New release: Oubliette

Next on our list of mobile indie RPGs is another first-person dungeon crawler, Oubliette. Created by GabySoft, Oubliette appears to be a remake of the 1983 original.

The developer description of the game is rather confusing, in that it uses the terms “character” and “player” interchangeably (perhaps a relic from the days when a player was a PLATO user, and had only one character?) The developers also refer to the game as “multiplayer,” and I’m not sure if that’s in their weird, “player-really-means-character” sense or in the “multiple actual human persons playing together” sense.

Each player (character) in the game is created from one of eight player races, which vary in attributes such as strength, intelligence, dexterity and durability. Elves are highly intelligent and (potentially) immortal, Orcs are strong with short life spans, Dwarves are strong with high wisdom, Kobolds are quite weak in most areas but advance more quickly.

Depending on these attributes, each player will be qualified to join a limited number of player classes (occupations). More balanced players will have more choices, including Hirebrand (fighter), Mage, Priest and Thief. Less commonly, players may be qualified for a highly selective class with special skills such as Ranger, Sage, Paladin, Samurai or Ninja.

Unlike games which focus on a single player against multiple opponents, Oubliette allows a party of up to 10 players with complementary skills to face the various types of monsters found in the dungeon. There are more than 160 different monsters, and to deal with them, more than 150 different pieces of equipment, which may be enchanted with special properties or skills.

So, I’m pretty sure that this is a single-player game where you can create a party of up to 10 characters. If I’m wrong, someone please feel free to correct me in the comments.

Oubliette is available for iPhone, iPad and Android, though I admit to being a little perplexed by differences between the versions on each platform. From what I can tell, both versions involve in-app purchases. (Among them: the opportunity to set a “save point” and ward off perma-death for your party.)

The game version and price of entry differs among platforms. You can pick up version 2.1.1 of Oubliette (last updated in April 2012) for Android on Google Play or Amazon for $3.99. To assist in determining whether you want to shell out for the Android version, there is a free demo available right here.

Meanwhile, version 1.2 (last updated in September 2010) is available free-of-charge for iPhone and iPad in the Apple App Store. It isn’t immediately clear why the iOS version hasn’t been updated–particularly so given that the developers were evidently working on updating it last year–but it’s hard to argue with free.