Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1

Genre: Compilation

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen), 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1 is a collection of three games from publisher Digerati and developer Nerdook, each with an unrelated story and different genre. I have previously reviewed these games separately.

I should note that Monster Slayers is also included in the Card Game Bundle Vol. 1, along with Frost. Reverse Crawl is also included in the Anti Hero Bundle along with Nefarious and Underhero, as well as Digerati Presents The Dungeon Crawl Vol. 1 along with Fall of Light: Darkest Edition, Skelly Selest, and Unexplored: Unlocked Edition. And Vertical Drop Heroes HD also appears in the Couch Co-Op Bundle Vol. 2, along with Black Paradox, Bleed, and Shikhondo – Soul Eater

Here were my thoughts on each of these games:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Monster Slayers	Turn-Based Card RPG / Roguelike	1	B-
tl;dr Monster Slayers is a game that combines a Card Battle RPG with Roguelike elements. It does a goob job balancing player utility and the Roguelike elements, but unfortunately it stumbles when it comes to the way it presents information to the player, and the presentation feels pretty generic.
Reverse Crawl	Turn-Based Strategy	1-2 Competitive (Local)	C+
tl;dr Reverse Crawl is a Turn-Based Strategy game where you play a murdered king commanding a legion of undead to get revenge on the enemy who killed you. It has a nice whimsical plot, but the gameplay is not very compelling, with multiple design decisions that limit how strategic the player’s choices are. It’s okay, but not great.
Vertical Drop Heroes HD	Action-Platformer / Roguelike	1-2 Co-Op (Local Split-Screen)	C
tl;dr Vertical Drop Heroes HD is an Action-Platformer and Roguelike that has you delving into vertically-scrolling randomized levels. Unfortunately, the game does little to set itself apart within the genre, and has tedious combat and a forgettable presentation. It’s not bad, but it’s not very good either.

The good news with this collection is that all of the games here are at least decent, although none of them is truly great. Also, there’s a good variety between the three, and Nerdook actually maintains a fairly consistent visual style that ties the games together even though their stories are unrelated.

Unfortunately, that consistent presentation is a pretty forgettable one across the board, and there’s little here that truly stands out. In fact, two of the games in this collection stand directly in opposition to other games that are far, far superior – with Monster Slayers tackling the same sort of gameplay as the far better Slay the Spire, and Vertical Drop Heroes paling in comparison to the somewhat similar Rogue Legacy. And while Reverse Crawl may not have anything that’s quite the same as it to compete with, fans of Turn-Based strategy games still have multiple better options on the Switch.

As for the pricing of this bundle, even at full price it will save you $7 over the cost of getting each of these games separately, which ain’t bad, and even better if you can get it in a good sale. However, the value here is still questionable given that for each game in this collection I can think of another similar game I’d rather be playing.

In the end, Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1 still has a trio of decent games at a decent value, especially if you can catch a sale. However, I suppose that whether or not it’s worth it to you depends on whether you’re willing to spend the extra money to get games like Slay the Spire and Rogue Legacy instead.

tl;dr – Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1 is a collection of three games from developer Nerdook, each in a different genre, but all of them sharing a similar presentation. Unfortunately, that presentation is fairly forgettable, and while each of the games in this collection is decent, none is truly spectacular and two of them are actually very similar to other, much better, games. If you want to save money this collection is okay, but you may be better off looking at those better games instead.

Grade: C+

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