Dungeons of Dreadrock Review - Review (2024)

100 floors of being caught between a dreadrock and a hard place.

The Switch’s portability and touchscreen have made it into a perfect platform for mobile games wanting to make the jump to the console space. One such example of this is Dungeons of Dreadrock, an action-adventure game with a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving. Throughout its 100 floors, you’ll slay zombies, throw rocks to activate switches, and jump into teleportation portals, while also being treated to brief cutscenes every so often. Even though the premise is a safe but simple one, the gradual ramp up in challenge makes for a fairly compelling experience.

The game opens on a fireside scene where a brother and sister are discussing the brother’s impending journey into the titular Dungeons of Dreadrock. The idea is that he’s to make the journey alone, but we learn that no one who has entered has ever returned, and so the sister goes against convention by following her sibling into the labyrinth. During your descent, you’ll come across fire pits where you can kindle a fire and cozy up for a nap, and in your dreams you’ll get a glimpse of your brother, the floors ahead, and the plight he faces. There’s also some narrated flavor text attached to checking particular objects on each floor and sometimes delivered as you enter a new floor. The overall story does a decent job of pushing you to see the sister’s mission to completion, but it would have been nice to see more unique object descriptions as you delved further into the depths of the dungeons.

Gameplay centers on grid-based movements reminiscent of something like Crypt of the Necrodancer. Equipped with your trusty sword, you can move into enemies to strike them, but some foes do take multiple hits to bring down. Many other enemies, like powerful ogres and charging minotaurs are better defeated by fireball and spike traps that appear on many floors. While most floors are self-contained puzzles that focus on performing specific movements, activating switches in a certain order, or even finding hidden passages, there are a fair number of instances where you’ll have to backtrack up a floor to retrieve a specific object or even have a certain enemy follow you down to the next floor. I found these puzzles the trickiest since I wasn’t used to considering what I might have needed to bring with me from a completed room to the one after it.

If Dungeons of Dreadrock excels with its gameplay and puzzles, it fails to impress with its visuals and sound design. The same enemies, gates, switches, and tiles make up the game’s 100 floors, and other than puzzle complexity, there’s little to differentiate floor 25 from floor 65. The end result is that the floors all kind of blend together, making longer play sessions a bit more tedious. As befits its mobile game heritage, Dungeons of Dreadrock is definitely better enjoyed in small bursts. Aside from a jingle that plays during the interstitial cutscene between floors, there’s effectively no other music in the game. The sound effects for slaying zombies, gates opening up, and even succumbing to one of the numerous dangers present are fine; you’ll actually need the sound on to help you solve certain puzzles, but the lack of music is unfortunate.

The controls work well enough most of the time, but there are instances where the game fails to respond to button controls after you’ve used touch controls. The same thing happens even if you’re only tapping the hint button on the screen, which itself is a bit cumbersome to use. Still, it’s very welcome to have a hint system in place that gives you step by step solutions to each room, which means you can complete 80 percent of a room, for example, and then get a tip for the remaining 20 percent you’re unsure about.

Dungeons of Dreadrock makes an admirable leap to Nintendo’s hybrid device. During shorter play sessions, the game shines and offers a challenging but fair puzzle-centered experience. The story is familiar yet enjoyable, and the basic controls translate well enough to the console space. It might not Dreadrock your world, but these Dungeons offer a pretty satisfying romp all the same.

Dungeons of Dreadrock Review - Review (2024)

FAQs

How many levels are there in Dungeons of Dreadrock? ›

Fight and puzzle your way through 100 handcrafted levels into the ancient depths of Dreadrock Mountain. Relive memories of oldschool dungeon crawlers from a new perspective.

Is Dungeons of Sundaria worth it? ›

Great nod to classic dungeon games of the 90s, with modernized playbility and graphics and soundtracks ( not the best out there but great for an indie ). Lots of little nods to pop culture, (ie Labyrinth well done devs... wont give it away more than that. ) for the pricepoint give this game a chance.

What is the longest dungeon in WoW? ›

The largest of the seven instances in Blackrock Mountain, Blackrock Depths is not only the largest dungeon in WoW, but likely any MMORPG. With over 20 bosses strewn about the massive area, a full clear of Blackrock Depths could take any party between four-to-six hours.

How long does it take to 100% darkest dungeon? ›

When focusing on the main objectives, Darkest Dungeon is about 58 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 124 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

What is the story of the dungeons of dreadrock? ›

You play a rogue who accompanies her little brother to the entrance of the mountain but then follows him deep down below to rescue him from the Undead King. What then follows are 100 classic fantasy dungeon levels consisting of skeletons, traps, hidden switches and riddles.

What is the max level in dungeon boss? ›

Your Heroes cannot exceed your Player Level. Maximum Player Level is 80, and Heroes' Maximum Level is 80, too.

What level is Sastasha? ›

Sastasha is a level 15 dungeon in Final Fantasy 14.

Does race matter in Dungeons of Sundaria? ›

There are 6 races to choose from in Dungeons of Sundaria, but they are cosmetic only; there are no bonuses or penalties to playing any particular race.

Is Darkest Dungeon winnable? ›

If you mean beating the Darkest Dungeon itself, then yes, many people have. It took me 138 weeks to do every caretaker goal and max out everything on my original save, and on my NG+ file it took about 75 weeks since you only have to beat the 4 DD missions to technically beat the game.

Is it worth it to play Dungeon of the Endless? ›

Mixing aspects of tower defence and X-Com, Dungeon of the Endless provides a good few hours of entertainment at a bargain price, but the lack of dungeon and enemy variety ultimately means its not a rouge-like that many will feel inclined to play for more than a few runs.

How long should dungeon of the Mad Mage take? ›

Approximately 20 hours of play per floor for the average party. There are 23 levels + Skullport. You would have at least 2 years of play if you play every weekend for 4 hours a session. It might work, but it can also drag because you can't really travel around the area, its just the mega dungeon.

How long to beat drd2? ›

All in all, this means that just to clear the main story, you are probably looking at a minimum of 55-60 hours if you blaze through it, and probably more like 70-80 hours if you take any amount of time. Trying to 100% the game with all its extra content will probably easily make it top 100 hours.

How long does it take to beat Wytchwood? ›

Rather short (about 10 hours to finish the main story), Wytchwood is a very good crafting game with a fantastic art direction and an excellent soundtrack promoting relaxation.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Amb. Frankie Simonis

Last Updated:

Views: 5577

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (56 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Amb. Frankie Simonis

Birthday: 1998-02-19

Address: 64841 Delmar Isle, North Wiley, OR 74073

Phone: +17844167847676

Job: Forward IT Agent

Hobby: LARPing, Kitesurfing, Sewing, Digital arts, Sand art, Gardening, Dance

Introduction: My name is Amb. Frankie Simonis, I am a hilarious, enchanting, energetic, cooperative, innocent, cute, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.