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It has the gameplay of Rogue Legacy and the charm of Terraria | Dungreed - First Impressions

2K View2023-02-03

Dungreed is a 2D rogue-lite side-scrolling dungeon crawler with pixel-art graphics. Enter the dungeon, explore room after room, battle enemies, gather loot, and die. Now repeat that again, but with slightly better skills, gold, and more experience. It’s a rogue-lite game because there is some persistence going on. The gameplay loop reminds me of the popular rogue-like game Rogue Legacy, while Its charming nature also reminds me of Terraria’s art-style and combat.

A peaceful town is suddenly disturbed by a magic dungeon. Its mouth / entrance appearing out of nowhere and sucking almost everything from the town; villagers and entire houses. You are an unnamed adventurer, sent to investigate this town two weeks later. You meet a lone villager, who helps you and briefs you with what happened. Your main quest is to investigate the dungeon, find other villages, and maybe repair and restore the town.

This town repairing and villager finding quest adds another layer of gameplay to Dungreed, you can immediately affect the town even in the early stages and see it gradually going back to normal. There are minor bonuses in doing so like getting randomized gear from the villagers. This is different to other rogue-likes where the only thing to do is to go on a dungeon crawling marathon, hoping to finally clear the game playthrough after playthrough.

There are two weapon slots, usually assigned for a melee and a ranged weapon, and 4 accessories to equip. Every run, the dungeon kicks you back out to the town and sucks all your items and gear so you will have to start from scratch. What’s ridiculous though, is that aside from cool and powerful medieval weapons like magic scythes, the game abandons sanity as it also features guns. Yes, guns like plasma rifles and sniper rifles are present in the game.

The controls, while it takes a while to get used to, are enjoyable and lively. The combat and the movements are cool and flashy, especially when you are dashing around enemies and while doing some platforming elements.

Dungreed is pretty good looking for an indie-game. It looks polished and the pixel art is undoubtedly high quality. The atmosphere is lighthearted — especially the characters — despite the ominous and imposing nature of the dungeon. It starts off slow, as with other rogue-lite games, but as you keep dying, gaining both character and meta experience, the game grows on you.

Full Review will be posted soon here on Taptap! Stay tuned!

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