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Hi, interesting concept. I just posted a short review of it over at IndieReview, if you're interested:

http://indiereview.tk/index.cgi/reviews/Think-Outside-the-Box-Review.html

Cheers and keep up the great work.

Regards,
XM

I think all of Sol's points are extremely valid, and he justifies his opinion very well. I'm going to try to explain my point of view of this game, which I find rather enjoyable myself:

I feel the premise of this game has more in common with Silence of the Lambs than Saw/Hostel. Instead of a morality battle between the righteous and the criminal, it focuses more on an alternate perspective on morality itself, by investigating the reasonings of Verge (or Hannibal Lecter in the films).

To be honest, I've never watched any of the Saw flicks, or Hostel, cause I'm scared as hell of them, and cannot understand why people found those enjoyable. Although I initially related those films to the game, I later found them to be pretty different - Saw/Hostel focused on the victims (hence the torture porn), while Dungeoneer focused on the perpetrator. The torture sessions felt more like a mini-game rather than the point of the whole game (they made up about an eighth of the playtime).

The odd perspective Verge (and the other dungeoneers I'm sure) had of the world intrigued me, a lot. Especially when he was talking about having a crush on his teacher, then finally killing her because he wanted an irreplaceable role in her life. It reminded me of another story I heard before, supposedly from a test given to ascertain criminal insanity:

Maria was at her father's funeral when she and her younger sister both met and fell in love with a dashing young man that arrived to pay his respects to their dead father. He seemed equally attracted to both of them, but never left his number. Shortly after the funeral, Maria killed her sister. What was the reason for this?

Criminally insane answer: She wanted to see the the young man again at her sister's funeral.

This little story both chilled me to the bone and made me extremely interested at the same time. There were people like this? Why? What was their perception of the world and why was it so different from ours? I got the same vibes from Dungeoneer, which made me very excited about it.

Although the game offered very minimal "gameplay" per se, I felt the interactive portions of the title, when delivered in the context of the narrative, were enjoyable due to the motivation provided by the story. I was making videos for favorable ratings by a community who appreciated them - it allowed me to momentarily participate in Verge's life and see what makes him tick. I shared his sense of victory when I achieved that 4 star beautiful escape, which disturbed me a little, but allowed me to emphasize with him.

I've played my share of violent video games, but none that made me worried about myself. I like this, am I sick? Do I like torturing people? I thought of what my brother told me about Saw and Hostel and promptly shivered with fright, so probably no. (Yeah, I'm such a wimp I had to hear the synopsis from my little brother because I was afraid the internet summaries will come with pictures EEK!) I find this game pleasurable because it offered me a queer experience, and the atmosphere Calunio created around the game was just terrific - it felt like the same world I lived it, yet it seemed... stranger, and more uncomfortable.

Well, there is. When health level is below threshold, it goes yellow and blinking. Same for will. If they're both yellow, you get a beautiful escape.

Yep, I saw that. :) I was referring to something that is visible on the gauges the moment I begin the level, like a line on the gauge or something, so I have a goal to hit. The issue I had with the yellow markers was that I didn't know they existed until I hit it - so I didn't aim for it, I ended up meeting with a lot of game overs. :(

Though you might want to consider posting it here on RMN as well.

Well, I also hold the shameless desire for page hits over at my site as well, so I didn't want the review to be available elsewhere. :P Hope you understand.

But I'll finish the game and see if I can write up my experience in a revised form for RMN. :)