Endless Dungeon Is a Tactical Roguelite that Brings On the Pain (in a Good Way)
If you’ve played the Dungeon of the Endless, you know that the greatest feature of a tactical tower defense game is its incredibly high level of difficulty. Protecting yourself from the myriad waves of enemies as a squeeze hero while managing the few resources used for tower defense was often a humble experience. With the successor Endless Dungeon being a rogue light, you may be wondering if developer Amplitude intends to use a lighter touch in the future. After hours of being completely attacked by various bugs and robots on the tragic space station of the Endless Dungeon, I can safely report that no quarters have been given-and it’s a big punishment like me. Great news for eating.
There have been many changes since the 2014 Endless Dungeon, but the Core Formula is immediately recognizable in the Endless Dungeon. I took on the role of two heroes stuck on the space station and looked for an exit with the help of a mechanical spider that had to be protected at all costs. Managing resources, getting new equipment, and building defense towers are all essential skills to survive the brutal and relentless waves of enemies that easily overwhelm me, despite my trivial tower defense chops. became.
I quickly learned that even with the character’s very useful abilities, such as the ability to make a bunker invincible for a long time, a fast index finger alone is not enough to prevent premature death. Instead, I had to be very careful as I explored the abandoned space station and eventually made a futile attempt to reach the exit. Each of the new rooms I entered brought anxiety and excitement that I wanted to find some useful resources, leaving myself in the nest of the inevitable monster I was probably walking around. Needless to say, I have never succeeded in a limited amount of time with this dire dungeon crawler. And I think it’s a proof of its authenticity as a hardcore rogue light. It’s easy for me.
But just because an endless dungeon calls itself roguelike vs. roguelike in the past doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sure, the final version has a meta-progression system that makes it a little easier with each successive playthrough, but Amplitude makes the progression horizontal rather than vertical unlockable, which makes the player more powerful. It is explained that the direction can be unlocked. For example, you can unlock a new character that offers more options to confront the dungeon and its enemies, but you can’t make an existing character much stronger than it was originally.
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There are exceptions to this rule. For example, weapons that can be improved to give an edge, mod slots that can give a character a certain permanent boost, but most of the time hope to survive the brutal waves of endless dungeons’ relentless enemies. If you need to, you need to improve your skills – there is no menu to hone your path to unparalleled power. In this model, the endless dungeon straddles the borderline of being somewhat more familiar than a full Darwin roguelike game, without wearing the same children’s gloves that are common in roguelike games.
That said, the version I played didn’t have a progress system at all, so I learned to make the best use of resources carefully, and it was repeatedly built into the hordes of enemies until I progressed little by little with each attempt. It’s gone. It was certainly not for the timid, I was kicked in the ass along the way, but that was the experience I wanted more. I look forward to being humiliated again when the Endless Dungeon comes to Early Access later this year.
