‘Identifile: Desktop Dungeon’ Game Review: Fun Battles With PC Viruses
Identifile: Desktop Dungeon is the first game developed and published by Gearbyte Games on any major storefront. Identifile is an action roguelike that combines elements of a dungeon crawler, clicker-style gameplay, and the difficulty of a bullet hell game. The game takes what could be considered a classic dungeon crawler and turns it into a file manager-based system that is similar to older versions of the Windows operating system.
In Identifile, you’ll navigate through a file system where your primary goal is to clear out the system from viruses by checking folders and scanning files. In addition to scouring the various hard drives, you’ll have to battle your way through enemies in the form of viruses with challenging bosses that take the form of computer bugs.
With this being a roguelike, each run will be unique including which enemies will spawn, placing coins in random files, gameplay bonuses, and which items will be available for purchase in the shops.
You can purchase Identifile: Desktop Dungeon on Steam for PC, but remember that this game is currently in early-access and while the game is playable with five stages and tons of unlocks and ways to play the game. It is not complete. That being said, I feel like there is enough gameplay to keep players engaged for a long time.
Anti-virus gameplay for you desktop
When you start up Identifile, you’ll see something very familiar: the PC desktop. From this menu you’ll be able to see leaderboards for the daily random seed, various unlocks, and be able to dive into the game and start identifying viruses.
The starting point in Identifile is the classic C Drive and you’ll have to make your way all the way through the F Drive, which is currently the end of this early-access version of the game. From the start, you’ll only have one attack style of drawing circles around viruses and bugs to deal damage.
It might seem like it starts off slow, but by clearing out the drives and completing challenges, you’ll gradually unlock other ways of playing the game. You’ll eventually unlock other attack methods such as having a box around your cursor, being able to rapidly click the left mouse button, turning the mouse cursor into a fist to knock back viruses, and more.
In Identifile, the enemies that you’ll come across are in the form of viruses. The viruses vary in difficulty and attack patterns, each having a set amount of health that you will need to deplete to identify them. Each drive will have folders and files that can be filled with a standard set of viruses, but as you dive deeper into the file drives you’ll come across tougher versions of past viruses plus newer and stronger viruses that will keep you alert.
The viruses all vary in design and attack patterns with some creating a dangerous aura that can damage you if you stay in the circle while others will shoot bullets in different patterns. Not once in this game did I feel like it was getting stale or repetitive, but instead I was getting increasingly excited to take on whatever the game threw at me.
After defeating the viruses, you’ll have access to cleaning up the files and folders, diving even deeper into the system. When finishing up an entire folder’s worth of viruses, you’ll be rewarded with not just a sense of accomplishment, but also the opportunity to find more coins, mods that can improve or change your current run, and executable consumables that provide you more opportunities to change things up.
Some of the mods can offer an increase to attack power, more powerful combos, and more while the EXE consumables can reward you with more coins, display the entire directory and all sorts of fun and interesting effects.
Once you’ve done a few runs, you start to find a good groove and will soon find an optimal combination of attacks, combos, and critical hits to eliminate and identify viruses with a fun rhythm. My personal preference of playing Identifile is picking the attack that is simply a box that attacks at a steady pace, getting the attack and critical attack rate high, and just obliterating any viruses that I come across.
After you’ve identified every virus, checked every folder, visited the shop and cleared out the entire drive you’ll then be able to move onto the boss battle. Right now in this version of Identifile, there are only four bosses, but don’t let that discourage you because you will be challenged and have to think on your feet, no matter how many times you’ve faced each one.
The bosses are in forms of system bugs and they are large with different patterns depending how much health they have left and triggering a different boss phase. You can usually make quick work of the first two bosses with ease as long as you’re proactive on your attack build and you’ve been careful before heading into the boss folder. If you’re careless you may end up unprepared when facing the bosses, but don’t fret as there are some mods that can assist you with dealing with fatal damage.
Since I admit I am not the best player when it comes to bullet hell-style games, I always try to seek out and use items that can prevent death once hit with fatal damage. These sorts of items always are single use so if you’re worried about being “good enough” for a game like this, there are ways to assist you on your adventure.
The game design of Identifile
The design of Identifile: Desktop Dungeon is aesthetically pleasing with use of simple yet designed in a way where every mouse cursor, every virus, and every folder you click on has a distinctive style. I really enjoy the use of flat colors that harkens back to a bygone era of Windows-style file systems with simplistic uses of lines and design. Yes, modern Windows still has some of this style, but with how Identifile is styled, it’s very much inspired by Windows XP and even earlier versions of the operating system.
Each time you enter combat, the folder backgrounds go dark and make it easier to see the blacks, whites, and reds of enemies, and their attacks easier to read.
The music in Identifile is mostly passive, meaning that the menu screen and the file exploring screen is very subtle. The game’s soundtrack really stands out when in combat with viruses and bosses. The virus battle music sets the right tone to the game and helps me stay engaged with the gameplay without being too overbearing. The boss music brings the right amount of energy. It helps it feel like you’re in danger while at the same time making me feel like a hero that can’t be stopped.
Final thoughts on Identifile: Desktop Dungeon
I am enjoying my time with Identifile: Desktop Dungeon, and with it being in early-access, there is so much more to look forward to when the game updates. While the F Drive is currently the end of the game in its current state, there are enough hints in the game that indicate this is not the furthest you’ll be able to go.
There are so many more play styles, enemies, mods, and EXE files that haven’t been released yet in the current build, but rest assured, these will be available with future updates. I did not see a roadmap for when the developer plans on incorporating these new features, but I will remain excited that this game will get better and better as time goes on.
Now it comes to the point where I need to rate the game, and because it is currently in early access, I will offer caution that it is currently incomplete, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recommend it.
My rating for this game is: 4/5
Identifile: Desktop Dungeon is a blast to play and every single morning since getting this game, I boot it up, play the daily seed run and try to get into the top 50 of the leaderboard just so I can have recognition and bragging rights. I always dive into a random seed afterward because this game gives me about one to three hours of entertainment each day, always trying to do better than my previous run and getting more achievements unlocked.
I’m not saying I only play these games for achievements, but they are a good measurement for feeling accomplished and if there is one thing that Identifile does, it makes me feel accomplished. Give it a try on Steam, go play it, and if you’re a fan of these sorts of roguelikes, I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.
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