Dungeon of the Endless Review for PlayStation 4

I’m the kind of player who likes browsing new kinds of dungeon crawlers, and for the longest time, Dungeon of the Endless gathered dust on my wishlist. It wasn’t until now that I realized I was completely missing out on the unique experience that it has to offer. 

Dungeon of the Endless, described as a roguelike tower defense game, was developed and published by Amplitude Studios in 2014 (along with Sega and now partnered up with Playdigious). Approaching the release of its port to the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, I was given the opportunity to take it for a spin. 

I prefer to describe Dungeon of the Endless as a roguelike dungeon-crawling RTS (real time strategy). Its gameplay pattern of system micromanagement combined with traditional roguelike gameplay was refreshing given the oversaturation of the genre. You do have to contend with a lot of tower defense strategies, but the pacing of the game is far different than most tower defenses. Instead of placing your turrets and sitting back, you need to remain incredibly focused, moving your hero team in reaction to the enemies while using their abilities and building at opportune times. It feels much more like an RTS when considering that unit movements are command based rather than completely fluid.

But what solidifies Dungeon of the Endless as a riveting RTS is the resource management system. Basic dungeon crawling patterns often have you progress endlessly without much thought about what you’re doing. DOTE has the player monitor not just the health of their heroes but also several different resources that contribute to the progression and direction of their run. Much like with Age of Empires, if the player fails to manage their economy, the game will dole out punishments in the later stages. I found this aspect of the game to be incredibly rewarding. Good economic management paves the way to different styles of play and a higher power ceiling. It ends up yielding a fluid difficulty that demands attention without being discouraging to the player.

The only clear issues I had with DOTE was that I was playing it on the console version (PlayStation 4). Its strength of feeling like a micromanaging RTS was dampened by the clunkiness of a controller. I felt hindered by the need to navigate menus and issue commands with only the equivalent of limited hotkeys rather than a fluidly moving screen AND hotkeys. Techniques like “move hopping” grew incredibly more difficult to execute than it would be with a keyboard and mouse. It made me realize that while having access to the game on more platforms is important for letting more people enjoy it, players who have access to both mediums should probably stick with the PC release. But regardless of that problem, I enjoyed the game immensely. 

Dungeon of the Endless is a great title. It features an enrapturing soundtrack, unforgiving but rewarding difficulty, and a concept that few games share. And while I would prefer the PC version, releasing on multiple platforms will only spread the game to more players. I recommend Dungeon of the Endless to anybody who enjoys a fresh take on dungeon crawling or a new PvE RTS experience.

9/10

Check Out the Dungeon of the Endless ‘Let the Pug Out’ Trailer:

Dungeon of the Endless is now available on Nintendo Switch via the eShop for $19.99/19.99€. The PlayStation 4 version will be released a few days later on May 19th. You can also find the Dungeon of the Endless Collection for PC via Steam.

For more information, please visit: https://playdigious.com/dungeon-of-the-endless/

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Devon Huge

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My name is Devon Huge. I'm passionate about writing, art, games, and lists that are one item too long.

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