“Do not do This!” shouts one of my teammates during our limited downtime between enemy waves in Endless Dungeon. The “it” in question is that I’m taking an upgrade I didn’t really need. The “it” in question has now reduced our short downtime by a significant margin. The “it” in question has unleashed an avalanche of bloodthirsty, super-aggressive, venomous Refluxer and Nasquito bugs that want us dead and our Crystal Bot demolished. If the latter falls, it’s game over. And me could we have just compromised our entire mission. “I’m sorry!” I moan into my earpiece and we all laugh, but I’m not sure it’s sincere.
With our team of three on the ropes, our defensive turrets all but destroyed, and our morale low, it’s time for me to step in. I fill the beer-soaked shoes of Fassie, a hybrid bighorn sheep-headed, dragon-bodied creature who’s also a bartender and mixologist in a tuxedo because, of course, they are. This is Endless Dungeon, remember, Amplitude’s new twin-stick Tower Defense shooter and successor to 2014’s Dungeon of the Endless. Like its esteemed predecessor, the procedurally generated action here is fast and frenetic. , its enemies are unsightly and unpredictable, and its heroes are clearly hardly what you would call orthodox. Especially when Fassie’s special abilities include using cocktails to boost allies and starting bar fights where nearby monsters clash to your advantage.
“Bringing these characters to life is an interesting and highly iterative process,” says game director Jeff Spock. “The (team’s) design indicates that we need certain game archetypes. Artists say, ‘Hey, look at this, look at this, look at this!’ And it’s about finding a balance. Endless Dungeon is a space western, so I have western archetypes in mind.”
“But really, it’s about groups coming together, exchanging views and sharing ideas. I love cocktails and I love going to cocktail bars, but it was one of the artists who came up with this idea of a dragon in the waistcoat and jacket. as a server. I was like, ‘Yeah! THANKS!’ And then (the design team) came up with these fun skills. Creating these characters was a lot of fun and very collaborative. We don’t have a structured process, it’s a lot more chaotic than that.”
your turn
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That sense of chaos seeps into my own Endless Dungeon playstyle. Breaking the line to protect our Crystal Bot, I head straight for the trio of Nibblers approaching the door at the bottom of my screen. A few shotgun blasts lead the way, before I use my combat ability against two incoming Royal Shynesses (Shynesses? Shynai?) who immediately begin to engage. I leave them to them, but just as I get home I’m caught in an explosion of projectile webs from a flanking group of Webmasters to my left. And, much like the real-world spiders these mimic bugs might do, they tear me apart from every angle as they shrink at snail-like speed. Bugs are some of the weakest enemies in the Endless Dungeon compared to bots, blobs, and blurs, but they’re stronger in groups, which I now know firsthand.
Miraculously, I made it out of the ill-planned previous storyline alive (thanks to my long-suffering teammates), but the ordeal underscores one of Endless Dungeon’s redeeming characteristics: its penchant for entertainment during its accidental unscripted moments. Games of this type thrive in these circumstantial situations, sure, but the instant action in Endless Dungeon is so fast and erratic, it’s meant to surprise you and keep you on your toes, or, you know, entangled in a web begging for mercy. – It’s a joy. It couldn’t function as well without it, but that’s a testament to its design: players are given the tools and the freedom to thrive or die.
“Seeing players push the boundaries of what’s possible in the game is worth it,” Spock continues. “Lo que a veces vimos en nuestros juegos 4x (Endless Space, Endless Legend, Humankind), teníamos cuatro o cinco jugadores reunidos, jugando un juego y luego escribiendo un informe completo posterior a la acción, ya sabes, esto es cómo fue nuestra batalla , that type of thing. You adore! And because Endless Dungeon is procedurally generated, you never know what’s going to happen and that’s pretty magical.”
“Particularly in Endless Dungeon, you can set up this hallway where Hope the monsters will fall. but then you need to open another door in another place, and all of a sudden these monsters start coming like this, so you run back and forth and yell at your friend; he wants to build this kind of tower, and you shout, ‘No, no, no! Not this tower! This!’ At the end of the day, you have these moments that are really wild and fun.”
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“From its centralized relaxation hub to its relentless killing grounds, Endless Dungeon knows exactly what it’s all about, rounding out the experience with a suite of genre-bending features.”
And it’s that feeling of unpredictable fun that makes Endless Dungeon so enjoyable. It’s what made the first one so entertaining nearly a decade ago, and it’s great to see this long-awaited follow-up not only retain that vibe, but push it in style and substance by the standards. of today. From its centralized relaxation hub to its relentless killing grounds, Endless Dungeon knows exactly what it’s all about and rounds out the experience with a suite of genre staples like its library of quirky characters, resources invested in stats , skill upgrade modules, defense support traps and turrets, and a list of icky baddies.
Nine years after its predecessor, Endless Dungeon is now aiming for its May 18, 2023 release date on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. If my next teammates can put up with my nonsense, I can’t wait to plumb their depths once again.
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