Diving into dungeons to prevent the end of the world is standard fare for dungeon crawlers. In Bad Fox Studios’ Dungeonfell, you assemble a three-man team to clear various dungeons to find three stones to save the world. You repeatedly dive into dungeons to obtain the resources for purchasing different classes and upgrades. Every dungeon encounter is randomly generated and you must adjust your tactics while choosing your desired path.
The premise of Dungeonfell is a calamity that has caused dungeons to open and release powerful beings. Inside these dungeons are mystical stones that are prophesied to avoid the worst of the calamity. Your task is to gather adventurers and dive into the dungeons to ensure the world doesn’t end. Each dungeon is progressively harder than the last and powerful foes await you at the end. With the help of each dungeon’s resources, you gather the strength to fight.
It’s not a strong plot but it gives you everything you must know. After every dungeon, you get some exposition about the progress you make if you succeed. The story may be forgettable but you might not pay much attention to it in the first place. Your main goal is to create a team that’s powerful enough to fight your way through dungeons and keep them alive. It’s nice to see the story resolve as you progress but it’s not remarkable enough to be memorable.
Dungeonfell succeeds in delivering a roguelite tactical experience that makes you think. Your UI gives you good information to plan your next moves. Class variation is fun to experiment with and you can strengthen upgrades. Unfortunately you can only upgrade a character’s upgrades along with additional spells. Later dungeons are tough activities that require lots of grinding. This is a roguelite where you play the long game and it may be tough to hang on.
Gameplay involves controlling characters in turn-based combat. Every dungeon has four levels and each level consists of four sections. Enemies are chosen at random based on the dungeon’s theme and difficulty modifiers you apply. After fighting enemies, one character gets the chance to upgrade their abilities. You then choose a path that offers money, resources, or healing with some level of risk vs. reward. At the end of the level is a powerful boss you must beat.
Dungeonfell’s main differentiation is the tactical roguelite gameplay. You don’t know what enemies you will face in advance but can see who they are targeting. After diving into a dungeon enough times, you know what moves an enemy is likely to use. Based on your team’s upgrades, you devise a tactic to win without losing too much health. At the end of each run, use the resources you obtain to purchase new upgrades.
On the surface, the gameplay offers a good time. Stronger enemies exist on dangerous paths that lead to greater rewards. Taking the safe route hinders your chance to upgrade your characters. You never know what upgrades your characters will obtain, making each experience unique. Combat is complex enough that you can’t force your way through. Anticipating enemy movements and fully understanding your character’s strengths are crucial to your success.
As you continue to play, Dungeonfell’s flaws become apparent. First is the character selection as you only start with three characters. Future characters or Delvers are unlocked by continually earning money from dungeons and purchasing them. By the time this occurs, you likely have enough experience with your current lineup that changes become awkward. While you can experiment with different characters, the number of potential combinations drains you. This isn’t to say that trying new characters is a mistake but it takes considerable effort to integrate them into your party. Acquiring all the characters takes considerable resources which may be better spent on upgrades. Some characters also require you to earn resources in future dungeons to earn their upgrades, forcing you back to the grind. While repeated attempts are part of the roguelite experience, it does wear on you when the reward isn’t amazing.
Character upgrades are also limited to character skills which are reset after every run. This means you never upgrade a specific character, instead only allowing a specific skill to get stronger. Skills only have one upgrade and the character themselves never receives a permanent power boost. Since you can only upgrade a character at most three times per run, your upgrade purchase might not appear.
Everything comes together to make Dungeonfell a long game. If you are willing to spend time to develop your team, going through dungeons is a fun challenge. The tactical elements keep you on your toes in a good way. Unlocking everything and finishing the game will involve lots of failures with few rewards in sight. Dungeonfell is great for passing time if you have nothing to do, but might lose out to other roguelite options.
Victor played Dungeonfell on PC with a provided review copy.
