Developers: Cattle Call, Square Enix
License: proprietary license
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
Genre: Role-playing video game
Designer: Hiroyuki Ito
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
Publisher: Square Enix
What is the glue that holds RPGs together? Most people want epic sagas, characters they can hug with their souls, and worlds so thick they can get lost like a hoagie in a feminist’s fat folds. Other gamers would describe conflicts that would make a berserker vomit blood. Dungeon Encounters avoids all of this and instead embraces stark minimalism.
Dungeon Encounters’ beginning is a brutal assault on the senses. There is no musical flourish or rousing theme, no stunning prologue animation, simply a simple start screen with a single paragraph of narrative. Starting the game leaves you facing down the barrel of the party selection screen, where character backstories are almost nonexistent. A few insignificant phrases, disguised like dirty secrets, as if the developers were embarrassed by them.
Dungeon Encounter takes place in a grid-based dimension, with the hero filling up squares like a crazed accountant. The setting is left to your imagination, and you only have one goal: stay alive and get the party to find the darn exit, or scream your existential sorrow into the void, whichever happens first.
Dungeon Encounters transports the player to a world best described as a strange puzzle written on old parchment. This is the crux of the experience: directing a 3D avatar around these basic grid maps, filling in every square and scrambling for the exit.
When Dungeon Encounters has almost no graphics, how can you differentiate an exit square from a regular square? The game keeps its secrets hidden, although the occurrences on each floor are identified by strange black and white digits. White numbers typically indicate something useful, such as a business, a resurrection shrine, or a healing fountain. Black digits represent interactions.
You’ll have to take Dungeon Encounters’ word for it because there isn’t a single graphic to show anything. The only visual signals are the character models roaming the dungeon areas and the occasional drawn portrait that appears during battles. The lack of visual representation will leave you feeling famished for stimuli.
Dungeon Encounters trims the fat off battle, leaving behind a stripped-down system accompanied by Nobuo Uematsu’s wailing guitar and classical music. There are no showy spell effects or CGI explosions, just the raw crunch of statistics as you trade blows.
It’s almost as if the devs are holding up a mirror to what modern JRPGs are known for, asking, “Is this spectacle truly what makes battle enjoyable? Or is the underlying math combined with strategy and tactics?Instead of flashy graphics, Dungeon Encounters immerses you in the action with the original Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which will be familiar to anyone who has played an old Final Fantasy game.
Every character, including enemies and heroes, has three HP meters. They function as shields, safeguarding the core HP. These shields represent physical and magical defense, and you may only damage a character’s real HP by first depleting the corresponding defensive shield with a physical or magical assault.
This back-to-basics system makes you think strategically. It’s a purist’s approach to fighting, all about recognizing your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and then capitalizing on them with the appropriate moves, while avoiding visual overkill. Most Square Enix fans may find it difficult to accept, but fans of Wizardry or The Dark Spire will most likely feel right at home.
Anyone who can get over Dungeon Encounters’ austere presentation will find it strangely addictive. It’s a grind, but it’s the purest kind, stripped bare and wasting no time. It is a game that is open about what it is.
Moving around levels and progressively filling each square evokes basic satisfaction, similar to the pleasing tidiness of a recently cleaned room. Dungeon Encounters doesn’t even seem like an RPG; it’s more of a smart puzzle game with Wizardry-style stats and systems.
This is a nasty game that cares nothing about the player’s time, just like those crusty and old RPGs. A misstep or being slightly reckless might have devastating effects, causing the entire party to be separated, requiring players to restart from the top floor with a new party at level one.
This type of calamity is extremely common, yet it is far from the worst that can happen. Players are likely to lose everything if party members die and there aren’t enough resources to revive them. It is possible that gamers will put in dozens of hours just to be locked in a downward cycle in which all characters die.
It is impossible to recover from this condition. Continuing is not an option, thus the only thing left to do is restart the game from scratch. This could mean missing dozens of hours, and Dungeon Encounters doesn’t care.
This unrelenting commitment to simplicity and minimalism gives Dungeon Encounters little opportunity for error. The sparse Queen-like soundtrack, which contains only a few tracks, is surprisingly brilliant. Every piece is an electric guitar solo, and while it could need a lot more, the ones we have are entirely electric.
With absolutely no graphics to criticize and a purposely absent story, the game almost transcends itself through sheer focus, achieving a near-perfect beauty similar to Tetris. The less-is-more approach emphasizes the main aspects and can make simple gaming feel more exciting than it appears.
The most ridiculous feature about Dungeon Encounters is its $30 price tag. For the price, you won’t get much bang for your cash. This game can be quite lengthy, but there is an inherent lack of value when there are virtually no production values to speak of. There is hardly an hour’s worth of music, no emotional core to cling onto, and the gameplay is as simple as it can be.
Dungeon Encounters is a game whose premise is incredibly tough to fault. It sets out with very definite goals, and it succeeds, even if it irritates players along the way. This isn’t your standard Square Enix fare; it’s designed specifically for die-hard RPG fans who enjoy pen-and-paper RPGs.
Prepare to use your imagination, since the game uses minimal language and pictures to portray the experience and combat. While it’s unlikely to appeal to most people, Dungeon Encounters could be an interesting experience for the most insane RPG maniacs looking for something different.
Review Overview
Gameplay: 83%
Controls: 81%
Aesthetics: 75%
Content: 85%
Accessibility: 78%
Value: 82%
Overall: 81%
A STRIPPED-DOWN, STRATEGIC DUNGEON CRAWL!
Summary:
“Dungeon Encounters” is a minimalist dungeon crawling game that prioritizes strategy over spectacle. Its minimalist visuals and uncomplicated design keep the emphasis on action, forcing players to explore, survive, and maneuver. While it lacks spectacular graphics, Dungeon Encounters shines with carefully designed encounters and mechanisms that reward careful planning and adaptability. It is a game for enthusiasts who value the strategic depths of dungeon crawling without the frills, providing both gratification and difficulty with each floor conquered.