On my 16th birthday, I went to a restaurant after school to apply for a job as a waiter. Working in an incredibly stressful environment for less than minimum wage made my first few game purchases incredibly bittersweet and memorable to me… and among those was one of my favourite roguelike games of all time: Dungeon of the Endless.
Nevertheless, we already wrote about that game quite a while ago, and well, today, I wanted to talk about Endless Dungeon, the spiritual successor to said title which came out earlier this year.
It’s a labour of love that really captures the essence of Dungeon of the Endless fairly well while modernizing the game’s systems, adding some fun new twists, and overall, being a great spiritual successor to an already great game!
Developer: AMPLITUDE Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Genre: 3D, Action, Roguelike, Tower Defence, Strategy
Release Date: October 19th, 2023
Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC, Consoles
Copy was purchased. As an additional disclaimer, I should also mention that I did take part in the beta testing for Endless Dungeon.
After being sucked into the gravity field of this abandoned space station, a wild cast of characters tries to escape together. To do this, they need to escort the incredibly lovable (and spiky) Crystal Bot to the station’s “Core”. Hence, they dive into runs, opening doors, building up defences and getting stronger, often facing off against many, many, many enemies that really don’t want us to leave. Welcome to Endless Dungeon!
While Dungeon of the Endless was incredibly strategic with many choices to be made due to its turn-based-meets-RTS-style gameplay loop, Endless Dungeon is a lot more action-heavy. Again, spiritual successor – not a remake or a sequel or anything. It’s a different game entirely.
It makes sense, though. We already transitioned from 2D to an isometric 3D view, so the turn-based and tactical gameplay loop probably just wouldn’t work too well. I mean it could work but the developers went for something different, and I think that both games are great in their own ways.
Diehard fans will probably dislike the changes made but as someone who loved DotE, Endless Dungeon doesn’t feel too different.
It’s still about opening doors, carving a path forward and making difficult decisions… the only difference now is that it’s also more action-based with top-down shooter gameplay and sporadic waves that are kind of on a timer.
Within the space station, there are many different districts. Our choices are limited to only one path at first but as we dive into the Station, we bring back all sorts of collectables, resources and district keys, allowing us to check out new areas, unlock new characters and figure out more about this place in the first place.
The game really opens up once you start bringing in those district keys.
At first, you’re limited to the Astral Harbour, for instance, but later on into the game, you’ll have the choice between three districts to head into, each branching into two other choices that then also branch into two other choices afterwards… and then, the Core.
So, there is a lot of variety between the ten different areas to traverse and I think it’s really great for the sake of world-building.
After all, even if we’re victims of some unknown phenomenon… we’re the outsiders barging into these lifeforms’ habitat and essentially invading their home. There are a ton of quick bugs, ominous bots, vile blobs and enigmatic blurs coming at you as you explore this place and none of them are in any way, shape or form friendly.
This place feels alive – and the lore snippets we get from time to time really add to giving us a perspective on what transpired here. On top of that, there is also a lot of environmental storytelling going on with which we can piece together what transpired further, creating theories and trying to find clues. I love that aspect of games like this.
But the choice of what district to head to isn’t the only choice you’ll make in Endless Dungeon. Every district is a challenge in its own right. You’ll need to manage your resources, build up generators, and decide on where to place certain turrets and what risks you can take.
On the different floors, you’ll find chests, vendors, upgrade stations, as well as monster spawners that will activate once a wave starts.
Whenever you move the Crystal Bot or whenever you start Research, you activate a special wave that will give even veterans some trouble depending on how they laid out their turrets. Wave counters also are sped up with every action performed, from opening doors to building up turrets, adding some levels of risk management into the formula.
The way you utilize choke points and turret management and the way you create your own playstyle is just really intriguing for someone like me who sees a wide cast of characters and thinks of all the combinations that could create weird and unique synergies!
As an example, Blaze is a zoner that does a ton of damage using mines and heavy guns whereas Bunker is the steadfast shield of your party with Shroom in the back who can heal you.
But then, you also unlock many other characters that can be upgraded in plenty of ways at upgrade terminals to really shape or change your playstyle.
From buffers, damage dealers, tanks and zoners… Endless Dungeon has a very varied cast and I think everyone should be able to find someone they’d enjoy. But it doesn’t try to limit the player by putting characters into one specific class or anything. You can play Shroom, the healer, as a damage dealer of sorts. This is a shooter, after all. Bunker can get really tanky but you can also play them as a Melee-centric damage-dealer.
On another note, I’m impressed at how far the game has come from the initial OpenDev playtests and the builds I got to play during the Insiders play sessions.
The willingness that the developers have shown to listen to the community and even scrap entire systems for the sake of quality of life and replayability is incredible, truly.
This really felt like a labour of love, and it was incredibly joyful to be there behind the scenes, working on the wiki, giving a ton of feedback and reporting my fair share of bugs.
That being said, Endless Dungeon is not a perfect game.
My perhaps biggest issue with it – an issue I’ve had since the closed beta sessions, to be fair – is the length of runs.
Yes, you can stop playing at any time and return to runs later which is a much-appreciated feature… but I’d love it if there was a way to not spend up to an hour on different areas. This could also just be a skill issue, I reckon, given that I like to explore a lot and prepare more rather than too little… but a way to scale down the length of runs, perhaps at the cost of loot, would be pretty neat here!
The other issue I had with the game was the districts.
There are ten districts to explore… and on your runs, you’ll visit three distinct areas, as well as the core, making your runs overall incredibly unique and fun! So, don’t get me wrong, I love the design behind the districts and the challenges each one offers.
But not all districts are created equally… and if you don’t get a weapon drop that gives you the elemental damage needed for enemies you’ll find in certain districts, it can prolong the run a lot more than necessary which at times gets quite draining, especially with how intense the game is.
That said, the length of runs and the reliance on certain elemental affinities are my only real issues with Endless Dungeon, and the developers have promised to look further into those as time goes on, so I’m looking forward to that!
It truly is a labour of love that pushes your decision-making skills to your limits, in a similar fashion to how Dungeon of the Endless did it. In that regard, this is a successful spiritual successor. The soundtrack is amazing, just like in the first game. The characters are charming, just like in the first game.
There is some meta progression that you can utilize to make the game perhaps easier but it’s not necessarily a must-grab. The game is beatable even without this stuff. Similarly, there are modifiers for your runs in the form of beverages that add some extra spice and variety into the mix which is incredibly fun and reminds me a lot of Risk of Rain.
So, you can make the game harder for yourself if you are thirsty for even more of a challenge.
Thus, I highly recommend Endless Dungeon to any fan of action-roguelike games featuring a bit of decision-making, resource management and tactical thinking.
If you’re here for top-down shooting, Endless Dungeon has you covered, as well!
If you’re looking for a remake of Dungeon of the Endless, this game isn’t that.
It’s a spiritual successor that in my opinion definitely doesn’t neglect the strategy aspect that made Dungeon of the Endless so great while still keeping the core gameplay loop more action-heavy and fun.
It’s interesting how different the two games are in terms of gameplay, especially considering that they’re based on the same principles.
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
If you see this article anywhere other than Indiecator.org then this article has been scraped. Please let me know about this via E-Mail.
Indiecator 