Fidel is a fun, smart, cute looking puzzle rogue-lite. For me it was very engaging. Rules of the game, how each enemy works, one learns organically through observation & experimentation, and it's fun to figure out what new elements do. While it’s a rogue-lite, and the random can sometimes screw the player over, it’s predominantly a puzzle game, so there is much more control.

There are two "boss" levels (at the end of main game & underworld), which introduce several new concepts at once, but there is an endless undo, and no time limit on those, so player can take it slow discovering new mechanics and then the solution. No need to repeat whole dungeon several times to have a brief chance at the boss level, like the regular rogue-likes do it. One needs to prepare for those “bosses” though, by completing previous levels well (more XP=more HP, more coins=extra items to use).

There are also extra centipede levels, along with extra puzzle levels, that after beating unlock zombie-Fidel & robo-Fidel respectively, dog alternatives that change the gameplay significantly for further replays of the base game & underworld.

And after all that, the player can challenge themselves by beating the game under different conditions for achievements. Personally, I’ve finished all the base & underworld floors resulting in true ending, all the centipede & puzzle levels, and then did a few successful special runs. I had a lot of fun and I’ll probably come back to it from time to time.

Very much recommended :)

Written after 10.5 hours played & 13 of 23 (57%) achievements earned

Fidel is a fun, smart, cute looking puzzle rogue-lite. For me it was very engaging. Rules of the game, how each enemy works, one learns organically through observation & experimentation, and it's fun to figure out what new elements do. While it’s a rogue-lite, and the random can sometimes screw the player over, it’s predominantly a puzzle game, so there is much more control. There are two "boss" levels (at the end of main game & underworld), which introduce several new concepts at once, but there is an endless undo, and no time limit on those, so player can take it slow discovering new mechanics and then the solution. No need to repeat whole dungeon several times to have a brief chance at the boss level, like the regular rogue-likes do it. One needs to prepare for those “bosses” though, by completing previous levels well (more XP=more HP, more coins=extra items to use). There are also extra centipede levels, along with extra puzzle levels, that after beating unlock zombie-Fidel & robo-Fidel respectively, dog alternatives that change the gameplay significantly for further replays of the base game & underworld. And after all that, the player can challenge themselves by beating the game under different conditions for achievements. Personally, I’ve finished all the base & underworld floors resulting in true ending, all the centipede & puzzle levels, and then did a few successful special runs. I had a lot of fun and I’ll probably come back to it from time to time. Very much recommended :) [i]Written after 10.5 hours played & 13 of 23 (57%) achievements earned[/i]