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[kswiston]

What is it?: Desktop Dungeons is a quick-play roguelike puzzle game that gives you roughly 10 minutes of dungeon-crawling action per serving. Choose from one of seven races, and over a dozen unique classes, as you tackle dozens of quests and challenges in the game's 15+ randomized dungeons. Make it out alive, and you can use your hard-earned booty to build up your kingdom, unlocking even more options.

Why should I care?: Besides being extremely addicting, Desktop Dungeons is a great intro to the world of roguelikes, curtailing some of the complexity of the genre without skimping on the difficulty. While the game mechanics seem simple at first, there's a ton of depth to be found as you start to master class strategies.

Having grown up on "Press A to Win!" games, I don't think I am ready for a roguelike: Starting is super easy. The community also has a great Wiki with beginner tips, class explanations, and other strategies. Find it here: http://www.qcfdesign.com/wiki/DesktopDungeons/index.php?title=Main_Page

Wasn't this a freeware game from like 3 years ago? Yes, the alpha was released as freeware. This is the final "retail" version though, hot off the digital presses. You can still play the freeware Alpha version HERE. However, the full game has been greatly expanded (both in terms of presentation and content) over the Alpha.

Platforms: PC, Mac, and Browser. Mobile versions coming soon?

How Much? $14.99 ($13.49 until Nov 14th, 2013)

Can I try a demo? Check out the Alpha - http://www.desktopdungeons.net/media/

No Steam. No Buy: Steam! - http://store.steampowered.com/app/226620/

Impressions
Rock Paper Shotgun - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/08/impressions-desktop-dungeons/

 

[Markoff_Chaney]

I was worried the over world was going to take away from the puzzles of the dungeons, but, so far, they've complemented the game.

The puzzles are every bit as good as I had hoped, quality improving from the "alpha" and every death seems fair, being my own fault for not reading something properly or not understanding a mechanic properly.

Any turn based step puzzle game lover of roguelikes owes it to themselves to give the game a good shot. There can be quite a learning curve, and I'm sure it gets brutal later, but it's a fantastic gaming experience.

 

[Parakeetman]

ooo am kinda tempted to get this.

 

[air jordans for dogs]

I've played an hour of it now and i like it, i can see how deep this can go in difficulty and the way you'll have to plan your moves. The music is really good as well.

 

[Copenap]

Looks interesting, can one of you guys elaborate on the puzzles. What gameplay and puzzles can I expect?

 

[Kouriozan]

Loved the Alpha and pre-ordered the special edition to support them it as soon as I could.
Played the Beta a bit but the full game is way better.

 

[Kyuur]

Looks interesting, can one of you guys elaborate on the puzzles. What gameplay and puzzles can I expect?

Try the free version to see if it suits your fancy: http://www.desktopdungeons.net/media/

The retail is more finely polished version of it, as for puzzles I'll grab some screens and post impressions in a bit. I haven't played since the beta a year or two ago.

 

[kswiston]

This game is really addicting. I probably put between 20-40 hours into the beta over the past year (and another 10-15 hours into the alpha in 2010), and I'd say that I am still firmly in the mid game. Once you start unlocking deities, some of the more specialized classes, and the hard dungeons, you will really start to see some of the game's depth.

While I was skeptical at first, coming off the alpha, I'm glad they added the kingdom interface. It gives you a good sense of accomplishment, and a clear sense of direction besides "Beat dungeon X to unlock Y".

Looks interesting, can one of you guys elaborate on the puzzles. What gameplay and puzzles can I expect?

Read the RPS impression that I linked in the OP, and play the alpha.

 

[Markoff_Chaney]

Looks interesting, can one of you guys elaborate on the puzzles. What gameplay and puzzles can I expect?

I'll reiterate the call to try the Alpha and read the words on RPS while attempting to enumerate how a situation in a dungeon may play out. I have little doubt others can do better.

Gameplay is Turn Based exploration/leveling/boss at the end with a meta town thrown in to complement the meat of the dungeon delving. Everything is a resource, from the fog of war (as you discover, you regain health and mana) to the spells (with many different effects, some which grant more XP to an impacted baddie and some which grant a bonus to the NEXT baddie you kill) to equipable items you can find. Some classes (WIZARD!!) allow for greater use of some resources (glyphs) and there are multiple races that allow for what happens when you convert a resource you no longer need. One of my favorite things is that no bad guys move unless you cast a spell that moves them, so you can strategically plan to pick them off as needed.

Many times, a battle comes down to single digits of health or one more mana being needed. If you played conservatively with your unexplored areas and potions, and in many cases brought yourself to the edge of death before leveling up fighting a foe larger than you, you have a better chance to defeat the end boss. You also run the risk of not uncovering something that's beneficial, but where is risk/reward without the risk?

I'm really not doing it justice. The alpha does a better job, but it's been refined since then with much more in the way of (most?) everything being solvable and less cruel placements of the RNG. There's more depth and tactics than it appears to be in the beginning. If you only fight things your level, you will die and have a chance to learn yet another lesson.

 

[Oublieux]

With the Steam key released from my purchase, I've played about 8-10 hours already over the weekend. The game is so great because you can just load it up and play it in short spurts or--if you want--an extended period of time. It typically ends up being the latter. Much like the whole "one more turn" addiction of Civilization, Desktop Dungeons' short sessions hook you into a "one more game" mindset.

It helps that the game is extremely easy to get into. Despite this, the game is extremely difficult; I died quite a lot early on and was required to learn some nuances and frequently switch up classes. Still great fun and highly recommend it.

 

[kswiston]

With the Steam key released from my purchase, I've played about 8-10 hours already over the weekend. The game is so great because you can just load it up and play it in short spurts or--if you want--an extended period of time. It typically ends up being the latter. Much like the whole "one more turn" addiction of Civilization, Desktop Dungeons' short sessions hook you into a "one more game" mindset.

It helps that the game is extremely easy to get into. Despite this, the game is extremely difficult; I died quite a lot early on and was required to learn some nuances and frequently switch up classes. Still great fun and highly recommend it.

The short bouts really dull the sting of dying. As you get better at the game, those deaths become less frequent. My main source of dying at this point is hitting the wrong button. For instance, going to attack with a fireball, but hitting the monster with a regular attack instead, or stupidly clicking on a monster 4-5 levels higher than me when I was trying to click on something next to it.

 

[kswiston]

Just a heads up that Desktop Dungeons is currently 50% off at Steam, allowing you to snag it for $7.50.

I know that there have been a billion roguelikes in recent years, but this one plays differently, introducing a lot of puzzle elements to the formula. You are also getting a ton of gameplay, with well over a dozen randomly generated map types (each with their own conditions and gimmicks) and tons of character classes/races to unlock.

Buy it!

 

[kswiston]

Desktop Dungeons and Legend of Grimrock are together in a daily Humble Bundle for $10. Anyone who loves dungeon crawlers and roguelike titles should be jumping on that deal. You also get Paper Sorcerer which looks interesting

https://www.humblebundle.com/

 

[Dreavus]

I was just looking to see if GAF had an OT for this game, can't believe it's flown under the radar this much.

 

[Octavia]

I just stick to the free original game maker version. That was always good enough for me and there's a billion things for me to still unlock. Fun game.

 

[epmode]

I own this. I like the music. I like the game. It is hard as all hell though.

And not only does the game have ridiculously low required specs, there's also an in-browser version that reads from your cloud-synced save. Good times.

 

[Dreavus]

I own this. I like the music. I like the game. It is hard as all hell though.

My biggest problem is usually ending up under leveled when fighting the level 10 boss. I find it tough to crack level 8 sometimes, let alone 9. Depending on what the Boss is this ends up being a death sentence.

 

[The Illiterati]

I wish they would adjust the difficulty curve. I played it for a while, but it seemed like advanced techniques where basically required to beat nearly everything. Almost every move counts to an incredible degree, and it just becomes a very long math problem with a narrow region of error.

Basically, never ever beat anything at your level if you can help it, try two levels above if you can which to me is very counter intuitive. Beat everything at your level and you'll be a level lower than required. I get why it works, but it feels like a technique that shouldn't be required on even the early stages.

 

[Kai Dracon]

I wish they would adjust the difficulty curve. I played it for a while, but it seemed like advanced techniques where basically required to beat nearly everything. Almost every move counts to an incredible degree, and it just becomes a very long math problem with a narrow region of error.

Basically, never ever beat anything at your level if you can help it, try two levels above if you can which to me is very counter intuitive. Beat everything at your level and you'll be a level lower than required. I get why it works, but it feels like a technique that shouldn't be required on even the early stages.

I have to agree with this. The current game balance reminds me a lot of the harder maps in an Advance Wars games. Like there's only one real solution and it must be planned out many steps in advance.

It kinda goes against the premise of the game which is a short coffee break dungeon crawler. I ended up spending far more than 5-10 minutes trying to beat an early stage. And I know several other people in the same boat.

 

[epmode]

It seems like it's tuned for people that have been playing the game for years. The difficulty curve is more of a wall.

edit: But the way the game asks you to replay the same stages with wildly different character builds gives me hope that it's not as rigid as it seems.

 

[shysaursoft]

The direction they took Desktop Dungeons certainly makes it obtuse, but I'd say that if you're looking for a game that is pure system, it's a prime candidate. Even the developers say they're constantly being amazed at people's unique tricks and solutions they're coming up with. I agree the difficulty seems a bit harsh on the onset, but they've added a lot of tutorials and predefined puzzle dungeons to help teach people the various tricks, like level-slingshotting (killing something in one hit while close to levelling, just so you can heal mid-fight with something two levels above you, thus increasing your chances), and stuff like that.

Not every run will always succeed, it's a bit like Spelunky in that way. Sometimes the deck is just stacked against you that unless you strike it lucky with a clever solution, you'll probably not make it. But that's part of the design.

The game also eases in a lot of advanced stuff slowly. Certain types of monsters won't appear until you've reached a certain points in the story, for example. So the difficulty ramps up, but only once you've passed certain milestones. And you only get the sink-or-swim Gods system later in the game too.

It's an incredibly rewarding experience, if you're into it. But it certainly isn't for everyone.