Dagger Froggy (PS5) | REVIEW | An Amphibian Led Assault On The Auto-Battler

Dagger Froggy, EastAsiaSoft's latest survivors-like indie, comes to us as an amphibian led assault on what it is to be an auto-battler. Taking away the automated attacks, and replacing them with manually operated twin stick controls that revolve around throwing and picking up daggers it has the main character, a cute little frog dealing damage to waves of enemies in a timed fashion with no bosses to account for, putting forth all the effort in survival. The challenge comes from the forced dodging, and dagger retrieving leaving the RNG of ability drops to pick up the slack in both offense and defense.

There's little to this teeny-tiny frog focused survivor-like. You get a total of four stages to play on, a selection of gameplay effecting options tied to things like the timer alongside the bare minimum of upgrades that only amount to starter weapon variations of the frog, and more permanent skill/ability upgrades which play into the game's overall rogue-lite nature. 

Gameplay itself takes placed on themed terrain ranging from grasslands to the desert, and even a cemetery. Each of which are displayed, with little additional detail, on a square plot of land on which enemies give chase to our froggy friend. At the frog's disposal is an initially available dagger that can be thrown at enemies to kill them, but that must then be retrieved before it can be used again. By clearing complete waves of enemies using this method you can mitigate their threat to your limited health by obtaining additional upgradeable weapon, and defense options as well as item magnetism, and bonus daggers for use in-game. 

With each stage comes a countdown timer set to 10 minutes that ticks time away as you kill off waves of increasingly aggressive, and numerous enemy types. Once the timer is through you unlock access to the next stage inline, and bank some coins that can be spent at the main menu's Froggy Store for permanent upgrades or loadout starters. That's fairly much the gist of it all.

The Presentation ...

EastAsiaSoft's onboard developer made sure to make this otherwise violent action adventure a cute one with cute enemy and froggy sprites set to a equally inviting playground. The music is chiptune by design, and also harbors a more friendly tune of the fantasy sort.

The Verdict ...

Sometimes you get exactly what you pay for and nothing more. Such is the case of "Dagger Froggy", and it's $4.99 price tag. This pint-sized pixel art packed survivors-like without the automated attacks ultimately allows for a different take on the given formula, albeit familiar. It does something different yet definitely familiar by design. At the set budget pricing you will get what you pay for, but don't compare it to the more robust survivor-likes, like Vampire Survivors. It just does not have that level of replay value to it.