The 2019 Goaties: #5 - Dicey Dungeons
If you’ve been keeping up with this year’s list, you may have noticed a trend at this point in the games I gravitated towards. Shorter sessions, games with deeper and greater skill curves, and games that (generally) attempt to evoke a sense of wonder or joy, with many succeeding at both. Dicey Dungeons nails both halves of that spectrum by doubling down on aesthetic and pure fun.
“DICEY DUNGEONS
(Steam, itch.io)”
The premise is very simple: Dicey Dungeons is a game show hosted by the villainous Lady Luck, who lures contestants into the dungeons to win their hearts’ desire. When they show up, they’re transformed into dice and set to roam the dungeon in hopes of being freed. It’s a simple enough concept for a game, but it’s expanded upon just enough and played with in some fun and occasionally sad, unsettling ways. Meeting different enemies in the dungeons whose stories pair together is fun, and fleshes out the world of Dicey Dungeons in a way I wasn’t expecting at all.
There’s something beautifully crunchy about the flow of a Dicey Dungeons run. At first glance it appears to be purely dice-focused, your chances coming down to the pips that pop up, but there’s actually a surprising amount of deck-building involved with equipment cards both scavenged from enemies and found in chests or shops throughout the dungeon. Build a poison-centric deck and melt right through that Super Frog’s shields, or lean into healing and shields and become an immovable object until that Haunted Jar blights you and sidesteps your defenses entirely. Status effects and dice manipulation - duplication, combination and sacrifice - allow for a great amount of flexibility to experiment with your equipment and find a style that works for you.
Six classes offer six remarkably different approaches, from the Warrior’s straightforward ability to re-roll undesirable dice to the Robot’s pseudo-Blackjack-y calculating and the Witch’s strange spellbook of equipment. When it comes to roguelikes that offer lots of different class options, there are usually a few I gravitate towards over others, but I think Dicey Dungeons’ spread of archetypes are all genuinely fun in their own ways. Getting a lucky Jackpot on the Robot can dredge victory out of otherwise certain defeat, and the myriad ways in which a Witch can just deal incredible amounts of damage after rolling die after die after die to topple the strongest foes is exhilarating.
Dicey Dungeons pairs finely-tuned gameplay with impeccable presentation. The thumping, electrifying soundtrack from Chipzel (of Super Hexagon fame) pairs beautifully with an artstyle I can best describe as “children’s storybook,” and it’s all so inviting and friendly. Even the most terrifying enemies still have a delightful, cheery look to them, and it’s hard to lose the grin on your face as you delve time and time again.
Since the initial launch, there’s been a handful of patches, including a Halloween event and some level of mod support for custom episodes. It’s also slated for launch on mobile and, eventually, Switch, which will make it that much more easy to boot up the game and quickly try to knock out an episode or two.
It’s just an impressive, lovingly produced game, and the single-best introduction to roguelikes I’ve played in years. Previous games in this countdown have dipped into the roguelike structure, but none of them are as inviting and understanding of the faults of the genre as Dicey Dungeons is. I’ve gone back to it time and time again since its release, even if I haven’t truly gotten that much better at it. The soundtrack has a permanent place on my phone, and I’m at the point where I’m strongly considering diving into the mod scene beyond the Halloween Special.
With any luck, the dice will roll in our favor.
