Bargin Gamer proof of concept: Dungeons of Dredmor: How I dred thee

Dungeons of Dredmor, released on July 13th 2011, is a top-down rougelike dungeon crawler from Gaslamp Games. Being their flagship title, it would be excusable to not expect much from this little game, but to do so would be a mistake, as this is one of the most amusing cheap games currently on the market. At only 5$/4 € (7.50$/7 € if you choose to shell out for the expansion pack as well), this is one game that is well worth the price. Note: As of march 2012, Steam buyers beware: In what appears to be a most baffling oversight, Dungeons of Dredmor + its expansion pack, Realm of the Diggle Gods, costs 7.50€, yet Dungeons of Dredmor by itself is 4€, with the expansion costing 2.99€, which means you save half a euro if you buy them separately.

Before we proceed to discuss the merits of the game, let us take a moment to discuss the Roguelike genre, as it is somewhat uncommon. A Roguelike, named after the genre-birthing game Rogue, is a game in which most if not all of the game's layout and item distribution is randomly generated. The appeal is that you never quite know what to expect - One playthrough, you may face hordes of SuperUberLeet PwnDemons, and on another, you'll be skipping through piles of Infinity +2 Scarves of Major Destruction. Usually, there is at least some constraint as to what can spawn how early/late into the game, but not always.

What makes Dungeons of Dredmor unique is how easy it is to play. Most Roguelikes suffer from bloated interfaces and pages upon pages of text. Dungeons of Dredmor, on the other hand, has a refreshingly simple interface. Want to hit something? Click on it. Want to pick something up? Click on it. Want to cast a spell? Press the hotkey you have bound it to in order to select it, then right click and enjoy sweet, sweet magic. In fact, even selecting the seven skills you start the game with is fairly intuitive - Humorous icons and short blurbs give you a general idea of what to expect, so you don't take a skill only to be utterly betrayed by your expectations.

Do not confuse accessibility for ease of play, however. Dungeons of Dredmor is brutally hard, and death is common, even on the easiest of difficulties. What makes this difficulty cliff all the more hellish, and yet oddly satisfying, is the "Perma-death" option - once you die, that's it. Your save gets deleted and you have to start from scratch. While it's tempting to play with it off, it subtracts from the whole random nature of the game, which is a huge chunk of the replay value.

Speaking of replay value, this game is extremely replayable, and not just because of the randomly generated dungeon layout and wide menagerie of skills to play with.This is a game that you will WANT to keep replaying, because of the sheer charm it exudes. From the doomguy style shifty eyebrows of the main character, to the adorable charm of killer diggles, to the golemancy skill which summons a golem with a amazingly fancy mustache to your aid, don't be surprised if you crack at least a few smiles or even full on laughs each time you boot the game up.

Ultimately, though, the question at the end of the day, even for a game as cheap as this one, is thus: Is it any fun? The answer to this question, I feel confident, is a resounding yes. With a excellent soundtrack that gets you in the feel, cute graphics that practically ooze charm, hilarious jokes, references that make you feel old, a challenging yet not unfair difficulty curve, and extremely high replay value all tie together to make this a game I would be willing to pay upwards of even fifty bucks for. At five bucks, this game is a utter steal.