Legalzinho
What even is a roguelike? And no, I'm not asking for a definition. I don't give a shit about words. Especially that one, which exists as a part of a long and storied lineage of dumb video game genre terms some tech-bro made up 30 years ago that I have to pretend makes sense. Immersive Sim? MOBA? Roguelike? SOULSLIKE? Give me a fucking break. No. I'm Jerry Seinfelding here. What's the deal with roguelikes? What's under the proverbial hood? What is the enduring appeal of the genre? If we're talking a featherweight roguelite (don't even get me started) like Hades, then the structure is just a hat. I like Hades quite a bit, but only because the ok hack-and-slash with a nice colour scheme is attached to an anime sexyman visual novel that I first saw at a very unfortunate time in my life. I don't think the structure of runs as an exercise in acquiring more brute strength until you can topple the game through force is very compelling. It's at odds with what draws me to roguelikes.
No. To me, the best roguelikes are puzzle games in disguise. They are trial and error, information-gathering experiences where 99% of your time playing is gobbling up every morsel of information about your environment and tools until a solution becomes clear. The actual act of solving the puzzle is a small but euphoric cap to the major experience. Journey, destination, blah blah blah. Dicey Dungeons is this interpretation of the roguelike rendered as literally as possible. It is the purest vision of the genre any 'deckbuilding' roguelike has ever been.
Don't get me wrong. I love Slay the Spire and other actual card game roguelikes. But they are a more abstract problem-solving puzzle that evolves from run to run. They are about long-term planning and building complex synergies throughout a run. The macro game of combat is less important than the micro game of planning. This is still true for Dicey Dungeons, with the caveat that it has much less going on behind the eyes. Any individual run has a very small pool of available weapons and enemies that always appear in a close-to-set order. There is build variety, but only a little. It's as shallow as an inflatable kiddy pool, and one wrong move can let the air out of the entire experience. But, if you're itching to soak in 10 centimetres of cold hose water for an hour or two, it's beautiful.
To me Dicey Dungeons is 36 (+1) unique ~20-30 minute puzzles. It isn't about grinding for the perfect build or blowing your enemies to smithereens with a game-breaking combo (though through the power of multiplication, this can occasionally happen). There aren't even any unlockables! It's about resource management. How can I navigate this die through this particular gimmick? Well, I'll trial and error a little, and now that I know what I'll have access to and what enemies I'll need to fight, I can plot it out in my head and solve it. It's a cute little nerdy numbers game for nerds! I love it!
RNG is a big part of any game in this genre, and I think I'd be willing to agree that this is a pretty egregious example of such on paper. It's hard to argue with the fact that every single attack comes down to a literal dice roll. But I'm a fan of it. The enemies are nearly set in stone (You will see the Kraken every run, and you will like it!). The routes are extremely simple. Your weapons vary only a little between attempts. The variance in combat is where this game makes your problem-solving shine. How do I account for bad rolls? How do I build myself around the possibility of any roll? How do I ensure specific rolls? It's the closest the game gets to strategically exciting, and it's predicated on your finding of interesting interactions between abilities, as opposed to pre-ordained build types. The game has those, too; they're just lame. This is where it truly distinguishes itself from its peers. When you've got a real dice engine going, it feels like a personal mad scientist scheme. I'm not playing a poison build or an armour build or whatever. I've found some absurd combination of abilities that lets me ensure I roll many high numbers and do a ton of damage. You make your luck in a very literal sense! Of course, you can just get completely fucked, but I think you deserve the bad things that happen to you.
The classes and 'rooms' (AKA ascension levels) are distinct enough that blowing through all 36 is a genuinely fun time. Do not go into this expecting a massively replayable deck builder. It's easy to be disappointed; this uncomplicated puzzle game wears the shell of a much deeper experience. Just try to soak in the bouncy game show sounds and sights, and have fun having your brain mildly stretched by a refreshingly compact mathy good time. I can hear the comical souring of some of your faces as I say "Math", but if you enjoyed Mathletics as much as I did in primary school, you'll love it.
Terry Cavanagh is one of the great ambassadors for funny-looking little cartoon dudes. God Bless.
No. To me, the best roguelikes are puzzle games in disguise. They are trial and error, information-gathering experiences where 99% of your time playing is gobbling up every morsel of information about your environment and tools until a solution becomes clear. The actual act of solving the puzzle is a small but euphoric cap to the major experience. Journey, destination, blah blah blah. Dicey Dungeons is this interpretation of the roguelike rendered as literally as possible. It is the purest vision of the genre any 'deckbuilding' roguelike has ever been.
Don't get me wrong. I love Slay the Spire and other actual card game roguelikes. But they are a more abstract problem-solving puzzle that evolves from run to run. They are about long-term planning and building complex synergies throughout a run. The macro game of combat is less important than the micro game of planning. This is still true for Dicey Dungeons, with the caveat that it has much less going on behind the eyes. Any individual run has a very small pool of available weapons and enemies that always appear in a close-to-set order. There is build variety, but only a little. It's as shallow as an inflatable kiddy pool, and one wrong move can let the air out of the entire experience. But, if you're itching to soak in 10 centimetres of cold hose water for an hour or two, it's beautiful.
To me Dicey Dungeons is 36 (+1) unique ~20-30 minute puzzles. It isn't about grinding for the perfect build or blowing your enemies to smithereens with a game-breaking combo (though through the power of multiplication, this can occasionally happen). There aren't even any unlockables! It's about resource management. How can I navigate this die through this particular gimmick? Well, I'll trial and error a little, and now that I know what I'll have access to and what enemies I'll need to fight, I can plot it out in my head and solve it. It's a cute little nerdy numbers game for nerds! I love it!
RNG is a big part of any game in this genre, and I think I'd be willing to agree that this is a pretty egregious example of such on paper. It's hard to argue with the fact that every single attack comes down to a literal dice roll. But I'm a fan of it. The enemies are nearly set in stone (You will see the Kraken every run, and you will like it!). The routes are extremely simple. Your weapons vary only a little between attempts. The variance in combat is where this game makes your problem-solving shine. How do I account for bad rolls? How do I build myself around the possibility of any roll? How do I ensure specific rolls? It's the closest the game gets to strategically exciting, and it's predicated on your finding of interesting interactions between abilities, as opposed to pre-ordained build types. The game has those, too; they're just lame. This is where it truly distinguishes itself from its peers. When you've got a real dice engine going, it feels like a personal mad scientist scheme. I'm not playing a poison build or an armour build or whatever. I've found some absurd combination of abilities that lets me ensure I roll many high numbers and do a ton of damage. You make your luck in a very literal sense! Of course, you can just get completely fucked, but I think you deserve the bad things that happen to you.
The classes and 'rooms' (AKA ascension levels) are distinct enough that blowing through all 36 is a genuinely fun time. Do not go into this expecting a massively replayable deck builder. It's easy to be disappointed; this uncomplicated puzzle game wears the shell of a much deeper experience. Just try to soak in the bouncy game show sounds and sights, and have fun having your brain mildly stretched by a refreshingly compact mathy good time. I can hear the comical souring of some of your faces as I say "Math", but if you enjoyed Mathletics as much as I did in primary school, you'll love it.
Terry Cavanagh is one of the great ambassadors for funny-looking little cartoon dudes. God Bless.
it did not connect with me but it’s nice. i’ll maybe try again someday because i want to like it more! just felt like a lot of the weapons/abilties are redundant or pointless and the mechanics are never tight enough to justify actually being there. some elements feel like they’re only present because they’re “supposed” to be, and not because they fit the flow of gameplay.
The music alone carries this game. Full poison build is my go-to. Play Robot if you want to have fun.
Makes up for its very short length with so many different ways to play.
There's certain genres that once used to be relatively niche that indie devs started to pump out until they became over saturated, and rouge-likes are one of those. Dicey Dungeons stands out among the crowd but there's not quite enough meat on the bone to really keep me hooked. Still fun.
One of the best roguelikes out there, mechanically.
Un roguelike muy disfruton que lo que no tiene de profundidad le sobra de variedad.
Angry Birds dice gif