10000000 (PC) (2013)

Overview: A tile-matching RPG. You're stuck in a dungeon and need ten million points to escape.


Inside the dungeon. Encounter enemies at top. Use the puzzle field to attack, build defense, and gather resources.

20171020:
At a slight loss on which game to play next, which happens whenever my current method of choosing a game begins to feel stale,* I decided to go through my friend's list of games and play whatever game he's played that I haven't played, starting from his most played, and skipping certain games at my discretion. In any case, this was the first such game.

Steam Game Time: 2.1 hours

*The method I used before this one was highly rated SteamDB games in my library I had yet to play and the method before that was the most expensive games in my library I had yet to play.

Repair and upgrade the dungeon to make improvements to combat: magic attack, melee attack, passive abilities, shield, armor, and potions.


20171021: Part 1
Today I played until I finally felt the pain of the grind. My main weakness is that I generally don't match tiles quickly, because I'm too methodical. For this reason, I was always terrible at every Candy Crush level that was timed.

Steam Game Time: 4.7 hours (6.8 total)

20171021: Part 2
I was compelled to finish, so I went to get my glasses and pressed on. However, my second wind came up short.

Satisfy objectives to earn money and experience.

Steam Game Time: 0.4 hours (7.2 total)

20171021: Part 3
And later, I returned to try a little more.

Steam Game Time: 0.6 hours (7.8 total)

20171021: Part 4
And finally I beat the game! But not all the achievements.

Steam Game Time: 0.2 hours (8.0 total)


Achievement: "Score 10000000 with all potions active"

Steam Game Time: 8.8 hours (cumulative game time) / 0.8 hours (session game time) / 8h 48m (Playnite)


Two achievements remaining: Score ten million at Explorer / Dungeon Master.

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Catchy theme song
+ Catchy gameplay
+ Farming-based, yet fun


Neutral:
~ Casual

Comparison to Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (2007):
Both 10000000 and Puzzle Quest are RPGs that utilize a tile-matching puzzle game as the combat mechanic, with Puzzle Quest using an adjacent tile-swap mechanism as found in Bejeweled.

Overall, 10000000 is simpler in every way: graphics, story, and game play. But there's still plenty of choices in regards to upgrades and the game's simplicity is not necessarily bad.


I fell shy of accomplishing the "Score 10000000 with all potions active" achievement. 

Summary:
10000000 (ten million) is a simple yet fun game. In particular, the game moves at a healthy pace, and I only felt the need to grind for resources towards the end.

While I would never have bought the game on my own, it was presumably sitting in my library after a Humble Bundle purchase and I would recommend it if you're currently looking for a casual game. I suppose anyone who generally enjoys tile-matching games would also enjoy this one.

20140119:
Today I decided to revisit this game. Though, to be honest, I didn't recognize ever playing this game before. It's interesting that, with respect to game time, it sits at 8.8 hours and that 8.8 hours among games that I've played on Steam qualifies for top 100; though game time doesn't necessarily indicate enjoyment or rating, there is surely a correlation.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a save file available and this game is a bit of a grind. According to my prior progress via Steam Achievements, I was nearly at the end of the game (i.e., getting all the Steam Achievements). I wonder why I didn't play the whole way through. In any case, the game is rather fun and I have thus far not cared much about the grind from the very beginning.

Steam Game Time: 12.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 3.8 hours (session game time)

20240120:
Today I maxed out all the upgrades and tried to get the missing accomplishments. It occurred to me that these accomplishments are hard (actually I'm being greedy and trying for Explorer which is harder than Dungeon Master. What makes getting 10 million score points on these levels harder than Hero is they have a lower score multiplier. As such, it occurs to me that perhaps the reason I had never gotten these two accomplishments was not for lack of trying. Rather, I likely tried and failed. In any case, I believe my best attempt was a little over 5.5 million points.

Remark: I had spent some time playing while watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. This was definitely reasonable while griding out the final gold needed to max up the last of the upgrades. However, I had underestimated how hard the achievements were and time spent trying to get the achievements while watching the movie were, in hindsight, a waste of time.

Remark: while I like the game's song, I agree with a comment in a Steam thread that listening to your own music somehow makes it easier to push for the achievement. Perhaps it makes the game feel less monotone.

As part of my recent effort to rate the games I play, I would give this game a 4.4 out of 5. It is good, and addicting. It's simple and yet can be difficult. I'm not good at matching quickly, but at the same time I don't value such a skill.

Steam Game Time: 16.2 hours (cumulative game time) / 3.6 hours (session game time)

10000000 (PC) (2013)*
*10000000 (iOS) (2012)
*"Ten Million"


Relevant Links:
10000000 (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
10,000,000 (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
10000000 (Steam Store Page)

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