I love old school turn based RPGs and have been playing this game for the last 4 days.
I have played at least 60 games in this genre on steam.

I am enjoying "The Dwarf Run" very much because it is not mindless hack-and-slash game.
There is also a object-puzzle-solving element in the game.
You can USE various objects in your inventory to interact with various othe objects in the environment to advance the story-line and open up new locations. Although the storyline is linear, there is a sense of accomplishment if you can finally advance it by figuring out the right interactions of object. Sometimes, I am stuck for hours, took a break, and when I come back a new idea pops up in my mind, and I can advance the story. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is also no mindless grinding in this game as there are no random encounters or random monsters. Because of this, every encounter is precious, and I would try to explore every corners of every map to make sure that I do not missed any hidden encounter. Resources are also limited and precious in this game. Ammunition is limited and you can obtain them from limited number of boulders (to make stones), animal bones (to make stone arrows) or insect stings (to make poison arrows), etc. Money is also very limited and you will have to decide what type of gears to buy with the limited amount of money. I really like the way this game control XP, ammunition and gears, as it make each acquisition to be meaningful and treasured.

Although the game length is stated to be only 15 hours, I have played at least 36 hours on this game and love it. I am a completionist and am trying to get every single Steam Achievement in a single playthrough. That is why I go slow and cautiously explore everywhere to make sure that I do not miss a single achievement. So far I have all the achievment except the last one which is from finishing the game. The ending should be within the next 2 days, but I decide to take time and write this review instead, so that other people can enjoy this fun game.

I would definitely recommend this game and it is worth the money spend.

Amazing game. I was skeptical when I launched it for a first time, and the feeling I had was that it was going to be another easy to play low rating game for an hour or two. What surprised me most is that despite the fact that the game is cheap, has low poly, lack of voice dialogue (it would be strange to have that for such a price though), it still feels great and plays much better than many other AAA games of the same genre. In fact, it feels like a quest, a parody, a mix of modern RPG and old school dungeon crawling at times, which in my opinion, is very interesting way of making a computer game.

What I really enjoyed in this game is the game mechanics - I am not saying it is something new, but you cannot just hack and slash entire game without some strategy. Every move, every battle, every level up of your hero requires you to think twice. What is interesting is that, unlike many similar RPG games, this game is challenging, if not impossible at times (especially for people who never played RPG games before) - in fact, you may end up reloading a game several times after every single battle (!) because of the one mistake you made either in battle or (the worst) if you developed your characters wrong (and trust me, for a first time you will do this). So if anyone want to avoid the mistakes before they are made - do not follow a typical RPG paradigm - your heroes will be useless if you focus just on what is best for their classes in other games - thus, if you think STR and con are great for fighter, INT is only issue mage needs to solve, and good ranger only needs to have high DEX - then you will need a new keyboard because you will kill it by hitting the same reload button 1000 times. Again, universality is key in this game - this will be clear once you enter the pits.

Second thing I liked in game is the sense of humour. I thought I saw everything of the genre but this game made me laugh so many times, I am still trying to understand how weird the situation can end up from a usual (as it seemed) dungeon crawling attempt. Yes - you have to be prepared to read the story, listen to your companions, and pay attention to details in order to really enjoy the game.

9.5 / 10

I'm only four hours in, but I'm really enjoying the game. At first, I was like Iceywind1980 and was about to give up on the game; it ttook me 30 minutes, or so, to get going and figure out how to play. Also, the default difficulty setting is "Difficult," but you can change it in game. The fusion of point-and-click and rpg is really succesful. Solving inventory puzzles, searching the enviroment, and talking to things is really just as essential to your progress as combat. The writing is very good and never fails to entertain; party dialogue also frequently gives subtle clues as to how to progress. The graphics and animations are good, for this type of game, and add to the enjoyment. The game runs pretty smoothly and load times are minimal. The rpg mechanics are pretty sophsticated for a modestly priced game like this; for instance, your characters earn combat experience based on how much damage they did in the fight. Also, turd zombies. A very enjoyable game.

A bit unforunate. A very fun tactical RPG with turn-based combat, which is exactly what I need more of. And the combat in this game is done fairly well, is balanced, and requires real tough decisions to be made. All of that is working quite well.

However, I blame my disappointment on the scenario design, as about halfway through you're forced to fight a ton of battles within an arena. All manner of exploration is removed and it just starts to feel like a grind. The combat IS good, don't get me wrong, but not good enough to withstand this slog. Games like FFT can afford to do away with exploration because the character building and combat dynamics are so friggin' deep, but here after six or seven straight samey arena battles, the combat simply can't mange to stay fun. And all you have to look forward to in terms of power is a point or two into a skill you already have.

After so many fights in a row, patterns start to emerge and it all sort of starts to feel samey. For example, my Wizard will start every fight casting Posses x2, then Fireball, then Itch, then use up the rest of his Spark spells. While there is a consideration of prioritizing enemies, other than that, you generally employ the same strategy in most every fight, and I think the Arena reveals this flaw.

Had these fights been more broken up and spread out over several areas replete with exploration and people to talk to and things to find, I might not have minded so much. I think 10 or 20 real big fights would have taken me right to the end, and I would have been happy. This Arena thing just isn't working for me. I feel as trapped as my characters.

So I can't really give a positive review because the Arena takes up such a huge part of the game, or at least feels like it, because it's so underwhelming compared to the sections that came before.

The Dwarf Run is a fun "little" role-playing game with pretty demanding battles and an unusual story. Actually, the plot is what kept me playing it even when there was (in my opinion) too much combat. I only played it in the easiest mode, and even then it can be very hard, so be aware.

It combines (easy) Point'n'Click puzzles with a tactical combat RPG system, with a big emphasis on the latter. It's a pretty linear game (it's even subdivided in chapters), but sometimes you can explore the area a bit and choose to do fights in your own order. I actually liked the graphics, maybe because I'm nostalgic of older games; and the humor is often pretty good, which makes it okay that the story doesn't always make sense.

Minor spoiler: I wish the elf from the bar scene in the beginning would have welcomed me back or something when I finished the game, to make it more round.

Bigger spoiler: Near the end of the game comes The Arena, a part of the story where you will fight. A lot. Oh, so many fights. But I must say, even though I'm not a fan of long, complex tactical combats, The Dwarf Run (at least in the easy mode) is rather well balanced and I learned the ins and outs of the tactical combat so much I actually enjoyed it (most of the time). And as the developer listens to feedback I am sure this part of the game will even become better.

I've just completed the game and overall I've had a pretty enjoyable experience.

From reading other reviews you can probably tell that there's clearly a few imperfections in it and it a couple of ways it felt a little unfinished, but and this is a big but, I think that the positive by far outweigh the negative.

The Downside
- There's no voice acting, only written dialogue, but to be fair given the price of the game I'll actually take this, and no voice acting is actually better than bad voice acting
- There's a couple of pathfinding bugs during battles (usually solved by moving the camera around or going in and out of inventory)
- The arena battles go on and on and on (especially if you don't release that you can get through them quickly by not trying to complete the whole lot of them... it took my 18 rounds of a particular one, and I don't want to give spoilers but let’s just say that a bit clearer sign posting would have made that it didn't)

The Upside
- The balance in the game is beautifully done, I think set loot drops play a big part of this, but at no point did I feel that battles were too hard or becoming too easy. I think this really shouldn't be underestimated in a game, at no point was Dwarf Run coming grindy for me, and as a result it's one of the few rpgs that I've played through to the end.
- The story is fun, again without giving spoilers, it's different, it'll have you scratching your head a couple of times, and it's in some ways pretty simple, but put simply its engaging, it leave you always wanting to see around the next corner I was a lot more curious about where everything was going than in some AAA titles where you have to defeat the 9 lords of blah blah before finding out that they were just minions of the 12 gods of yada yada.
- The levelling system actually makes you stop and think, it does something really really well which upon reflection make you wonder why other games haven't been doing it. For instance, a spell will cost you 1 point to learn, it might still only cost you 1 point to get a second copy of it, but the third copy might then cost you 2 points, a forth copy might be 3 points. The result it that you can't just one trick pony your way through battles, you have to have to plan a bit and make yourself a strategy in order to succeed.
-Those arena battles end up being strangely addictive.

So the verdict is clearly a thumbs up from it, I hope that we get to see more games from the same developer, a sequel perhaps, that said I also hope that any sequel we do get doesn't move away from the formula that's been set up here in the first Dwarf Run. Even with a bigger budget I hope that any follow up games retain what Dwarf Run has at its core, and that's Charm.

This is a quirky little turn-based RPG, that relies on little more than you mouse and your whit. It combines elements from point-click adventure games/ and games like Grandia (where you hero has an option of running around, doing melee attacks, or a ranged attack. You have obsticles you have to overcome through discovery of items, as well as tough foes.

In spirit it has a very old-school (probably through budget as well as choice) feel. There's no voice acting and the models/enviroment are low-poly, but done so in a somewhat artful way.

Pros:
+Quirky looking dialogue, story.
+Low PC demand
+Interesting gameplay
+Challenging gameplay

Cons:
+No grinding for easy playthrough (there seems to be no grind, the arrows/ammo you get you can only get 1 time, and there's no way of grinding you characters up).
+Challenging easy mode, even the easy mode can seem impossible at times. Especially if you leveled your characters wrong.

Bipolar game. Born as a point and click adventure game, it turns into a turn-based tactical combat orgy. Admittedly, the combat mechanics are meaningful, deep, challenging and damn close to perfect. But, where did my adventure go?

Turn-based tactical combat fans will love The dwarf run, but this aspect just devours anything else about the game.

Recommendation should be neutral, but forced to choose, I give it a thumbs down.

Personally, I am disappointed about The dwarf run. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad game, it just turned out to be aimed at a single direction: combat.

At a certain point, the combat devours anything else about The dwarf run. It stops progressing as a P&C adventure and becomes a single minded combat simulator, … and stops being fun. At some point, is it 10, 15 or 20 consecutive fights (each of increasing difficulty) you have to endure to keep the story progressing? Honestly, I don’t know because eventually I gave up. Mostly because I could not achieve victory no matter what I tried. Better tacticians might have better luck.

And it is not like combat is not interesting. On the contrary. It is possibly one of the most interesting combat systems I have seen in the last few years. Mechanics are deep, challenging and interesting. You have the typical rock-scissors-paper mechanics. But on top of that, you have tough decisions to make. Unlike typical combat where you hit an opponent until you get rid of it, The dwarf run offers a deeper strategy value. When you hit an opponent, you cause not only a health hit, but also an accuracy and power hit. That means that you have to decide whether to kill an opponent or impose a different penalty on the other ones. This makes for a very interesting mechanic. Highly recommended.

In summary: an exemplary turn-based tactical combat system that unfortunately ends up devouring everything else about the game. Turn-based combat fans will love it, but the adventure is lost from the mix.

For more PrivateJoh’s personal (re)views you can check HERE .

I could not get passed the creepy graphics, unintuitive interface, or confusing battle system. Maybe I did not give it enough of a chance but my short time with this team-based RPG / point-and-click adventure gave me no reason to continue trying.

Decent Niche Indie rpg with one fatal flaw 10 hours in.

The basic concept is an amalgamation of a point and click game with a rudimentary, yet satisfying rpg combat system. You get a party of four dudes, which are locked into their roles as Wizard, Fighter, Cleric and Ranger. So almost the classic adventuring party. There is some leway to how you build your parties, but overall you are locked to the same dynamic.

Now what the game gets very right is the power progression and the early game feel. You go from almost dying to shabby skeletons to fighting demons in about 10 hours while the game does some very clever things to never let your power growth feel wrong. Getting your first staff so your wizard can finally cast spells is ultra satisfying, same as having all characters stuffed in armor for the first time.

Then however, 10 hours in, the game drops the ball hard. An Arena appears, you get ALL OF YOUR ITEMS TAKEN AWAY. Now this is kinda neat at first, you fight a few beggars and low level enemies again, and need to compromise for your lacking equipment. What do you do with a ranger without a bow? But it becomes super frustrating due to how long the Arena is by default. The Arena has more fights than the entire rest of the game before.
There is a setting that reduces the Arena to a much more modest size, but the problem isn't purely in the size of the arena, but also in the premise that you do not get your stuff back at a steady pace, you need to buy it with the spoils from the arena. WTF. Also the area before the arena has the first merchants in the game, 8 hours in. So you just bought incredibly powerfull equipment for hundreds of gold pieces, used that in 2 or 3 battles, maybe none when you returned to the vendors before entering the arena floor, and now you need to pay for it again? Such a retarded design decision that punishes having good equipment.

Treat this as a nice 10 hour adventure, and then prepare to ragequit the game at the arena when the stupidity starts. Still recommended because for 2.50 the first 10h were neat enough.