Dagger Froggy is the latest Survivors clone but with its own gimmick. Instead of constantly shooting within a massive environment, the playable frog can only toss one dagger in a straight line to defeat enemies. After the dagger is thrown, it is needs to be retrieved before it can be thrown again. At first, I was initially annoyed at this strange mechanic as it slows the pace of play, making it tedious. However, after I completed my first round, unlocking some permanent upgrades along the way, I was hooked. Also, where else can you play as a murderous amphibian who wants to literally kill everything?
Retrieving your weapon after a single use on a non-scrolling screen sounds limiting on paper but quickly becomes addicting and entertaining in practice. The goal is to survive for ten continuous minutes. At the conclusion of each wave, the player can upgrade an ability from a randomly drawn group. If you don’t like the options provided, they can be swapped for some gold, gold that can also be spent on the main menu to buy permanent abilities.
In time, the player can increase the amount of throwable daggers and have them auto-retrieve after a moment. A shield can absorb a physical hit while a protective barrier can reflect an incoming bullet. Then there are numerous offensive abilities to utilize like chucking a bomb, launching stars that float in circles, or spawning a statue that unleashes a few bullets. Within a few minutes, the game goes from an easy-going, slow, almost boring pace to a frantic bullet hekk, getting surrounded by all types of enemies as each wave begins. As crazy as it gets, the player is armed with the tools needed to survive until the end.
The pixel art is almost like playing a simple cartoon and the goofy, bubbly soundtrack fits the chaos of the gameplay. There are only four stages, but they play pretty much the same. The graveyard stage, for example, limits your view with dark spots but doesn’t really make the experience any different. The final stage includes a boss battle which is a nice change of pace though.
I have two complaints, although they are minor in comparison to the overall fun factor. First, the player can only throw the daggers in the four main directions. Even when using the right analog stick to toss the daggers, there is no option to throw at angle, for example. At first, I was annoyed by this game design choice, but I quickly changed my mind after unlocking a few abilities; it isn’t needed. Secondly, there are dozens of playable frogs to unlock and abilities to upgrade. Unfortunately, it only takes 2-3 hours to unlock it all. Once unlocked, there isn’t much replay value especially since there is no high score leaderboard, a feature oddly missing.
Dagger Froggy is a Survivors clone done right and contains enough of a gimmick to call it its own. While it doesn’t have the legs of Vampire Survivors, it is definitely one of the better survivor-likes that I’ve played. Achievement hunters will also want to take note as it is an easy and fun way to boost Gamerscore at a low cost.
Also Play: Brotato
Better Than: Stickman Arena
Don’t Forget About: Turret Rampage
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
OUR SCORE - 8
8
SCORE
A low-cost survivors clone with a gimmick, Dagger Froggy is a 3-hour addictive romp.
Editor in Chief - been writing for mygamer,com for 20+ years. Gaming enthusiast. Hater of pants. Publisher of obscure gaming content on my YT channel.
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