Strategize Your Way Through DUNGEONy, A New Roguelike Dungeon Crawler

DUNGEONy ($2.99) by Korigame Entertainment LTD is an arcade puzzle-like dungeon crawler with some random roguelike elements to it. If you can’t get enough of these roguelike games, such as Quest of Dungeons, then you need to get your hands on DUNGEONy.

It seems that roguelike games have been all the rage lately, and that trend doesn’t look like it’s stopping any time soon. But that’s good, because I rather enjoy these — they can be played in short bursts throughout the day, and the component of dying and then having to start over makes the games even more challenging. Plus, every run is different, and you’ll always come back because you’ll be motivated to get even further than your previous run. I just can’t get enough of these, so when I heard about DUNGEONy over the weekend, I had to check it out for myself. If you’re a fan of these puzzle-like dungeon crawler roguelikes, then you will fall in love with this one.

The visuals in DUNGEONy are fantastic, featuring a very retro 8-bit look that is a nice homage to classical RPGs on the old-school consoles. The various dungeon areas that you’ll be trudging through will be detailed, colorful, and lush, filled with plenty of various creature sprites that you’ll need to fight through (30 total). You will have several different types of heroes to choose from, and each will have their own distinctive looks and specialties. Animations in the game are smooth and fluid. DUNGEONy also features an awesome, upbeat chiptune soundtrack that is quite catchy, and the sound effects as you play are delightful.

There is only one game mode in DUNGEONy, and of course, no level selection. However, there are three different levels of difficulty (Easy, Medium, and Hard), and the difficulty of the game is determined by the hero that you choose. There are six total: Knight (Easy), Barbarian (Easy), Green Knight (Hard), Viking (Medium), Pirate (Hard), and Cyclops (Medium). The difficulty level of each hero is different because their strength will vary and some start with more hit points than others. Once you make your hero selection, the fun begins.

DUNGEONy features four types of dungeon themes: The Castle, The Jungle, The Sewers, and The Temple. While you start out in a similar order each time, each run will be randomly generated, so it’s never the same thing twice. As you make your way through, finding the door to the next level, you may stumble across special dungeon areas that contain unique aspects or even shops for items. After managing to survive for 32 floors, you will have the privilege of facing off against a very formidable boss, who can teleport, so watch out.

The controls in the game are incredibly easy, even allowing for one-handed play. Your character will be dropped randomly somewhere on each floor, and you’ll need to move around with limited visibility. Just tap on the square that you want to move to, and you’ll go there. To attack an enemy that is in an adjacent space, just tap on them — both your hero and enemy will take turns attacking each other with basic attacks until one falls.

Now, while you may think that attacking foes is easy, just because you’re right next to the target, think again. Your hero’s accuracy is dependent on stamina, which you can see at the top as the colorful bar. The more stamina you have, the more precise your hits will be. The less stamina you have, the more you’ll miss. You can also see your current hit points (heart), coins to spend if you find a shop, and the experience points you have (100 points needed to level up). When you gain a level, your attacks will hit harder, increasing your survivability.

If there are obstacles in your path, such as vases or crates, you can tap on them to break them, revealing anything that is inside. Sometimes you’ll get a stamina drop, coins, power or defense boosts, and even food or health items to restore hit points, but other times, you’ll get another enemy to fight.

Sometimes, you will find bombs. Make sure to collect the bombs, as you’ll want them if there’s anything odd looking in terrain blocks, because you can blow it up to collect some goods. Or you know, just make your own pathway. There are also silver and gold keys, which can unlock treasure chests or special doorways. If you can’t remember what inventory you have at the moment, you can check just by utilizing the game’s pause menu.

The game ends once you get defeated in combat. Your final score is determined by how well you managed to do that run. Stats will include the time you spent, total kills that game, and how many coins you collected. The more games you play in DUNGEONy, the more stats you’ll accrue.

I’m actually a bit surprised that DUNGEONy does not have Game Center support, as it seems like this is a great game to feature leaderboards and even achievements. I hope the developers can consider adding this in the future.

So far, I’m really loving what DUNGEONy has to offer. Like old-school games, there is no handholding here, so there’s a bit of experimenting before you really get the hang of things in the game. The visuals are appealing to any old-school gamer, the music is fantastic, the controls are simple, and the gameplay is quite challenging, as any game in this genre should be. If you enjoy arcade puzzle-like dungeon crawler rougelikes, then make sure to pick this one up.

You can find DUNGEONy on the App Store as a universal download for $2.99.