“You get to discover those with the bread-crumbing design, whereby you're going to have to piece together the quest of every character. “Each of these characters has their own reasons for being there, and objectives,” Moris says. You’re encouraged to explore new avenues through the space station as you progress these questlines, all while making your way to the station’s core.
A central hub will allow you to interact with a roster of characters, much like the House of Hades, and each playable character will have their own storyline to work through. Grub battlin’ hubĮndless Dungeon looks to not only draw from the Supergiant Games catalog in terms of gameplay but also its approach to storytelling. It’s in these stages of panic that the game’s more dynamic side shines through, and I hope they’ll occur more frequently in later levels. Stray too far from your crystal without building adequate defenses, and you’ll have to rush back against the clock. Spend too long chewing over turret placement, and a random swarm of bugs will punish you for lingering. The game's most exciting moments came through my own failures. With no dodging or fluid movement system, I spent most of my time sitting stationary by my crystal, just another turret among many. Lacking the fast-paced precision fighting of Hades, most gunfights in Endless Dungeon are static brawls, as you hold an area against incoming waves while waiting for your special abilities to recharge. The game's more dynamic side shines during moments of panic, and I hope they’ll occur more frequently in later levelsīut it’s a shame that the combat is so rudimentary in comparison to those indie heavyweights. It’s not hard to see the influence of that latter title on this game’s isometric-esque camera angle, combat system, and persistent character upgrades. Moris says that Supergiant Games’ much-loved RPG Pyre provided early inspiration for Endless Dungeon, but Hades is what he considers now to be the modern roguelite benchmark. There’s a tactical depth to Endless Dungeon rarely found in twin-stick shooters, and a metagame that I imagine will provide fertile ground for the most fervent roguelite lovers to optimize. With four main resources to keep track of – for building turrets, buying turret upgrades, enhancing your hero’s abilities, and buffing your precious crystal – much of my time was spent agonizing over how best to prioritize industrial growth. And shrewd resource management comes into play when you get the chance to build more Generators to expand your constructions. Light RPG elements are thrown into the mix, too, as you occasionally find passive buffs and weapon upgrades. Build a Support in the right room, and you’ll reinforce any towers caught directly in the firing line. Place a Jellyfier correctly, and it’ll slow down incoming enemies just as they enter the range of your slug-slinging machine gun turrets. There’s offensive, defensive, and support structures to choose from, but most attention must be paid to how they synergize. For each room of the sprawling space station you enter, you’ll earn a handful of resources with which to construct turrets across an array of preset locations. Ironically enough, I found those residual tower defense mechanics the most novel aspect of the game. There’s a tactical depth to Endless Dungeon rarely found in twin-stick shooters But a shift has happened and we've moved forward in terms of that layer of action frenziness, on top of the tactical smarts of tower defense.” “ retains the same unique universe, atmosphere, humor, and tone. “There are elements of legacy,” creative director Jean-Max Moris says.
It’s an ambitious change of pace that allows Endless Dungeon to straddle the line between a fresh concept and a regurgitation of its predecessor.