Settle in for a good few hours of incremental fun in All Hail The Orb, a pixelated gem from LeGingerDev.
Deep in an abandoned dungeon, you discover an orb that urges you to click it and promises you a great many things. But first, you must rebuild the cult, gather resources, and unleash your new master from its spherical prison. It’s light-hearted. It’s fun. And it sets the scene quite nicely.
Home Is Where The Orb Is
All Hail The Orb begins as a clicker game as you collect the initial devotion currency and work towards automation. You then use your acolytes to boost and collect various resources to then spend on upgrades to boost various speed and boons. Thus, the core incremental gameplay begins. However, there are some nice additions to the formula.
There are six main posts with resources to collect. Each has an unlock/upgrade list that increases in cost incrementally with each purchase. They have unique designs and purposes which add to the overall whimsy of the setting.
Some areas also feature mechanics beyond their incremental nature. For example, farming mushrooms can cause mutations that improve yields. How you unlock plots affects their output. These features provide a welcome twist beyond just another upgrade list. You also need to feed resources into an obelisk and gain EXP to level up the dungeon to progress the story.
Even More Upgrades
There are several stations that don’t produce resources but aid in your expansion. Beds, reeducation chambers, and an alchemy bench introduce new upgrades and challenges. Progress may hinge on gathering the right resources, but these features keep you invested as you collect.
There’s also a rubber duck-themed gacha vending machine where various ducks pop out to add to your collection. Ducks have a work station and a currency of their own, but it’s a slow-burning goal to work towards throughout the game. They give some good bonuses and were a nice addition, but it was their skill tree that whet my whistle as I worked towards 100% completion. It’s also worth noting the “Roll 5” mechanic made no sense and appeared broken as it was almost always cheaper to buy single ducks.
Orb-ilicious
All Hail The Orb features pixel-art graphics and a strong soundtrack. The characters and backdrop are reminiscent of old-school dungeon crawlers, with subtle animations that bring them to life. There are even some visual effects as you move about the dungeon.
I did end up muting it so I could work. This was largely due to the singular repeating track getting a little too repetitive while I waited to unlock the jukebox. That being said, I’m not sure I’d play with the audio on if not for review.
It runs reasonably well using a mouse and keyboard, and I experienced no crashes. However, I had some issues with my cultists abandoning their assigned tasks and getting stuck in the dormitory. There have been a bunch of updates since I started playing, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect it will get patched out. Similarly, I couldn’t assign the cultists because of this, so I had to micro-manage a fair bit.
All Hail The Orb
I was pleasantly surprised at the variety in All Hail The Orb. It manages to pack in a lot of mechanics while keeping the overall theme in place. The overarching story is very shallow but builds nicely, and kept me oriented towards the end goal even when I hit a bit of a wall.
Despite its cultish theme, All Hail The Orb is a cosy, laid-back title that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Its incremental play draws you in, but witty characters and rubber ducks keep you hooked.
Platforms: PC
Developer: LeGingerDev
Publisher: LeGingerDev, GrabTheGames
Played On: Steam
Code Provided By: Keymailer
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