Die in the Dungeon combines roguelike deckbuilding with something every Dungeons & Dragons player has experienced at some point in their life: an irrational obsession with collecting dice.
If you’ve played a roguelike deckbuilder such as Slay the Spire, you should be familiar with the genre’s mechanical concept. Procedurally generated paths are split between reward nodes, shops, and turn-based combat encounters, during which you use a deck of cards in lieu of skills or abilities. Winning these encounters and interacting with other nodes allows you to add more cards to your deck and modify your existing ones—hence, “deckbuilding.”
Die in the Dungeon follows this concept pretty closely, but with one pretty big, really interesting twist: rather than cards, your ‘deck’ is built from dice.
Specifically, instead of using attack cards or anything of the sort, Die in the Dungeon arms you with a series of d6s (six-sided dice). These d6s are split into multiple types, each with their own effect, with the most notable and basic being attack, healing, blocking, and amplifying dice. During your turn, you can select a target to focus your attacks on and then use the dice you pull from your bag to interact with the battle.
The values of these dice are determined as they are drawn from the bag, and how you use them is determined by two things: an energy cost and placement on the board, with your d6s interacting directly with buffs and debuffs placed on your playable board.
To give you an example, a turn might begin with you drawing a few boost dice, an attack die, and a d6 that heals you for a certain amount. With three energy points, you have the ability to place three of these d6s on your board. By first placing the boost die, you can see that several segments of your board have lit up with a +1 modifier, meaning any dice placed in those sections have their rolled value increased. You place your attack 4 and healing 3 dice in the buff areas and, satisfied with your placement, you click “finish.” Your choices immediately play out, dealing 5 damage to an enemy and healing you for 4 health.
This is a very clever, incredibly satisfying twist on the deckbuilding genre, and one that, frankly, I’m surprised took this long to make. The simplicity of the d6 dice paired with situational result increases creates some surprisingly engaging gameplay and adds more strategy and control to what would otherwise be total RNG. The roguelike elements of the game, particularly the rewards gathered as you progress through a run, add a lot to the system too, allowing you to either directly increase the rolls of your dice or add special effects to them.
A feature I found especially interesting was how the game allows you to increase and redistribute the face values of individual dice; essentially, this gives you the opportunity to customize the actual number landed on by a six-sided dice roll. You can, in theory, create a super-d6, with the chance to roll 1 five times but an incredibly lucky 12 roll hiding on the 1/6 probability.
With all of the various effects and keywords present in Die in the Dungeon, the game could use a better tooltip system. As of the game’s current early access build, you will stumble upon upgrades, new dice, relics, etc., throughout your runs, many of which will apply new effects to your existing dice or otherwise have these effects applied to them. Trying to learn what each of these unique keywords or concepts means can be a bit tricky, due in no small part to the game’s UI not being the best at presenting information.
Now, when you’re in a battle, the effects on your dice are pretty clearly explained by selecting them. It’s more in some of the rewards sections of the game that things aren’t presented all too well; until you have a clear understanding of each effect in the game, you can sometimes find yourself blindly picking your results after levels.
A simple fix would be adding the ability to just hover your mouse over a keyword, displaying a quick explanation of what it does afterward; the game’s keywords are already highlighted with unique colors, so it kind of tricks your brain into thinking that’s how they work anyway.
I shouldn’t wrap up a review of Die in the Dungeon without complimenting the game on its art style. Die in the Dungeon maintains a very simple pixel art look, one that not only keeps the game’s file size low but gives everything a very nice, adorable look to it. This cuteness is further aided, in no small amount, by the fact that the game’s protagonists are all frogs. You are a frog knight. If I had opened with that fact, you probably would have purchased the game before reading anything else.
Die in the Dungeon offers a fresh and engaging take on the roguelike deckbuilding genre by replacing cards with dice. The combination of strategic placement, energy management, and customizable dice rolls creates a gameplay experience that is both satisfying and full of depth. While the game could benefit from a more intuitive tooltip system to better explain the various effects and keywords, its charming art style, clever mechanics, and the quirky inclusion of frog knights make it an enjoyable and unique title for fans of the genre. Overall, Die in the Dungeon is a fun, innovative game that is well worth exploring.
Pros:
- A great twist on the deckbuilding formula, combining die-rolling RNG with controllable strategy.
- Great pixelated art style with frog protagonists.
Cons:
- Some slight UI issues that can make learning the game’s features and mechanics a little tough.
Comments