A unique experience on the Switch eShop, extremely fun and perfect to put you in that Halloween mood.
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Upfall Studios (David Amador)
Type of game: turn-based dungeon crawler with procedurally generated dungeons
Players: single-player
File size: 72.0 MB
We are giving away this game for free to one of our readers!!! You can enter the draw by participating on Twitter or on Facebook
If you’re looking for a challenging game that doesn’t feel riddled with cheap deaths and artificial difficulty, then Quest of Dungeons is for you. Without spoiling the story, you take control of one of four characters to defeat the evil boss located at the end of each dungeon. The adventure is filled with funny references and jokes that keep the game from feeling stale or rushed. It is obvious from the beginning that a lot of passion and hard work went into making Quest of Dungeons.
On the gameplay side of things, as mentioned above, the game is turn-based. That means that every action you take it counts as a turn. If you walk, attack or use a potion, an enemy can also take his turn and attack or move closer to you. This helps out when you need time to think of a plan in order to get out of a sticky situation. You can remain stationary, decide the best course of action and then calmly execute your plan. Like chess, but with fireballs and lots of slaying.
You need to be careful, though. You can save your progress while in a dungeon but if you die, your death is permanent and you need to restart the dungeon from the beginning. This is where the game really shines though. No matter how many times you replay a dungeon, the map, doors, keys, enemy placement and quests will be completely different each time. The only common thing between them will be the final boss. This procedural generation of dungeons keeps you coming back for more and keeps you hooked during your playthroughs. Make no mistake, you will die plenty of times, but it will be even more rewarding when you start getting the hang of it after 20 minutes.
The four available difficulties are Easy, Normal, Hard and Hell. There are subtle changes that come with each difficulty, like more enemies in each room, but to be honest I didn’t get far on the last two options to find out more. But I will someday, because this game is just fun to ‘git gud’ at.
The 4 characters available to players in the beginning are Warrior, Wizard, Assassin and Shaman, with a 5th unlockable one which I won’t reveal here. Each character has their own special ability or spell they can use and you can find more spells to learn spread throughout the dungeons. You can also find new gear, weapons, potions, food or buy them from the merchant available in each floor.
On the audio/visual front, Quest of Dungeons hits every mark. It manages to capture the 16-bit retro look with incredible charm, with neat effects, explosions, blood spatter and a great character design. I didn’t notice any hiccups and the game ran smoothly during my 7-hour playthrough. The sound effects do their job and fit the game’s atmosphere but the soundtrack is what will definitely catch your attention. The music tracks that play during your dungeon crawling, perfectly set a mysterious, suspenseful mood. The tune that plays when you’re near a merchant sounds a bit like The Doors’ ‘Break on Through (To the Other Side)’, which is a huge plus for me personally.
Quest of Dungeons is an eShop gem. You will get your money’s worth and then some. It controls like a charm, plays like a dream and is extremely fun to play, especially in handheld mode, in bed, after a long day. Do yourself a favour and give it a shot. I can’t recommend it enough.
It is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $8.99. The review code was provided by Upfall Studios.
We are giving away this game for free to one of our readers!!! You can enter the draw by participating on Twitter or on Facebook