Dungeon Souls is one of those rougelikes in the vein of Nuclear Throne. You have an assortment of classes, randomly generated dungeons, and randomized loot. And, chances are, with that you already know whether you will like it or not. I’ve found that rougelikes tend to be fairly divisive; you know you like them, or you don’t, and there are very few fence-sitters. And even among those that do like them, there are a variety of games in the genre, further fracturing things. Much like any true rogeuelike, it’s difficult and often infuriating. And much like the aforementioned Nuclear Throne, it is an early access game. Coincidentally, it was updated as I was writing this article, and the changes between versions radically changed my assessments of various aspects of the game.
It’s important to note that, at this time, your only option is to play Dungeon Souls with a mouse+keyboard setup, due to a number of changes between versions making even Joy2Key nigh impossible to really use. If you’re a console peasant like me, WASD is not your friend. In the previous version, skills could be used with a right click, with the mouse wheel selecting between the two. Now, you are required to use “Q” or “E” to avail yourself of these abilities, thus making a controller+mouse setup impossible to really use with the controllers currently on the market.
The game is fun, however, it is not the sort of game you play to actually see an ending. As far as I could tell, it doesn’t really have one in this early stage. Going from comments on its Steam message board, you simply loop once you reach the end (a task for which I am unsuited), with things increasing in difficulty in much the same way as, say, a Second Quest in Zelda. The loop is important, though. It is the only way to collect Soul Orbs to permanently increase the strength of a given character. More on that below.
You currently have a choice of seven character classes, versus the initial six. Barbarian, Archer, Thief, Warrior, Wizard, Cleric, Necromancer Acrobat, Butcher, Table setter; all with strengths and weaknesses. Notably, the physical classes (Barbarian and Warrior), despite a significant buff in the update, have the weakness of being forced to get closer to enemies to efficiently attack. This is due to the fact that the majority of enemies deal some degree of contact damage. There is also the fact that even the slowest projectile class can attack faster than the Barbarian; not helpful when you’re surrounded by enemies and your skills still aren’t back up.
I also feel the need to mention that the latest update seemingly borked the level system. You can no longer choose to increase a stat at level up; only your skills can be increased (standard attack, skill one, skill two, and potion). While this improves the cooldown of each skill just a little, it’s not as helpful as being able to increase your attack or defence without the use of pickups.
Speaking of, the number of items available is plentiful. everything from stat increasing items, to orbiting spikeballs and rockets. Thankfully, the update made it easier to pick items up without pixel-perfect precision. That being said, you will often encounter potions that are used the second they are picked up. They are different from healing potions, which you choose to use; have random effects, from giving you berserk status or increasing your stats (good), to decreasing stats or taking the majority of your HP (very, very bad.) I once had the poor luck to pick up one that removed my only remaining point in attack, leaving me no means of finishing monsters and continuing. I only bring this up due to the fact that ones with positive effects are fairly rare, versus the many that screw you. While tricks and traps are a part of the game, they appear so often that you eventually start to panic when you see one; the greedy “more is more” gamer in you suddenly has to decide whether or not it’s worth picking up.
Gameplay is pretty standard here. You move with WASD, and you use the mouse to aim your attacks. Each level of the dungeon has a certain number of seals you must activate before you can move on. Activating a seal generates a ring of enemies around it. But it’s not as simple as that; this game is true to the roguelike nature. There is a penalty for wasting too much time on a given floor,and it is called the Redeemer. If it is on the screen with you, it leeches your HP at an accelerated rate, and there is no killing it. Your only option is to enter the door that ends that floor. Speaking of, the general flow of the game includes boss on every third floor. They (still) have very high health, and the ability to spawn a bunch of enemies from the previous set of floors at any given time, along with their standard attacks.
Dungeon Souls, while difficult, isn’t a bad game even in Early Access. As a matter of fact it is a constantly improving game. The developer takes the community seriously, and tries to address bugs and problems with each update. It’s quite possible that many of the problems I had with the game will be changed come the next version. It is still a roguelike, however, and one of the sort without a save system beyond the benefits gained from a Soul Orb. As such, it is unlikely to be the sort of game with which you feel instant gratification with. But sticking with it will have benefits in the long run when the game releases in full.
Title: Dungeon Souls
Status: Early Access
Developer: Mike Studios
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platform: PC
Price: $9.99
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