I took a break from playing browser games a few months ago, but somehow the charm of these inane little casual games managed to pull me right in. I resumed playing some of the old browser games that I quit, and tried out a few new ones here and there. The latest game I've tried is Misfortune, a single-player, steampunk-themed browser game created by .
The game opens with you, a hapless nerdy-looking boy, having the misfortune of falling off a cruise ship and washing up on an unfamiliar shore. As luck would have it, Rodnia, the town you wind up in, is full of cutthroats and mercenaries. As if all of that isn't bad enough already, now you have to earn a living by taking on missions that often involve you getting attacked by rabid dogs and squirrels.
Yep, rabid dogs and squirrels. Yay!
(That's a screencap of when a pack of three dogs and one squirrel snuck up on me. I almost died, thank you very much.)
Misfortune's gameplay is pretty straightforward. You can pick up missions at a tavern and make your way through Rodnia's labyrinth-like streets to complete your objective. The game is shown mostly in first-person perspective, and you can move around in mission areas by either clicking on the directional arrows in the interface or using your keyboard's arrow keys. You can interact with objects or attack opponents by clicking on them.
As you can see, this game doesn't use any gimmicky graphics or animation, and that's something that I actually appreciate. I like the fact that most of the illustrations look like they were hand-drawn or created through traditional means. There are just too many browser games out there that feature badly done digital/vectored visuals, so seeing Misfortune's art style was kind of refreshing.
Some of the things I disliked about the game mostly have to do with text and combat. Let's start off with my issues with text.
I feel that the text (meaning the fonts, spacing, and everything else) displayed across the entire game needs work, as most if it is difficult to read or just displeasing to the eye. Take the text in screenshot below, for example:
It's hard to read the floating text because some of it blends into the background image, and the other text here could use some improvement in spacing and alignment. Since this game is heavily text-based, I feel that improved typography would go a long way with regard to visuals, and would probably encourage people to actually read the text instead of skimming most of it like I did.
I'm not very fond of the combat system because, aside from personally not liking combat involves rapid mouse-clicking, I really hated how often I got killed just because the opponents managed to flank me or attack me from behind. I think the problem mostly lies within the movement system - sometimes it proves to be a bit tricky turn around and attack quickly, especially while getting mobbed by three or more opponents.
Final Verdict
Rating: 
To be honest, I'm not all that impressed with Misfortune so far, but I do think it's a good start for a brand-new browser game. Seeing as this is only the beta version, I'm sure the game will continue to improve as more people start playing it and relaying their feedback to the good folk at LoadinGames.
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