Dicey Dungeons

Dicey Dungeons is a roguelike, deck-building game developed by Irish game designer Terry Cavanagh. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 13 August 2019. Ports for the Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android are scheduled for 2020.

Dicey Dungeons
Developer(s)Terry Cavanagh
Publisher(s)Terry Cavanagh
Designer(s)Terry Cavanagh
Artist(s)Marlowe Dobbe
Composer(s)Chipzel
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
Release
  • Windows, macOS, Linux
  • 13 August 2019
  • Switch, iOS, Android
  • 2020
Genre(s)Roguelike, deck-building
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
The player's character (bottom left) fighting a dungeon enemy (top right). Each turn, the player or enemy slot random dice rolls into equipment, represented by the larger boxes, as to have the numerical values create combat effects.

Dicey Dungeons combines elements of roguelike games with deck-building games. The game takes place on a game show-like backdrop, where Lady Luck challenges adventurers, each having been turned into a dice, to complete a dungeon with a rather unlikely chance of winning their freedom. The player takes one of six characters, which defines the type of equipment they will start with. The player then moves their character across a dungeon map, where there are various encounters with monsters, treasure chests, health items, shops, and upgrade stations, along with exits to the next level. The goal of each run is to reach the lowest level of the dungeon and defeat the boss. Doing so unlocks the metagame progression, such as unlocking additional characters, or new episodes for existing characters that introduce new rulesets that make runs more difficult.[1]

When encountering a monster, the combat takes place in a turn-based manner. On their turn, the player is shown their equipment, each which has slots for one or more dice to be added, and then a random roll of the number of dice their character currently possesses. The player then places each dice into one of the equipment slots; when all slots are filled, this creates a combat effect. For example, a sword may have a slot for a single dice, and when a dice is slotted, it will do the damage shown on that dice. Some slots have specific requirements, such as an odd or even number, or dice values less or greater than some number. Some equipment or abilities can alter the dice rolls, allowing the dice to be reused. The player continues to slot dice into equipment and abilities until they have exhausted their dice for the turn, or end their turn early. Their opponents have similar equipment with dice slots, and arranges their attacks in similar manner. There are various buffs and debuffs that can be triggered through equipment from both the player and enemy. Combat continues until the player character's health or the enemies' health drops to zero, or both. If only the player-character's health is reduced to zero, then the game is over and the player must restart the game. If the enemy's health is reduced to zero, the enemy is defeated and the player-character wins, gaining in-game monetary rewards and character experience, along with other potential rewards. By gaining levels, the player-character gains more total health as well as an extra dice that is rolled. The player may also get new equipment that they can equip on the character at any time outside of battles. Shops in levels can be used to buy new equipment, trade equipment, or other features. Upgrade stations can improve the effect of one piece of equipment.[2]

Development

Terry Cavanagh announced Dicey Dungeons in May 2018, after about three months of prior development, with an in-progress free version available for users to try up to this point. Cavanagh had planned to produce a commercial version of the game for release later in 2018.[3][4] Dicey Dungeons is inspired by one of the first roguelike deck-builder games, Dream Quest.[5] The game's art was created by Marlowe Dobbe, while its music was composed by Chipzel.[6]

Dicey Dungeons was ultimately released on 13 August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux personal computers.[5] Cavanagh plans to release ports of the title for the Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android by 2020.[7]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic80/100[8]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid10/10[6]
GameSpot7/10[2]
PC Gamer (US)81/100[9]
USgamer3/5[10]

Dicey Dungeons has received generally favorable reviews, according to aggregator Metacritic.[8] The game has been called a good introduction into roguelike deck-building games.[11][1] The PC release of the game was among the best-selling new releases of the month on Steam.[12][lower-alpha 1]

Following its initial release exclusive to bandcamp, game soundtrack record label Materia Collective released the official soundtrack by Chipzel on December 20, 2019.[14]

Notes
  1. Based on total revenue for the first two weeks on sale.[13]
gollark: Oh no, did you look at a PHP program?
gollark: And contains Nim's traditional thousand-line source files.
gollark: Huh, neat, the Nim forum is actually written in Nim.
gollark: What is it even complaining about? All the integrity checks go back fine.
gollark: How did that *happen*?

References
  1. Zimmerman, Aaron (20 August 2019). "Dicey Dungeons review: Well, there goes another 100 hours of my life". Ars Technica. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. O'Conner, James (13 August 2019). "Dicey Dungeons Review". Gamespot. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  3. Fogel, Stephanie (23 May 2018). "'Super Hexagon' Developer Reveals New Game 'Dicey Dungeons'". Variety. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  4. Chalk, Andy (6 July 2018). "Terry Cavanagh's next game is a roll-the-bones roguelike called Dicey Dungeons". PC Gamer. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  5. Douglas, Dante (13 August 2019). "Simple dice become the heroes in Terry Cavanagh's newest, Dicey Dungeons". Polygon. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  6. Hancock, Patrick (13 August 2019). "Review: Dicey Dungeons". Destructoid. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. Madnani, Mikhail (18 November 2019). "'Dicey Dungeons' from Terry Cavanagh and Friends Is Arriving on Mobile and Nintendo Switch in 2020". Touch Arcade. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  8. "Dicey Dungeons (pc)". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  9. Iwaniuk, Phil (20 August 2019). "Dicey Dungeons Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  10. Williams, Mike (13 August 2019). "Dicey Dungeons Review". USGamer. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. Walker, Austin (13 August 2019). "'Dicey Dungeons' Will Help You Understand the Best New Genre in Games". Vice. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  12. "Best of 2019: New Releases". Steam. Valve. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  13. "A Look Back - The Best of 2019". Steam. Valve. 26 December 2019. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  14. https://gamingaudionews.com/2019/12/20/electronic-soundtrack-to-dicey-dungeons-now-widely-available/
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