Dungeons of Dreadrock: An Imaginative Anti-RPG
If you look at some of the games I’ve reviewed for TapTap, it’s no secret that I’m a role-playing game fanatic. There’s not much I love more than going on an epic journey, upgrading my gear, and leveling up to take on ever-more-powerful foes. But I also recognize why some people get pushed away from the RPG genre: These games tend to be all about abstraction. A character’s health and well-being are abstracted into hit points; the power of an attack is determined by a (usually invisible) die roll; even the way conversations play out sometimes comes down to stat comparisons. Does this character believe what you’re saying? Let’s check your charisma stat.
The strange reality of the world of video games is that even as the power of our gaming devices has grown to the point where it’s progressively easier to not disconnect actions from reality through the use of stats and dice rolling, more games than ever have embraced RPG mechanics and systems. Dungeons of Dreadrock pushes back against that trend in a brilliant way. Here we have what is in every way a by-the-books fantasy RPG epic...except in its gameplay, which is more of an action-puzzler where everything happens in a natural, reactive manner.
Dungeons of Dreadrock puts players into the role of a young girl who has accompanied her brother to a creepy, imposing cave. It is quickly revealed that the brother must enter the cave as part of a ritual—a ritual from which no villagers have returned before. Girls are expressly forbidden from taking part in this ritual, and from wielding a sword, so the protagonist is forced to wait outside. When her brother doesn’t return (duh) after one night, our heroine makes the choice to go in after him, rules be damned.
Once the sister enters the cave, she quickly discovers just how dangerous this journey is. The titular dungeons of Dreadrock are filled with enemies that want her dead and traps that will kill her just as quickly. Stepping on the wrong floor tile causes a fireball to shoot out of the wall, burning her to a crisp if she doesn’t hop out of the way quickly enough. On another floor, mindless zombies will lumber forward, chasing after her without end. And even deeper in the dungeon, more difficult challenges await, including spike traps, goblins, minotaurs, and teleportation magic.
Some players have compared Dungeons of Dreadrock’s visual style to that of The Legend of Zelda, and that’s certainly a fair comparison. However, the first thought that came to mind for me was actually Rogue and the hundreds of “roguelikes” that have been inspired by it, such as the Shiren the Wanderer series. Though actions in Dreadrock play out in real-time, movement is tile-based like many roguelikes, and the spacing of tiles and speed of movement for both the hero and other characters often players a core role in developing strategies for how to tackle each of the game’s one hundred floors.
For example, let’s say you enter a floor that has a minotaur on the opposite side of the room guarding a locked door, and a number of hallways with little side rooms you can duck into. At the end of each hallway are spike traps. You know a number of facts: First, even though you’ll have picked up a small sword by this point, your character doesn’t stand a chance going head-to-head against this hulking opponent. Next, the minotaur runs across tiles faster than you, but he also cannot stop running once he’s begun a charge, meaning he will fly straight to the end of a hallway. And finally, it takes more than one spike trap to kill the minotaur; his bulky body can absorb the damage from several of these deadly devices before he falls. Using this knowledge, you can set up a path through the level where the minotaur will charge after you while you dodge into the side rooms. Then he’ll smash right into the spike traps one by one, until he finally dies, dropping the key you need to exit and head down to the next floor.
Each floor is set up like this, a handcrafted, single-room puzzle. Some of them involve figuring out how to kill or avoid enemies, some are just about navigating dangerous traps, and some require solving switch or panel puzzles. The most devious areas blend together all of those elements, putting everything you’ve learned to the test. And it all plays out in real-time, and with logic that makes more-or-less perfect sense.
Of course the tiny girl you’re controlling might be able to cut down goblins or zombies, but it's also only logical that she can’t easily kill a giant ogre in hand-to-hand combat. And of course when an enemy throws a spear, it hits the wall and lands on the floor, and he can’t throw it again unless he recovers it. It’s all extremely straightforward and satisfying to puzzle out, even if (or perhaps especially because) you never get to level up or experience the joy of finding a piece of gear that bumps up your stats.
Don’t mistake me though: When I say the game is straightforward, I mean in the logic used to “solve” each floor, not in the sense that it has no surprises. On the contrary, one of Dungeons of Dreadrock’s greatest strengths is that it is absolutely filled to the brim with clever, inventive ways of twisting its formula. Even within the first dozen floors, I found myself shocked and delighted when an ogre that was chasing me on one floor followed me to the next floor, essentially turning this foe into an extended challenge that linked the next few floors thematically.
I won’t reveal any of the other mechanical surprises so as to not spoil the experience, but I will say that Dungeons of Dreadrock never allows you to get too comfortable. In a design choice that again seems to be setting itself directly against the RPG norm of grinding out same-y battles in same-y dungeons, this title is always mixing things up, always introducing some new element, or shuffling the elements you know in a way that hasn’t been seen before. It kept me on my toes, and it also made me thankful that the quest is only one hundred floors long. I’d have loved more content, of course, but this length helps ensure that the experience doesn’t repeat itself and fall back on using the same type of puzzle over and over again.
While many of Dungeons of Dreadrock’s design choices feel like a response to RPG norms, I should emphasize that those responses are given in a loving, respectful tone, not antagonistically. After all, as mentioned before, the plot here is classic RPG fare, including a high fantasy setting with some dark secrets under the surface, the usual suspects of enemy types, and an unexpected hero with hidden abilities that are revealed as the journey progresses. It doesn't seem like this game's creators hate RPGs; it feels like they love them so much that they wanted to present what feels like a core RPG experience in a totally new perspective.
I guess that’s all to say that I absolutely adored my time playing Dungeons of Dreadrock. This is one of the smartest and most surprising games I’ve tried this year. That it’s playable to completion for free (with ads between floors, or for a one-time purchase of $2.49 to remove ads) is frankly astounding. I’m not saying that Dungeons of Dreadrock has turned me off of traditional RPGs; I’ll probably always love that feeling of leveling up, even if it comes with some less exciting elements. But I’m so thankful that this game’s exciting twist on the genre exists, and I hope to see more games trying things like this in the future.
SCORE: 5 STARS OUT OF 5
PLAY IF YOU LIKE:
• RPGs. Though technically not an RPG, Dungeons of Dreadrock is clearly inspired by and pays respect to a lot of role-playing tropes.
• Hating RPGs. Love the fantasy setting and story but hate needing to grind out levels or sit through long turn-based battles? Dungeons of Dreadrock has all the fun, light fantasy elements but wrapped in a faster-paced, more puzzle-y formula. Give it a shot!
Have you played DUNGEONS OF DREADROCK? Let us know what you think of it in the comments!
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