One More Dungeon

One More Dungeon is a loving tribute to the first person shooters and dungeon crawlers of the early '90s, but with the kind of longevity-boosting roguelike touches that will be familiar to modern gamers. Whether deliberate or not, some of its retro touches feel a little too clunky for their own good, particularly when it comes to the controls and interface. Still, there's no denying how absorbing an extended run through its randomised environments can be.

One More Dungeon succeeds not by creating something brand-new, but rather from embracing older design concepts in a refreshing way.

It's hard to criticise any part of One More Dungeon in any meaningful way. I would best describe it as competant in all areas. If you haven't scratched your rogue-like itch in a while then dive right in. Just don't expect too many surprises.

One More Dungeon is a roguelike that offers a lot including bosses, secrets, decent loot, skills to upgrade and the many mutators that can be added.

There are achievements to hunt down and unlock which incentivises your time with the game, which have presumably been carried across from the Steam version. But, in speaking to the broader issue that I found with One More Dungeon, I never really felt entertained nor engaged by the experience. The idea to fuse old-school first-person shooter and roguelike genres is sound, but the developer perhaps needed more time and player feedback to refine their vision. As it stands, we’re left with a game that is packed with enough character but lacks an addictive enough gameplay loop to keep you hooked.

One More Dungeon is an interesting take on the roguelike genre as it offers it in a first-person perspective and via a pixel-art style. The game itself allows you to customise the game to your own playstyle and increase the difficulty accordingly but the core mechanics don't pull you in and scream 'replay me' once you have achieved your platinum.

One More Dungeon is an interesting roguelike game that features some rather original mechanics. It doesn't go so far on all its components, as its interface makes it difficult to navigate and its sound design and effects need an overhaul but One More Dungeon still has some elements that allow for fun moments.

One More Dungeon's retro style will appeal to fans of '90s first-person shooters like Doom or Wolfenstein 3D. There is some further depth to experience if you can get past the super-pixelated design and average controls.

Procedurally generated games toe a fine line which must be walked very carefully in order to be fun. When you play a long level in which you will only find a few items, you don't want to find equipment which won't do you any good or simply be duplicates of what you always have. Finally managing to complete a level while only finding the same iron dagger that you start with then dying in the next level because you didn't have a stronger weapon is just frustrating. This game does not achieve that balance. It quickly gets repetitive once you realize that almost every play through will be mostly the same with just minor variations in items you will find, stage layout and enemy positions. It is simply not enjoyable to finally get through a somewhat long stage then die and have to repeat almost the exact same experience over and over. It would have been far better if players could save at the start of each level rather than beginning the whole game over again. Even the aforementioned mutations barely make a difference to the overall experience. Even at $8, I cannot recommend this game unless you have a great nostalgia for these sort of first-person dungeon crawlers. Otherwise, there are far better games you can spend your money on. I really tried to enjoy this game. I spent two weeks coming back to it playing it in both small doses and large, but in the end I just felt like I was wasting my time. Outside of the time I spent with it for this review, I do not see myself returning to it. I played other games for review that I did not personally like but still gave a good score to because of the merits of the game and how I could see other people liking it such as Tennis In The Face. But, I just can not justify doing that for One More Dungeon. In the end, I give it a 4.5/10.

There's a wide selection of items to collect, enemies to conquer and many locations to battle through in One More Dungeon.