For me Conglomerate 451 is just the right mix of nostalgia and modern mechanics. There’s the familiar aspects that put me in a happy place, then there are the modern mechanics that mean I can enjoy those reminiscences of old school gaming without feeling like I am bogged down in some of the limitations of those games. I would say for the price, there’s a lot of value here and if you were a fan of Dungeon Crawlers this should be right down your corridor!
Conglomerate 451 is an interesting hybrid of a dungeon crawler and a roguelike. The small Runeheads team clearly worked with perseverance and didn't fail to satisfy the player.
Conglomerate 451 has a strong first couple of hours. The story takes place over the course of 75 weeks, a mission for each week. You play the director of a paramilitary organization that's been tasked with destabilizing the rogue corporations which have taken over the district 451 in the city of Conglomerate. Though the setting is a bit heavy-handed, unlike say the original Mirror's Edge, it's not bad, but no one will chalk it up as telling a groundbreaking story in the cyberpunk space.
There’s nothing quite original in the game’s design. Its every feature is just mediocre and I find it hard to imagine the way the developers could infuse more life into the gameplay now. [05/2020, p.64]
It's not a bad game, it's just too average for its own good. Just about everything the game does is done better by someone else. If you want a first-person dungeon crawler, there's Legend of Grimrock. If you want an RPG with a large roster of characters and permadeath, you're better off with Darkest Dungeon or something similar. Even the out of combat progression systems are better handled in games like X-COM. Conglomerate 451 is playing in a crowded space, and like the corporate drones in its own cyberpunk dystopia, it just can't establish its own identity.