Die In The Dungeon Refreshes The Deckbuilder Roguelike Formula With A New Twist

thegamer.com:

Games with straightforward names are impeccably charming—and with one that’s simply titled “Die In The Dungeon”, the gimmick is clear: you’re probably going to die a lot in this particular dungeon. One thing that the title didn’t make plain, however, is how novel and invigorating your slow march towards death will be.

To wit, you play as a gosh darn cute frog warrior looking to rid the dungeon of some ugly monsters, with the ultimate purpose of scaling the dungeon towards its final level. The game doesn’t waste too much time with exposition, nor does it give you any reason why you’re here in the first place, but dives right into the heart of it all: the battles. This is a roguelike deckbuilder where the rigmarole of the genre is simplified even further; in place of cards, you’ll be using dice instead, which will need to be placed on a diamond-shaped grid. It’s a small but clever tweak that further distils the genre’s lineage of thoughtful but procedurally generated randomness to its best bits, forcing players to think of completing each level in new ways.

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In general, there are four types of dice available—attack, block, boost and heal—in your deck, which you’re supposed to make use of to whittle down your enemy’s health to zero. Much like the roguelike deckbuilders it’s inspired by, each round also limits you to playing three dice, but where you position them in the grid is also crucial. The boost dice, for example, can add points to your other dice, depending on where these dice are positioned on the grid. Each die itself can be imbued with additional properties, such as dice that have a ‘heavy’ trait, or is made out of glass; heavy dice stay