Review: CLICKPOCALYPSE 2

INTRODUCTION

CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 is a browser-based fantasy dungeon crawling incremental game created by Jim808.  In CLICKPOCALYPSE 2, you create a party of 1-4 characters of various classes, and assist them as they battle through randomly generated dungeons and castles, in an attempt to conquer every castle on the map and end the eternal winter that has befallen the land.

VISUALS

CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 employs a smartly constructed, button based graphical user interface.  The main game window contains a small graphical representation of your party as it travels throughout the game world.  This display adds a nice visual touch to the game, and the sprite based graphics harken back to the era of early graphical PC dungeon crawlers.  Information is presented in a very straightforward manner and the layout of the different frames in the UI focuses on a smart use of space with a simple intuitive design.  Tabs are used to keep secondary information off the main game screen.  The only drawback of the game's visual design is that the interface does not rescale to fit the size of the browser window, which leads to sub-optimal sizing on some monitor resolutions.

GAMEPLAY

The player starts off by selecting a party.  There are six base classes to choose from, and the party can contain up to four characters.  The basic gameplay loop of CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 involves your party travelling to a dungeon and then progressing through each room, one at a time, defeating any monsters present and collecting any treasures they find.  This progression is entirely automated, and the player is unable to control the characters in any way.  Notably absent from CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 is a basic click mechanic such as a resource collecting button or the ability to damage enemies by clicking them.  Instead, the player is responsible for utilizing party-accrued resources to purchase various upgrades, including using experience points to level up party members and selecting character skills.  Additionally, the player has a small inventory of potions and scrolls which can be used to buff the party or to damage enemies that the party has engaged.  Finally, the player has the ability to press a button when the party enters a dungeon room that contains a lootable feature, such as a chest.  If the player does not click to loot these features, the party will pass by them without looting (unless there is a skilled rogue in the party).  As a result, the active component of this game is somewhat limited.  If the player has run out of potions and scrolls, and doesn't have enough resources to purchase a new upgrade there will be no way for them to interact with the game.  At early stages in the game this is a limit that a player who wishes to play actively will run into frequently, however as the game progresses, the player will gain access to a much larger scroll inventory, as well as potions that allow for unlimited scroll use, which allow for much more active gameplay.  Selecting the correct potion or scroll for the situation, or deciding which upgrade to spend resources on can require a small amount of strategy in an otherwise extremely easy and simple game.  The game does not progress while closed, and the game will even stop running if the tab that it is open in is not the selected tab in a non-minimized browser window.

PROGRESSION

Progression in CLICKPOCLYPSE 2 is based on a map that contains dungeons, towns, and castles.  The party will progress through dungeons room by room, and when the dungeon has been cleared, they will return to a town to sell off collected treasure, then move on to the next dungeon.  Each dungeon is associated with a castle, and when the party has cleared all the dungeons for a specific castle, the player may choose to attack that castle.  The game ends when every castle has been cleared.  On my first playthrough I ended up completing the game in approximately 40-50 hours.  This was done mostly idle with small sections of active play throughout the day.  Your party members will progress through static skill trees, unlocking new abilities and improving their stats; purchase a series of upgrades designed to present them with stronger and more rewarding challenges; and collect a steady stream of progressively stronger equipment throughout the game.  The player will also unlock and level up six different types of scroll throughout the game.

REPLAYABILITY

CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 has a moderate amount of replayability.  There are currently eleven different classes to play, some of which are locked to players who have not yet prestiged one or more times.  In this way the main draw of replaying the game would be trying out different classes.  The difficulty of the game is quite low, and there is no failure state, which means that any player will be able to complete the game given enough time.  Other than trying different classes, different replay goals would have to be limited to player created challenges such as speedrunning or single character runs.

SUPPORT

Support for CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 is very strong.  Jim808 is active in the CLICKPOCALYPSE subreddit, and updates have been released several times a week for at least a few months now.  It seems that CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 is currently in a period of rapid iteration, which will please players who desire an incremental game that has not gone stagnant.

CONCLUSION

CLICKPOCALYPSE 2 is a smartly designed incremental game with some fun flavor and interesting mechanics.  The lack of challenge and minor technical drawbacks should not dissuade fans of the genre from giving this outstanding game a try.