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A new way to play a unique RPG-flavored puzzle game - Desktop Dungeons: Rewind Quick Review

2K View2023-04-18

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Skip this one if you’re looking for a traditional RPG, but play it if you’re in the market for a fascinating new daily puzzle game. Desktop Dungeons: Rewind isn’t a sequel to the original Desktop Dungeons so much as it is a spiffy new presentation. The 2D tile graphics have been replaced with 3D models and environments, while the gameplay itself is relatively untouched: Players must plan a route through a procedurally generated dungeon in such a way that their character will be strong enough to defeat the boss using weapons, spells, and a variety of dirty little tricks.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve played just over four hours of Desktop Dungeons: Rewind, which is on top of the twenty or so hours I spent with the original Desktop Dungeons ten years ago when it launched. I’ve reacquainted myself with the game’s specific approach to RPG rules and how it repurposes them into the parameters of a puzzle, as well as with Desktop Dungeons’s particular sense of Terry Pratchett-adjacent humor. Each session lasts around twenty to thirty minutes and feels more like working out a daily sudoku or crossword puzzle than delving into a full role-playing experience.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Lots of depth. Desktop Dungeons: Rewind started simply enough by giving me one small dungeon to learn about each new rule. It gradually introduces each repurposed component of RPGs we all know and love, but ramps up in complexity fairly quickly once spells enter the picture. Exploration itself is a resource to be carefully handled: I could replenish my health and mana by uncovering new dungeon tiles, but would I need those to handle tougher enemies later on? Should I use this healing potion now, or could there be a way to use my petrify spell on a low-level goblin before attacking a meat monster two levels above me for a huge XP bonus? It’s a game about thinking several moves ahead at all times, and taking calculated risks when all else fails.

• Updated visuals. The original Desktop Dungeons looked fine, but things could get a bit cramped at times, occasionally making it difficult to find a path forward just due to icon clutter. With Rewind, everything shows up as a nice, simple model that’s easier to distinguish from the background. Speaking of which, the switch to 3D makes the various biomes of Rewind really pop—from subterranean crypts to jungle hideouts, everything is crisp-looking, vibrant, and full of newfound atmosphere.

• Unique puzzle mechanics. There’s really nothing else quite like Desktop Dungeons. While ideas like mana and hit points are certainly familiar, its more advanced mechanics—like that petrification wombo-combo mentioned above—are where the meat of the game can be found, and they’re what create the genuinely difficult challenges later in the game.

• Loads of customization. Desktop Dungeons: Rewind offers lots of pre-planned puzzle packs that have a specific solution in mind, but I spent the bulk of my time playing the random adventures and daily challenges, which allowed me to choose a race and class for my character every time I started a new run. Playing as a halfling wizard requires different moves than a dwarf berserker, and I’m still finding new weird ways to use spells in my search for perfect leveling efficiency.

• It’s free if you own the original. That’s right: Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is a free addition to your Steam library if you’ve got a copy of Desktop Dungeons in there already.

WHAT SUCKS

• It gets frustrating. Even armed with a decent familiarity with how Desktop Dungeons works, I still have runs that feel doomed from the outset, or by some mistake I made well before I had enough information to play more wisely. Mechanics like rewind insurance and death-proofing help soften the blow sometimes, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can feel pretty defeating to see that a run is hopeless after spending twenty minutes carefully plotting my course through the depths.

• Missing the original’s storybook charm. While I like the new visuals in Rewind, I miss the hand-drawn look of the town map and icons in the original Desktop Dungeons. The new 3D models do the job, but they lack the grubby charm of its ancestors.

• The pacing may overwhelm newcomers. Things open up pretty fast in Desktop Dungeons, and it’s easy to get in over your head if you’re not careful.

• Not really an RPG. This isn’t so much a knock against Desktop Dungeons: Rewind as it is a caution sign for players who might be looking for something else. If you’re interested in lots of gear, stats, and a compelling story, this simply isn’t the game for any of that. Hold out for Diablo IV.

💬 Does Desktop Dungeons: Rewind appeal to your inner turn-based tactician, or will you be waiting for a more traditional dungeon experience? Let me know in the comments.

HiddenGems