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This baby can "crawl" with the best of them!

D is for Dungeon is a really enjoyable minimalistic dungeon crawler where you play as a baby crawling through floors and floors of dungeons killing monsters and bosses with your little baby arms and showing that even in the early days of a hero's life they are a force to be reckoned with.

There really isn't much story in D is for Dungeon. There is a short, but informative and humorous intro. But, once the game starts, it is pretty much just a nonstop sequence of battles, leveling, finding treasure chest and solving puzzles. So, if you are the kind of person looking for a game with a amazing or deep story this probably isn't the game for you. But, if you are the kind of gamer that loves a good dungeon crawl or just wants a fun distraction to spend an afternoon or weekend. This game might be right up your alley.

Since most of the game is spent battling enemies, it is probably a good thing that the battle system is fun. It uses a ATB system with a side view similar to the old school SNES games instead of the traditional RPG Maker battle system. Combat is fast and fun and something about it just kept me interested for the entirety of the nearly 5 hours it took me to complete.

The game is also surprisingly deeper then you would think at first glance. It starts off with just the baby crawling through different floors. With a single shopkeeper at each floor to interact with. But, as you progress further you start getting access to summon gems. Which allow you to recruit other wanna be heroes to help you on your journey. There are somewhere around 12 classes to choose from. Ranging from the Swordace who specializes in quick attacks and brawn to the Peddler who uses items such as bombs and potions as skills to the Sentinel who relies on taking as much damage as possible and keeping the rest of your team from dying.

You also have total freedom on how you want to level up your character. Each level you get points that you can put into:

HP-Amount of hits you can take
MP-A must if you want to be a magic user
Brawn-Stronger physical attacks
Brains-Stronger magic and magic defense
Bustle-Attack multiple times before your enemies get the chance
Bulk-Defense against physical attacks
(Love the 4 B's)

So you can bring up Bustle and Brawn or Brains to make fast hitting physical attackers or spell slingers. Walking Tanks by concentrating on bulk and HP, or brains and mp to make a AOE spamming magic user. Also, the baby can buy skill scrolls and can learn any class's skills and can equip any weapons and armor. The only catch is the baby can only have 6 active skills/spells at a time. I have played through this game 3 times so far. And each time it felt like a slightly different experience.

Graphics and sound are pretty much regular RPG maker fare. With the exception of the title screen(Which looks great btw) and a few custom drawn pictures strewn throughout. But, the developer makes good use of the tile sets and sounds and I really think the old school graphics used for the game work very well.

The look of the areas change about every 5 or 6 floors. With a boss at the end of each set or floors, And, each set of floors have different puzzles. Ranging from lighting torches, switch puzzles, hacking computers, vanishing floor puzzles, etc. They help keep the game interesting and is a good change of pace between the constant onslaught of battle the game throws at you. And, if you do get stuck at a specific puzzle, you can buy a "Strategy Guide" in the shop to have the game solve the puzzle for you.

Overall:

Pros-

Great Premise
Fun ATB Combat System
Interesting puzzles
Your main character is a baby
Tons of customization options
12 classes to choose from
What little writing is in the game is actually rather well written and humorous(Item descriptions, intro, enemy names, etc.)
No Random Battles
Credit Crawl

Cons-

No real story to speak of
Game gets a lot easier towards the end
Magic users are a little too weak at the beginning IMO(Though dominate towards the end)
Near impossible secret boss
Some of the classes final abilities are MUCH better then the others

I really had a lot of fun playing through D is for Dungeon.

If you have ever wanted a dungeon crawler where you literally crawl through dungeons. Look no further then D is for Dungeon!

Posts

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Wow. That is one positive review! Thanks for the kind words! Didn't realize you liked the contest version that much. For a game I made in a month, it's really getting some love. Hopefully I can churn something out this summer before school starts again this fall!
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