Guild of Dungeoneering is currently available for free on the Epic Games Store until June 18th. At one stage, that meant you’d hit download and enjoy whatever it had to offer. However, with so many free-to-play options, it’s our precious minutes and hours we’re hesitant to spend now. So, is this dungeon-crawling RPG worth your time? Absolutely! As long as boundless charm and general silliness are your jam.
Originally released in 2015 on PC, Guild of Dungeoneering is, unsurprisingly, a dungeon-crawling RPG that made the jump to mobile a year later. This is, undoubtedly, where it always belonged. It sees you playing as an outcast guild member who sets up his own team in an act of defiance. Who needs those no-good, overly heroic types anyway, right? You then send your loyal subjects out in search of glorious treasure, which plays out through a series of breezy turn-based battles and uses an interesting take on dungeon crawling.
Rather than controlling your heroes as they explore, you build the dungeon around them using cards from a deck. Not only that, but there are also cards that contain enemies and loot to drop down as well. And there’s some strategy to this. Each hero seems quite content to barrel their way through to the boss, which, given you start each dungeon at level one, isn’t particularly smart. So, dropping down extra enemies effectively forces each character to grind a bit while loot cards provide the incentive to walk the less-travelled path.
To confirm the comparison you’ve likely already made, yes, you’re the Dungeon Master, trying desperately to stop everyone rushing off on their own tangent. It’s a particularly apt description given the art style, too. Everything has a sketched look, and it’s all drawn on graph paper. Combined with the silly humour – like the cat burglar’s attack being to throw felines at foes – it gives you the impression you’re playing through someone’s boredom-induced doodles during a particularly tiresome school lesson.
Don’t smudge your freshly drawn dungeon!
Whether it’s the grave digger’s constant shovel-based punfoolery or absurd attack names like the mime’s Imaginary Cannon, each class has something that’s sure to raise a smile. It’s not all nonsense humour either. Plenty of smaller touches endear Guild of Dungeoneering while you wade through its many mini-adventures. For instance, enemies being ripped up when you defeat them is one such example, which switches from satisfying when it’s an opponent to heartbreaking when it’s your own hero. It just serves as a gentle reminder that you’re playing someone’s imagination rather than embarking on an epic journey.
Outside of the dungeon building and affable aesthetic, you will have to take charge when it comes to battles. These play out using a different deck, with each class having their own set. This is where the fictitious cannons and cat catapult attacks come in. Along the way, you’ll snag loot that adds cards to your deck, too, all of which are placed on your character’s avatar. In the few hours I’ve played, it still remains amusing to rock up to the final boss with a pigeon nest perched atop my character’s head, wielding a cup in their right hand.
The combat itself boasts a surprising amount of depth, though it pales in comparison to a roguelike deckbuilder in Slay the Spire’s ilk. There is also a nagging sense of some losses being a little out of your control, with the game sometimes throwing up enemies that wouldn’t pass a routine drug test. Still, for on-the-go mobile fun, it’s an easy recommendation. I don’t always think in high-level strategy, after all.
