back to point #1, how is this practical for the Dungeon’s residents? But furthermore, these gates are boring compared to all the obstacles that could emerge or be destroyed between centuries; here’s a few ideas for obstacle pairings off the top of my head:
Divine Era = DE, Ruined Era = RE
- DE: A barricaded wooden door, hastily erected to prevent intrusion - RE: A rotted, void-tainted wreck
- DE: A perfectly fine floor - RE: A shattered, gaping pit with no bottom in sight
- DE: An ornate doorway flanked by stone columns - RE: columns collapsed and overgrown with Void blight
- DE: A smoking, lava-filled pit - RE: A solid surface of cold obsidian
- DE: A hallway decorated with potted plants - RE: An unwalkable path choked by Void-tainted brambles
I purchased Last Epoch with the understanding that it is a beta product, and as the first shipped instance of a randomized map in that beta product, the Temporal Sanctum works smoothly. However, I hope that as the game continues towards 1.0, these criticisms are considered when revising the Temporal Sanctum, or at least when designing future Dungeons.