The catch-up continues, as I continue to write-up articles about all of the games that I’ve been chipping away at during my recent enforecd downtime. Next up on my to-do list is a wonderful little dice-infused deckbuilder by ATICO. Welcome to Die in the Dungeon, or DitD as I shall (mostly) refer to it henceforth.
What is Die in the Dungeon, then?
Well I’m glad you asked, oh inquisitive reader. DitD is the cutest little indie that I’ve played in some time. It’s a deckbuilder of sorts, but the focus here is on building a collection of dice rather than a deck of cards, and then taking said dice into combat encounters where your rolls will settle things one way or t’other.
Of course, there’s a lot more going on than that. You’re not just slinging a handful of D6s and hoping for a big score. DitD gives you a number of different die types, and then you must try and find synergies within your hand. There’s luck, certainly, but you can also control the RNG element, at least to an extent.
There’s more to it than just dice, however. Soon you’ll be levelling up your favourite dice (we’ve all got them), adding new ones to your collection, and grabbing relics that enhance your abilities in various ways. You’ll need to keep on improving your hand, too, as the enemies you encounter are increasingly difficult to roll over.
Rolling with the punches
The challenges presented in each combat encounter can vary quite a bit. At one point you’ll be taking on simple solo enemies, but before long there’ll be small groups, big bosses, and everything in between.
At the beginning of each round, you grab a handful of dice from your little drawstring bag. You must then position the dice that you want to play on a small grid, but this grid will soon have obstacles to work around as you look to find the perfect positions to maximise each roll.
You must maximise your score by mixing and matching the dice in play. Red dice deal damage, but you can deal it either directly or hand out splash damage, depending on what you roll. You can supplement your attacks with blue or green defensive dice, or purple dice that act as multipliers. As you delve deeper into the dungeon, you’ll encounter new types, such as mirror dice that can reflect the abilities of another.
As you have no doubt deduced by now, the very heart of the game is finding synergies between the different dice, and making the absolute most out of round via careful board placement – a process that really spoke to the board gamer in me as I looked to tinker and optimise.
Counting it up
Not only is DitD really accessible for newcomers, it still poses a stern challenge once you get through those first few levels. I had a tremendous time with the first two playable characters, and I’m looking forward to experiencing the rest of the content that’s already in the game, plus it’s in Early Acces so there’s going to be more added over time.
The most recent update introduce a dozen new relics, and these game-changing items can make a big difference to your run. In true roguish style, you’ll get to choose new dice between rounds, plus you will find relics and other boons during other in-game encounters.
On top of all that, the new update adds four new curses. These are for the more dedicated players out there, those folks who are after a bit more bite from the game. That’s not me, I should probably note. I really like Die in the Dungeon because it’s light and breezy (until it isn’t), because the pixel art is cute as heck, and because the whole thing is being built with tremendous care and attention.
At the end of the day, I’m really looking forward to seeing how this adorable little dicebuilder evolves over the next few months, because if you ask me, the Early Access edition is already rocking and rolling.
Die in the Dungeon is out now on PC (Mac, Win).
