NGU Idle | a Review
originally published on 28/12/2023;
Hello everyone, I am the idling G.E.M.Simov, a fellow who has gone through lengthy battles with trolls, here to tell you about “NGU Idle”.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
In addition to that, this is an IDLE game. Those are barely proper games and so I will put in less effort with reviewing them than I would otherwise.
Gameplay
NGU Idle is a game made up of a brutal number of menus. In those menus are values and buttons that increase some off the values. Some buttons can be pressed when certain values are at a certain value, whereas others can be pressed regardless of certain values. The goal is to increase the values.
There are three important values, one of which shows up so late in the game that it’s almost not a value that I’m willing to respect. However, since it is considered important, it will be considered by yours truly. There is Energy, which allows the Player to increase almost all values that are present in the game, as well as make use of a large number of mechanics (still related to values, but not quite as value-esque as others). There is Magic, which allows the Player to increase most of the remaining values that can not be increased via Energy, whilst also amplifying the increases provided by the increases to values by Energy, as well as amplifying a number of other values. Lastly, there is Resource 3, which increases the last few values not directly increased by Energy and Magic, as well as provides amplifications to the increases of values granted through the use of Energy and Magic.
In short, this game has a number. That number increases whenever a button is pressed. Then, there are other buttons that increase the efficiency of the number’s increase whenever the button is pressed. Then there are yet more buttons that increase the potency of the increased efficiency provided by the previous button. That’s applied to around 100 values, and the goal is to raise them all, and to make your numbers grow bigger.
That's all there is to this game, on the surface, but also under the surface. There are many other means of increasing the numbers, but they are slightly more gamified.
There is a mechanic which is flavored as the growing of fruits, which fruits can then be eaten for bonuses - number increases. There's a mechanic that increases the amount of gold earned. There's a mechanic that presents the Player with the opportunity to exchange gold for other increases.
There is also a mechanic that presents an "adventure mode", which features enemies that appear and do battle with the Player Character in real time tactical combat, that is very reminiscent of a JRPG, which enemies, when defeated, grant the Player Character with items, which items increase numbers. Those items can be made stronger, so that the number increase they provide is greater, which can be achieved in more ways than one, preferably all of them at once.
But even though there are such intrigued Ng mechanics that present themselves to the Player, they are all tremendously flawed. How so? Well, all of them are based on time. That is the most egregious thing this game does - as do all idle games - it creates a situation in which the Player needs to sit and wait for things to happen, without having any kind of agency or ability to do anything.
Those fruits I mentioned? Yes, the Player must wait upwards of 9 hours for them to be ready to pick. Those enemies I mentioned? Some appear once every 3 hours, and the Player needs to kill them at least 100 times. Everything is based on being turned on - pressing the button - and left to do its own thing for 30, 60, 90 minutes. Even the “adventure mode” can be set to “idle” mode, which is literally it playing itself, and the Player can reap the rewards.
No matter how many interesting mechanics are presented, no matter how complex the net of mechanics is - and in NGU Idle it is grotesquely complex - this is an idle game that both wants the Player to be constantly engaged with it, whilst also wanting the Player to not look at it at all. That contradiction is problematic, as the game is not fun to play, due to the fact it relies on the navigation of menus that becomes boring after the first hour during which no progression is experienced, which comes at a certain point - especially when the Player is grinding through the latter 150 bosses to reach EVIL difficulty and is not even awarded with any story.
This game does not respect the Player’s time and fails to present them with interesting enough gameplay to actively keep the Player invested into itself. As mentioned, the obtuse complexity is intriguing at first, but the tens of hours required to unlock the next stage of growth that can be observed in that complex net of mechanics is far too great an amount of time to invest, especially considering the reward that the Player will be granted.
There are attempts made to spice up the gameplay, but they are all unsuccessful. Why? Because they take away something that has already been given to the player - examples include mechanics that increase the number, which, when taken away, make the player weaker. Then there are ones that place a brutal limiter on other mechanics - again, taking away any and all the power that comes off of those mechanics.
Lastly, there is the infamous “troll challenge”, which simply takes any fun that could be derived from the game and removes it by introducing a slew of inconveniences, which in turn leads to the challenge simply taking a lot longer to complete than it would otherwise - as with all the challenges, which simply take time. As established previously, though, the gameplay is the exact same as it was in the first five minutes.
And a game with gameplay that exhausts itself within the first five minutes is a very lackluster game. The only saving grace of NGU Idle is the complexity of the intertwined systems present in it. 1/3
Presentation
NGU Idle is very bare and barren when it comes to its presentation. It is, ultimately, a set of bluish-gray menus with a multitude of bars and options in different colors. Everything is conveyed to the Player through text, with a few exceptions being done through the utilization of the only animation in the game - a bar filling up.
This is accompanied by a number of illustrations (that appear as though they have been done in Microsoft’s Paint). All of that is bundled in a decently readable, if a bit overwhelming, package. The important part of it all is utility - the Player needs to be able to see as much as possible, whilst also having access to as many options in regards to controlling things.
It does that thing - it presents the information needed quite well. However, the rest of what the game does is not very present. For starters, there are neither sound effects, nor is there music. Considering the fact that the game is meant to be played by keeping it somewhere in the background and without interacting with it, this could be considered a positive thing. After all, what’s the point of creating an atmosphere or an experience, when there is none in the first place, nor is one sought?
In addition to that reason, it is also important to note that such things might be beyond the scope of a single developer, yet there are examples of such things being done by single developers. I will not subtract points, but it is important to mention.
The art itself is… It is interesting, but it is not astonishing.
In regards to the tutorial that the game offers, it is quite good. Upon booting NGU Idle up and starting a new game, a tutorial will begin, informing the Player of things in the game’s somewhat snarky, somewhat ironic tone of voice. In addition to that, there is a button present on most screens, which reads: “WTF do I do?” and, upon clicking it, the Player is redirected to a sumptuous repository of knowledge.
NGU Idle features one of the most exhaustive in-game tutorials and pseudo-wikis out there, and it must be commended for that. With every new mechanic, there is a new page in the “how to play” section of the “info n’ stuff” menu. And those pages don’t have a single line of text, no, they have at least 4 paragraphs presenting information to the Player. That is good.
Overall, NGU Idle’s Presentation is as stellar as it can be for a game like this, with a few flaws - namely the art, which is so low-effort in some cases that it comes off as less of a shitpost and more of a “I need something here so I’ll just put this here”, which I do not appreciate at all.
Alas, seeing as this game is meant to not be looked at - on account of it being an idle game - it presents an odd contradiction within itself. One that makes me unwilling to grade it as highly as I could. Thus, a medium score. 2/3
Story
Surprisingly enough, NGU Idle has a very intriguing story, though it can be very ironic, snarky and shitpost-esque in nature. It starts off with the Player Character awakening, with amnesia, in a sewer. On top of that, they feel so weak they can barely stand up - their strength has been drained by something or someone.
Over the course of multiple battles - against pieces of fluff, pieces of sewage, sticks - the Player Character starts slowly recuperating, in regards to their power, whilst also beginning a process of exploring the world and regaining some memories. Most important is the need to defeat everything in the Player Character’s path.
That compulsive desire to crush skulls drives the Player Character to fly up to the sky, to visit alternate dimensions and to slap everyone around, until they reach the Traitor - who defeats them handily, forcing them to transcend to a higher difficulty - the EVIL difficulty (which is not just a 4th wall break, though those occur constantly in the story, it is an actual part of the story. Consider it a dialectical overcoming of a contradiction, if you will).
Then, of course, there are even more 4th wall breaks, more references - straight up rips of characters from other IPs, such as Ornstein and Smough from Dark Souls or the Adoring fan from Oblivion, and then back at it again with the Traitor. Well, he beats the Player Character once more, only for the SADISTIC difficulty to pop in.
Are we catching on to the plot, ladies and gentlemen? Well, I sure hope you are catching onto the fact that it is just there as a means of excusing its presence, without saying that there is nothing to it and there are just bosses. Overall, there is no plot. There is a vast word salad that barely makes any sense even when one considers the mechanics of the game, and there is nothing really great about it, aside from the references made to other things.
Simply put, the story is there as a means of saying that there is a story, and as a way of making a number of mediocre jokes. 1/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? NO, NGU Idle fails miserably at getting the Legendary Point. This is a game that does its best to not be a game. It features countless references to other games and popular culture, but all those things that are referenced are superior to it and would all be better means of spending one’s time. There is a factor of novelty and curiosity, to be sure, but it is not enough to get the point. 0/1
Conclusion
4/10. A somewhat average game, which is less good than it is bad. It has neat systems that are interwoven in an interesting manner, but that’s only intriguing for fans of idle games. Anyone else should stay as far away from this game as is possible.
I chuck it in the bag of mediocrity. Could’ve been a bit better.