PAX Aus 2013: Hands-On: Dungeon Dashers

I love dungeon-crawlers. When I saw Dungeon Dashers at a pre-PAX event the night before the big show itself, I knew I was going to track down its booth and give it another go.

Dungeon Dashers is a fast-paced, turn-based dungeon crawling game for the PC developed by JIGXOR. The idea of the game is to bring a tabletop gaming experience to the PC; as I’m not a tabletop gamer I can’t say how effective it has been at reaching this particular goal, but what I do know is that I had a heck load of fun playing it.

You have a set party of four in Dungeon Dashers, each of which belongs to a separate class. Your foes are split into four classes as well. Killing them earns you gold, which can be spent on weapons, armour and items. Each class has its own set of skills; your wizard, Ardon, and ranger, January, for example, are able to attack enemies from afar with their magic and bow respectively.

In-game, the bottom-right corner of the screen displays turn order, telling you in what order each character will be moving next, including your foes; handy for planning strategy. Each character has a certain number of actions they can take per turn, and some actions take up more points then others; throwing a fireball at an opponent’s face will cost more than slapping a sword in its face.

The multiplayer aspect of Dungeon Dashers is not up and running yet, but it will allow you to go online with three other people to explore a dungeon together. There is even a level editor thrown in with every copy of the game, so you can build your own levels to test yourself and other players.

Dungeon Dashers is currently in its 277th build. You can follow the game’s progress on JIGXOR’s official website, and if you’re a YouTube Let’s Player, you may even score yourself a free copy of the game; check out the game’s website for more. It has been confirmed to be releasing on GOG, Humble Bundle and Origin. and is currently up on Steam Greenlight, so please, cast your votes!