I don’t mind admitting, between the two of us, that I find the holiday period quite difficult to navigate. As such, my gaming habits over the last couple of weeks have generally been focused on low-stress rogues of various shapes and sizes.
One game that is not only low-stress but also about things of different shapes and sizes is Dogpile. Now that might sound like a clumsy segue, but it quite accurately reflects this quirky and engaging little indie by dev trio Studio Folly, Toot Games, and Foot.
What is Dogpile all about, then?
Like so many clever little roguelike games do these days, Dogpile fuses the deckbuilding element that so many of us enjoy with a completely different set of gameplay concepts. In this specific instance, I’m referring to the game’s merging mechanics.
In the spirit of the fruit-merging Suika Game that inspired it, your aim in Dogpile is to merge a variety of doggos, upgrading them to new breeds, and then squeeze as many of them as possible into the play space before you’re overwhelmed by dogs, large and small.
There’s a lot of nuance to make things more interesting than your average merging game, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to drop dogs and evolve your kennel of chaos as efficiently as possible.
All bark and no bite
One of my favourite things about Dogpile is the chilled and relaxed vibe. The cartoon visuals feel like something pulled out of an old issue of the Beano, and the crisp visuals are full of charm and character.
Not only does it look nice, but it’s also fun. As far as roguelikes go, this one is at the gentler end of the intensity scale, but given how I was looking for something light and engaging, Dogpile absolutely delivered what I was after and then some.
I found it relaxing to line up my doggos and then dropping them into play, making use of the physics whenever possible, and then watching and hoping for some chain reactions to happen. In that respect, I was reminded of another highly engaging rogue with a similar physics-based core: Ballionaire.
Dextrous Dogs
The dogs you drop are determined by the cards in your hand, which you’re constantly working through during each round. Each of your starting dogs has no special traits as standard, but there are many positive and negative effects to encounter as you play. For example, you might add a card to your deck that lets you make a dog smaller whenever played, which is good. Or you might have one that is “royal” and therefore a bit bigger than the rest, which, in a game about efficient stacking in a limited space, is not very good at all!
You can get dogs with fleas, dogs in cages, and other negative traits, but to counter that, you can make your dogs attracted to each other, or cause them to boost your resources when merged. One of my favourites was the bark; after this skill is given to a dog, when it lands, it barks, kicking the surrounding dogs up in the air – great for mixing things up if you’ve got pairs of dogs too far apart to merge.
Pamper those pooches
There are regular chances to buy new dogs with new traits, or tags (think items or trinkets) that will grant certain bonuses and help you define your build. It’s important to keep evolving your deck because, as you get further down the upgrade tree, the dogs get bigger and rarer and harder to merge.
The depth of Dogpile comes from how you assemble your strategy, and after a few hours, I was getting to grips with some of the game’s more nuanced mechanics. It really pays to upgrade your pooches with new effects between rounds, using the shop and associated economy where possible, to enhance and improve your deck.
As you’ve no doubt deduced by now, I’ve been having a jolly time with Dogpile, and if the idea of slinging a bunch of dogs around and merging them sounds like your breed of canine whimsy, then I suggest you take a closer look at this charming little deckbuilder.
