James and i have been working on The Legend of Bum-bo for well over 3 years now, and in those 3 years the game has mutated in many different ways. in this post im going to do a bare bones break down of how the final game actually plays and go over a few frequently asked questions.
i used to describe bumbo as Puzzle Quest meets Isaac, but over the years deck building roguelikes like Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons have defined the genre, so it's probably best to compare it to those titles.
In The Legend of Bum-bo you travel through randomly generated rooms filled with monsters and are rewarded with coins and spells that are placed in your "deck" or spell book which each fit into specific archetypes. there are 5 types of items in bum-bo: attack, defense, puzzle manipulation, usable items and wild card types.
at the end of each dungeon you will face a boss and if you defeat them you will gain a trinket. trinkets are passive items that also fit into the 5 different item types and are designed to aide in specific strategies.
coins are rewarded depending on how you play and can be used to upgrade your spells and base stats. item mods or "pricks" can be applied to lower mana costs, raise damage, lower the charge cost or even re-roll the spell altogether. Stat boosts on the other hand can raise your health, add a movement point, raise your puzzle or item damage and raise your luck.
this is the core of what bum-bo is, but what makes it unique is that instead of dice rolls or energy the resources you gain in bum-bo come from the puzzle board.
the puzzle board utilizes a familiar match 4 system and uses a slide row/column mechanic. the number of times you can move the board is tied to each character's movement points.
matching 4+ tiles of a specific color will gain you that much mana of that color that can be used to fuel your spells, but each tile type also comes with a specific ability that scales with the number of tiles within the combo.
Bones - make low damage single hit attacks that let you choose multiple targets as they scale up.
Teeth - make attacks that scale up greatly, damage wise, but only hit one target.
Boogers - stick down an enemy causing them to lose actions on their turn depending on how many boogers were applied.
Poop - make defensive barriers that can be combined into large mounds that absorb damage.
Pee - gain bonus movement points and charge items.
each of the 5 core tiles also comes with an "ultimate combo" for matching 7+, but i wont spoil that now.
When you couple these core designs with 100+ unique spells, 100+ unique trinkets and quite a few different characters all with a specific mechanic... you get a super chaotic system of surprisingly deep strategy that will make you scream with ecstasy so loud your mom will be very disappointed in you.
Next week we spoil some music!
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QA
Q: how is this a prequel to the Binding of Isaac?
A: i cant explain this due to it being a spoiler, but lets just say it's set in the same world as isaac and happens about a month or so before the events that took place in the binding of isaac.
Q: how long is an average play session?
A: currently about an hour to beat the normal game, but id like to cut it down to 45 min or less. there is a great deal more thinking in bum-bo compared to an action game like isaac so i assume smarties out there will probably have much quicker play sessions.
Q: will it have lots of unlocks like isaac?
A: the unlocks in bum-bo mirror those in isaac, but isaac has a remake and 7 years of dlcs.. so dont go in expecting an obscene amount of unlocks like isaac currently has.
Q: what is the scale of this game compared to isaac?
A: i would put the size of bum-bo at roughly the same as the OG isaac release when it comes to in game content. but if you guys love the game there is no reason why we cant expand it as we go.
Q: does bum-bo have exploration like isaac?
A: it used to but we cut it, it actually made the game drag out too long and didnt add much or compliment the games puzzle themes well.
Q: how much?
A: $14.99 with a small release week discount!
see you next time
-Edmund
