Dungeon of the Endless
Windows, OS X, iOS, Xbox One
Developer: AMPLITUDE Studios
Background
A rather non-conventional tower-defense game to say the least. Dungeon of the Endless is a dungeon crawler/ tower-defense where the player controls a party of up to four heroes and must ascend a dangerous cave system on a strange planet with the ship’s core intact. Released on October 27, 2014, AMPLITUDE Studios delivers a fun game that is not short on the difficulty or the strategy and really keeps the player on their feet in both combat and resource management. Can you save your team from this strange planets inhospitable wildlife?
Gameplay
The game is a tower defense/roguelike with dungeon crawler elements and they can all be seen very proudly represented in this game’s design and gameplay. So to start the game you choose an escape pod and your starting characters. The story begins with the heroes escaping their doomed ship in an escape pod and crashing down on the surface of a strange world.
It is from here that you must leave your pod and traverse the unforgiving wilds and find the stairs to next floor and repeat that process until you make your way out of the dungeon. As you explore each floor and open more rooms you will accumulate four different resources that each serve a different purpose. Industry is the resource that is used solely for the construction of the modules, which help the team to defeat enemies and provide bonuses to the heroes. Science is used for the research of new modules and upgrading existing modules at artifact locations as well as purchase items and weapons from the merchant. Then you have Food, which is used primarily as a source of hero advancement. You use it to level up your team as well as heal them when they in a tough spot, it can also be used to recruit new heroes to the team.
The final resource is Dust, which is a source of power for the dungeon, allowing you to power different rooms and set up modules in them, plus it lights up the room which is nice to. Resource management is integral to surviving the dungeon so play it smart if your looking to escape in one piece. The controls for the game leave something to be desired however, as it can become annoying to have to hunt down your heroes and send them after a module that’s being attacked somewhere, but you don’t know where. The UI could be better and more concise and I find myself wishing it was easier to keep track of where your heroes are on higher floors and the dungeon becomes larger.
Characters & Pods
A huge part of tower defense games, aside from the towers, is the guidelines that are set that dictate what you can and can’t do during that playthrough. In this game, the guidelines are set by the escape pod you choose to abandon ship in. It can limit the amount of heroes you can recruit and … However, a defining trait of Dungeon of the Endless that differs from most TD games, is the use of player controlled characters that intervene in the action directly. While the heroes will engage in combat on their own when in a room with enemies, they must still be directed and told when to move. Heroes fall into three different factions, Crew, Prisoners, and Natives, then there is Esseb Tarosh, who is faction-less. Different heroes offer different types of gameplay obviously. Heroes like Gork and Misha are much more suited to plowing through enemies. Then there are heroes like Opbot and Warden Mormish posses the ability to increase the proficiency of Major Modules, even allowing for higher resource production rates. Formulating a team for distinct purposes is a crucial part of the game and having the right man for the job should always be a main concern. On top of each character’s base actives and passives, characters can unlock new skills from completing their stories by having certain team members present at the same time. Great for making your heroes more capable of surviving the dungeon.
Modules
Throughout the different levels you will find yourself coming face to face with many of the planet's inhospitable inhabitants. While you do have a team of up to four (depending on the escape pod), there are just some times that a team just won't cut it. That’s where the “tower” in “tower defense” comes in. As you explore the floor you will notice spots on the floors of each room, these are for modules, which are Dungeon of the Endless version of towers.
As you power up the rooms you fit these to the floor and they will help you defeat the opposing forces. They come in two sizes, minor, which are placed in the small holes and there may be many in one room. They can vary widely from a simple energy gun (Prisoner Prod) that shoots at enemies in the room, to the Bio-organic Transference module which heals heroes in the room for each monster killed. Then there are major modules which are placed on the big plots in the center of the room. There can only be one per room and while the starting major modules only help with resource production, there are other types of major modules such as the Emergency Generator which powers a room without the use of Dust for when you are really struggling. You unlock new modules and upgrade existing modules by researching them at artifacts at the cost of science. These upgrades are essential to surviving the upper levels.
Verdict: 8/10
Dungeon of the Endless is a rad game with very experimental gameplay and mechanics while still rooting itself firmly in the Tower Defense genre. The characters are very enjoyable and each possess very different personalities from other characters. It is continually supported by free updates and paid DLC insuring that an investment in this game will continue to provide new gameplay opportunities and content. While the user interface makes it rather difficult to keep track of things, especially when you have four heroes fighting against hordes on separate corners of the map, it is supplemented by a shortcut character bio at the top of the screen, allowing you to level up and heal your team while you take the time to find them in the dungeon. It is a great game for those who enjoy a great Tower Defense or Roguelike game.
