The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 33 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 33
  3. Negative: 7 out of 33

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  1. Engstrand
    Nov 15, 2015
    10
    Dungeon crawlers...
    The vast majority of people on this planet don’t know, and will never know, the beauty of it. Every time I play one, I feel I belong to a small secret society. Is it all nostalgia? The countless days, nights and weeks playing FTL’s Dungeon Master back in the late 80’s on my Atari ST? Or is it simply a matter of taste, this genre rubbing me the right way?
    The game    Dungeon crawlers...
    The vast majority of people on this planet don’t know, and will never know, the beauty of it. Every time I play one, I feel I belong to a small secret society. Is it all nostalgia? The countless days, nights and weeks playing FTL’s Dungeon Master back in the late 80’s on my Atari ST? Or is it simply a matter of taste, this genre rubbing me the right way?

    The game mechanic similarities with Dungeon Master are, on the surface, obvious; you control a party of 4 heroes, orientating (in First Person View) through a grid-based dungeon, solving puzzles, finding keys and secrets, swinging swords and axes, shooting and dodging fireballs, drinking health/mana potions, finding loot/armor for upgrades, avoiding trapdoors and being freaked out by horrific monsters along the way.

    The combat is based on the “tank/damage dealer/healer” mechanism, which invites the player to approach battles with a more strategic view compared to the “hit-strafe-hit-strafe”-tactic (a.k.a. “dancing around your enemy”) found in Dungeon Master and some other grid-based dungeon crawlers (Legend of Grimrock comes to mind).
    In this, you fight most of your battles positioning your party right in front of your enemy, standing your ground. There are a few exceptions, though, as when you choose to dodge the Evil Watchers’ fireballs, or if you choose to attempt a retreat. With this system, the player conducts each individual party member to perform certain abilities, such as various attacks, healing/damage spells, buffs and much more. You want your tank to generate enough threat to keep the enemies targeting him, leaving the remaining party (healer and damage dealers) alone to focus on healing the tank (and other members when necessary) and attacking the enemy with melee and spellcasting.

    Keeping the enemies from attacking certain party members plays a big part in your eventual success. This makes for very interesting battles along the way, as the heroes learn more abilities for every gained level, while your enemies are getting stronger. To sum it up, the combat system is more MMO-based compared to most grid-based dungeon crawlers. On medium/high difficulty settings, it’s more than often necessary to use the built-in Pause function, which allows the player to completely halt the game, analysing the situation, queue abilities, assign potions to drink, and then unpause to see the action play through, until you wish/need to pause again. This can sound like interrupting gameplay flow for some players, but because of the difficulty level in some fights, it’s necessary, and in the end it becomes a natural part of game, something to become better and better at.

    The feeling of “being there” means almost everything in a game like this, and it really succeeds in achieving that feel. Knowing your position and bearing, keeping your back safe, looking for hidden buttons on mossy walls and analysing the haunting environment ahead. All these things become an obsession. You will revisit many labyrinth corridors during your mission, looking for secrets and hidden treasure, and there’s a certain feel when becoming “homey” in safe areas you’ve already cleared from enemies and monsters. It becomes a “safe haven”, and knowing the way back from where you came from can many times save your life, when you need to retreat from a group of a Cave Monsters or a poisonous Spider Queen. That’s what “keeping your back safe” is all about. The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is definitely not the type of game where you just storm forward recklessly, thinking you’re Rambo. Of course, you can set the difficulty level so extremely low that you actually can play like this (some might even enjoy it), but that’s not the main intention of this game.

    I had, and I’m having, a blast playing this game. It’s certainly a game that requires some time getting into. The combat system, including targeting enemies and timing your abilities, takes some getting used to. I can imagine players with a low experience of this kind of game struggling a bit in the beginning. That’s where the customizable difficulty settings come in – find your levels, play the game, get better, and when you’re ready for a challenge, raise the difficulty.
    The game is not perfect (it has some bugs), but with less than two weeks after official Steam release (at the time of this review), the developer has been very responsive to players’ bug reports, suggestions and feedback, releasing patches literally every day, not only fixing bugs but also enhancing the game in various aspects.

    I highly recommend this game. Not only for the obvious dungeon-freaks like myself out there, but I’m sure classic MMO/RPG players would enjoy this as well, as it has influences from more than one genre. If atmosphere, mystery, puzzles or intense combat is an important ingredient for you when playing games, this will be your thing.    … Expand
  2. Dubeau
    May 6, 2019
    7
    This is a grid based RPG, called blobber now. For new comers it might be a bit hard to learn at first. Barely no tutorial. The story is average with some good dialogues but the end was kinda of poor. There is 20 levels and they are pretty big. I like the puzzles designs and their complexity wasn't too daunting. A lot of them are for better loots. Some elements in the level were difficultThis is a grid based RPG, called blobber now. For new comers it might be a bit hard to learn at first. Barely no tutorial. The story is average with some good dialogues but the end was kinda of poor. There is 20 levels and they are pretty big. I like the puzzles designs and their complexity wasn't too daunting. A lot of them are for better loots. Some elements in the level were difficult to see. You can put notes on the main map, and you get a nice series of helpers. The fighting is mostly an automatic queue which you can pause and issue orders. Took me some times to really like it. I give it 72%. This was a nice game.… Expand
  3. Infarktbear
    Feb 23, 2018
    10
    Das Spiel hat mir sehr viel Spaß bereitet. Es ist etwas mehr auf Kämpfen ausgelegt als LoG1+2, aber das kommt mir zugute. Von der Kampfhäufigkeit ist es eher mit MMX Legacy vergleichbar finde ich, aber hat nicht die offene Spielwelt. Die Kämpfe können immer pausiert werden, was eine Aktionsplanung ermöglicht. Dieses System sieht auf den ersten Blick total einfach aus, macht aber viel mehrDas Spiel hat mir sehr viel Spaß bereitet. Es ist etwas mehr auf Kämpfen ausgelegt als LoG1+2, aber das kommt mir zugute. Von der Kampfhäufigkeit ist es eher mit MMX Legacy vergleichbar finde ich, aber hat nicht die offene Spielwelt. Die Kämpfe können immer pausiert werden, was eine Aktionsplanung ermöglicht. Dieses System sieht auf den ersten Blick total einfach aus, macht aber viel mehr Laune, weil dieses ewige im Kreis drehen, um nicht getroffen zu werden (wie bei LoG) wegfällt (außer man will Projektilen ausweichen). Das Spiel ist keinesfalls leicht - wenn man nicht viele Secrets findet, ist die Schwierigkeitsstufe "Soldat" für Einsteiger nur schwer zu schaffen. Hier bietet das Spiel aber viele Schwierigkeitsstufen, die später geändert werden und sogar Hilfen zu- oder abgeschaltet werden können. Sehr schön.

    Die deutsche Version des Spiels ist gut übersetzt, es sind nur wenige Ungereimtheiten aufgefallen.

    Als Upgrade würde ich mir wünschen, dass es für jeden Level eine "Karte Nr. 2", also eine komplette magische Karte zu finden gibt. Ich liebe es, jeden Dungeon bis zum Ende aufzuklären und jedes Geheimnis zu lüften. Es ist unbefriedigend, manche Level ohne diese komplette Karte leben zu müssen.

    Bei manchen Rätseln kommt man um Try/Error nicht herum, da keine Hilfestellungen geboten werden. Da haben mir die LetsPlay Videos bei Youtube geholfen, um einen Tip zu bekommen, um dann selbst weiter zu probieren. Eine kleine Hilfestellung wäre manchmal schön gewesen (als Kommentar eines Charakters).

    Die Story ist in Ordnung, auch wenn mich das Ende inkl. Bosskampf nicht so begeistert hat wie der Rest des Spieles. Ganz am Ende wird die Tür für einen Nachfolger geöffnet, was mit einem Augenzwinkern und recht lustig rübergebracht ist.

    Die vielen verschiedenen Gegenstände, mit denen man seine Charaktere aufwerten kann, sind schön unterschiedlich und haben +/- in petto. Besser als in LoG, ähnlich wie in MMX Legacy.

    LoG 1 und 2 und MMX Legacy haben bei mir eine persönliche 85% Wertung, hier reiht sich "Fall of the Dungeon Guardians" ebenfalls ein - und das, obwohl es nicht wie MMX Legacy von einem großen Studio wie Ubi entwickelt wurde. Und ganz im Gegensatz zu diesem großen Entwickler kümmert sich der "Chef" hier persönlich laufend um die Kommentare und Fragen zu seinem Spiel - absolut vorbildlich. Da könnten sich die Großen etwas abschneiden.

    Mehr Dungeons als DLC oder einen Nachfolger (auch wenn erst evtl. 2019 möglich lt. Entwickler) würde ich kaufen.    … Expand
  4. blackbird1
    Nov 6, 2015
    10
    an extremly well made dungeon RPG Crawler
    fun fun fun for lots of hours

    also the amount of settings for video options is on the upper end here, other indi devs should look at this!

    and good news for my older friends, the game has a fully scaleable menue so no eye hurting which is often the case with such games.

    a must buy for RPG Dungeon cralwer Fans

    *sry for my english
  5. night4
    Aug 8, 2016
    7
    This game is a mesh of single-player party-based WoW, and Legend of Grimrock. I wish there were more fresh ideas in the game, but what's there can be fun... for a while, anyway.
  6. Bertram_Kerwin
    Oct 25, 2018
    4
    The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is heavily focusing on combat rather than intriguing puzzles and riddles. Combat system is totally different from Grimrock, it's innovative at first, but soon it goes repetitive and dull due to slow level progress. Some secret buttons will ruin your eyesight to spot on. Overall the story seems empty and the end game boss is nearly unkillable in the highestThe Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is heavily focusing on combat rather than intriguing puzzles and riddles. Combat system is totally different from Grimrock, it's innovative at first, but soon it goes repetitive and dull due to slow level progress. Some secret buttons will ruin your eyesight to spot on. Overall the story seems empty and the end game boss is nearly unkillable in the highest difficulty, even you know the trick.… Expand
  7. Klewer
    May 13, 2019
    6
    Middle of the road dungeon crawler that has some decent moments but is a little rough around the edges to make this worth your time.
  8. Voyou
    May 22, 2021
    7
    Classically ugly grid-based dungeon crawler with a lot of pixel hunt, it isn't as good, as entertaining as its 3 decades old models, such as Lands of Lore. It immediately disappoints by not offering any rogue build, and by introducing its team as the geeky, limited, unimaginative, ultra-boring tank/healer/DPS routine used by bad RPGs, those that forget the role-playing aspect. Also, itsClassically ugly grid-based dungeon crawler with a lot of pixel hunt, it isn't as good, as entertaining as its 3 decades old models, such as Lands of Lore. It immediately disappoints by not offering any rogue build, and by introducing its team as the geeky, limited, unimaginative, ultra-boring tank/healer/DPS routine used by bad RPGs, those that forget the role-playing aspect. Also, its cool-down system is unpleasant.

    I still give it a good rating, however, because of its excellent interface. Loads and loads of options and quality of life features. Probably anything that you would want to tweak to satisfy your personal needs and preferences, from zoned UI scaling to free map annotations to various automation switches, etc. Too bad you still have to click randomly everywhere on walls to open secrets.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Brash Games
    Apr 5, 2016
    80
    The combat in this game is very well-balanced.
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 16, 2016
    60
    Tile-based movement dungeon crawler does not hide its inspiration in Legend of Grimrock. Although its size competes with Grimrock, gameplay is way flatter and decisions are just for show. [Issue#260]
  3. Games.cz
    Feb 16, 2016
    70
    Raw and inaccessible at first. This is a new dungeon from French Mana Games. But it also can motivate and entertain for hours. The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians will reward those who doesn´t give to a first impression with its unusual battle system and a typical dungeon gloom.
    Read full review
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