Looking for a good way to kill 15 minutes? This roguelike may just be the game you're looking for. Unlock new races? New classes? New challenges? Sounds good.

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Indie Spotlight: Desktop Dungeons

Roguelikes are always a fun way to kill some time playing a game. Hop in a randomly generated dungeon, try and hack up some of its denizens, and then make it as deep as you can into it. There have been all sorts of variations on this over the years, but few have done it as well as Desktop Dungeons.

There are a lot of things one would expect from a roguelike in Desktop Dungeons. Players have multiple races to choose from, each one bringing their own benefits to the table, as well as a number of different classes to fight as. Players can use magic, will stumble across shops to buy items, and altars where they can worship various gods in order to gain certain advantages in battle. On top of all this, there are a bunch of unlockables in the game such as new classes, races, and game modes to try out.

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While the variety of classes and races are nice, what I like best is having new types of monsters and game modes thrown at me. While some of the game's elements leave players in the hands of fate due to the dungeons being randomly generated, there are still plenty of opportunities to tax one's brain thinking up a strategy to clear as much of a dungeon as possible. You start with only a small part of the

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dungeon around you exposed, but as you explore it you'll find more enemies to fight, and eventually the boss of the dungeon. As players kill monsters their character will gain experience points and gain levels. They will also lose hit points and mana. To rectify this, one needs to explore the dungeon further. With each new grid that the player explores, their character will regain some of their health or mana depending on its race. So, one has to think about when to engage certain mobs so that they can backtrack a bit and recuperate after.

Sure sometimes completion of a level may prove impossible due the the map and monster layout, but one can just retire and try again, though I prefer the more gallant approach of charging the strongest monster I can find Charge of the Light Brigade style.

While the core gameplay is amazing, it's all of the little extras, and carrots being placed in front of the player that will hook players, and keep them playing Desktop Dungeons for the long haul.

In the end, what we have is a game that is great for gobbling up 10 or 15 minutes, while overflowing with depth. If you haven't tried it yet, just download it. The game is free. Do it now.

Mr. Nash
March 13, 2011