Another year, another roguelike deckbuilder. Still has a few kinks to fix around, but the time passed due to how complex, intriguing the systems are, it's not unlike the inspirations that follow it afterward. It's all in the dices, and how good at math you are.
Not jaw-dropping amazing, yet in its early access it's fun enough to give it a try. I know I have sunk a few. It's not the most challenging either, yet I like how it takes me much further after the boss battle, and plays around with modifiers. Believe it or not, Die In The Dungeon is actually several years old, and has gone through versions till the EA release in Steam recently.
So releasing as an EA in another platform after years sounds kind of like cheating, but I've been following some people doing super long runs. Since right after its first boss battle, it gets super intense, and has this FTL kind of progression going on.
So, the starting character is Cinder. A longsword holder, with 2 more locked out I believe. You get a modifier to start the game with as well, though I've noticed the dice deck below as well. These are types, no numbers are revealed till starting my first fight.
This game is entirely about managing dices, powering them up, rearranging their draw power, having powerful modifiers that get progressively crazy the longer the game is, and discarding them. Remember that last one, you can't have weak dices, and it's also important to have multiple types in quantities, you'll never know which one you'll need more for each battle.
The fundamentals are as follows: You get dices for attack, defend, healing, boost, mirror, and then there's the odd ones that really spices things up. You can modify the dice board slots by planting these rock ones, temporarily increasing the rolls. That's the first.
Important that this one is followed, where the math game factors in stacking up points as possible. Next is your modifiers, that comes from relics. They come after finishing special battles, engaging in events where you select choices that'll factor what you get, and so on. These auto shields you if you don't have defensive dices, does multi-target damage per rerolls, flash damage, more energy, etc.
It's easy to miss out on these modifiers if you're not careful on the map. But no worries, you can still make changes to your dices for the better. There are even ones that instant rolls out before finishing the one turn. They do consume energy, though, unless you get the even and odd turn bonus energy relics. Still having a hard time catching up? There are shops that give you free stuff like dice boosters, but you best save money for later on. Also, there's the matter of health.
Roguelikes like this, usually lean on survival, so you have to make sure at the end of every battle, you have enough health left. You can replenish on camps, use healing dices to heal up, it's not that hard, long as you have ample amount of dices to use, and using booster dices.
But the battles get tougher, enemy waves increase, you have their modifiers to deal with too. They can mirror actions, also affect the dice board placements, and yeah, their attacks are deadly too. Never underestimate what the average bug can do to you. Remember, attack, sustain, defend when needed, check dice energy, it's no problem extending these battles every turn.
Yes, the map is big, and unlike FTL which stretches out for the screen to tell, this much information in small screen real estate is sort of confusing to go through. I'm hoping they address this somehow. I wish the tutorial was also helping more on sorting my decks.
Of course, I know it's a deckbuilder, plenty of these around, but you have so much going on, and it seems like a friendly game for anyone to try out. I kid you not when I say this, I played the first boss on the map twice, and this guy had me pushed to the edge because I didn't bother to get enough healing dices. Plus, the dude had 150 health points. Like damn.
Now, the modified board has things going on. Like, that helmet on one means landing attacks on the scorpion rider. Enough of that makes him unconscious for two turns, and I had to use those to maximize my damage outputs. My second battle is where I learned a lot about the dice redistribution, using boosts well, and sustain myself long enough to continue.
End result? Well, map 2, and there's already someone who is messing with my board. These red placements have boosters, increasing damage output from both side. So I have to be careful, and make sure he doesn't kill me unless I get defense placed.
Couple of things to note, I haven't unlocked rerolling yet, there's also an issue where after battle, if I save and quit, I have to redo the same battle again. Like, come on now. Lastly, do not modify your booster dices higher than 4, look at the board size before you do that. Is it crazier to play? I'll have to keep going to find out. The story isn't even the forefront, it's mostly interpreted.
