to run through whilst battling monsters. I don't spend too much time admiring the artwork as I'm too busy fighting! The cards in this game are standard size as per Fantasy Flight sleeves.

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I thought it was a little bit of a shame that the potions are represented by cubes instead of vials or something similar, but that's a very nitpicky point!

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Gameplay

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The passing of time in the dungeon is represented by discarding monster cards from the deck. On your first turn, you would then explore the dungeon, where you first draw 4 cards and place them face down with the locked door showing. You then, on your next turn, would choose which of these doors to open. Behind each door you will encounter either a monster or a hazardous trap, and make the choice whether you participate in the encounter, or retreat from it.

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Encounters are performed by rolling coloured dice and attempting to cover

up boxes on the monster or obstacle cards (these boxes are numbered to

show the value of dice needed to satisfy the box). Your character sheet will

show you how many of each type of dice you can roll (to represent how

skilled your character is at that attribute). Skills you have obtained

throughout the level can be used to manipulate the dice, items can be used

to increase the number of dice you roll, and potions can be consumed to

heal health or further manipulate dice. After the encounter, if any boxes are

left uncovered, you suffer the consequences depicted on these boxes, take

the loot from the monster (item, skill or experience), then continue on your

way. As you go through the deck of cards, you will eventually encounter the

stairs (placed at the bottom of the deck), and at the end of your turn you can descend these to reach the next floor of the dungeon. Each floor is progressively harder, and you will find the boss on the 4th floor for a final battle!

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The game has a campaign mode where you can select the difficulty of the level you are about to play. Progressing through the campaign can give you further skills to use in later levels.

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Thoughts

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Initially, I found the game very luck heavy and lost a lot. However, I then started to look more closely at the type of boss I was going to encounter, and plan accordingly. For example, if the boss had mostly melee attack boxes to fill, then I would begin the level looking for skills and items that would allow me to maximise this skillset. I don't usually like doing this as I feel like this is sort of cheating, however this helped me to balance out the frustration that can be felt with dice rolling games when the dice seem to be working against you.

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I have cleared 3 bosses so far, and am enjoying the feeling of levelling up my character in the campaign. It is a very enjoyable game to play when you have a spare 30 minutes or so and wish for something not too complex, but that will work your brain a little. I like to think of it as a light number puzzle.

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Thoughts for solo play

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I have only played this solo so far, but this can be played 2 player. I personally feel that it would be best solo as I think it needs to be a quick play otherwise it could get tedious. However, when playing by yourself, you are constantly weighing up your chances of whether that monster's loot is worth the damage you will potentially receive/ time you will waste so you are very engaged with the game. With another player I feel that the immersiveness would be lost a little.

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I really enjoy this game and progressing through the dungeon can be quite tense. I also like the fact that even if you don’t beat the boss or even encounter them, you will be able to still tick off some skills on the campaign tracker so you may have a chance at doing better next time.

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For the size of the box and portability, I think this is an excellent little game with a good amount of replayability. It's a real mix of dice manipulation, puzzle solving and luck and can be quite punishing, especially at the start of the campaign when you are unskilled, but there are plenty of ways to adapt the difficulty of the game to make this easier if you wish.

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Pros

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• Great game as a filler; 30-45 minute playtime with a very short set up time

• Good amount of heaviness. It's not too taxing on the brain but also isn't a mindless slog

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Cons

• If you don't like dice games, you probably won't like this! No amount of strategic planning can overthrow bad rolls completely

 

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Overall rating:

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1- Poor, didn't really enjoy it much at all
2- It was ok. I wouldn't recommend it to play
3- Average game that does not particularly stand out and/or has a few negative points
4- Pretty good game that is enjoyable
5- Highly recommended to play
6- A must play!