Excave is a very simple dungeon-crawling RPG available now on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Well, that’s what the description of the game says. The RPG part is debatable, but more on that later. First, there’s a quick confession I feel I should make upfront: I had never played a dungeon crawler before I played Excave. It’s all the sadder to think about when realizing that Excave is not that great of a game.
A brief, text-based introduction establishes the game’s storyline: a magic research facility located beneath the town has mysteriously turned into a labyrinthine demon’s nest. An obvious typo in the introduction (which will probably be seared in my mind forever) made me cautious about the upcoming game, and rightfully so. The king is in search of “adventures” who are brave enough to explore the maze and hopefully find a magician who is lost deep within.
Another aspect of the game that works fairly well is the character selection, but again, it doesn’t reach it’s full potential here, either. You can basically choose between a male or female character (at any point in the game), both of whom are nameless. The main differences between the two are the weapon types they can wield. This at least gives you a reason to try both out, despite the forgettable character designs.
The dull combat might not be a problem if the enemies were interesting, but alas, they are not. Quite often you’ll simply be surrounded by a horde of enemies, and there are really only two possible strategies to employ: mash the A button or get a few hits in and run away, wash, rinse, repeat. Boss battles break the mold somewhat, fortunately. One mildly interesting one early on has you running away from an indestructible blue blob, breaking through obstacles to get to the end of a winding hall; it’s surprisingly tense.
You can equip up to three accessories to your chosen adventurer that alter his/her stats. This is the only way I can see that the game is an RPG, but there are only four or five types of accessories; you’ll find stronger versions of them as you progress, is all.
The Recommendation
If you like dungeon crawlers so much you can forgive a poor combat system and interface, then pick up Excave, by all means. Just know that just about every facet of the game is at or below average before you do.