When you’re not lost in the dark depths of a smelly dungeon, you can check the stats of your current hero, enter the Armory or the Mansion (shown above), as well as check your game statistics. The Armory allows you to change which weapon your character has equipped, and which armor they are using. The game remembers what equipment each character is using so you don’t have to reset it every time you decide to change characters. You can also enter the Mansion, which unlocks very early in the game. Most of the items decorating the room or sitting on the table can be clicked on to purchase upgrades that will help you from then on. For example, the food on the table can permanently increase your starting food supply at the start of a dungeon run.
These upgrades become quite important as you move deeper into the game, and dungeons grow longer. You will need to be collecting plenty of gold coins because some of these upgrades are quite expensive. The three heads on the wall are the bosses at the end of each continent, and they act as free upgrades that you get for beating said boss monsters. There are two extra characters in the image above. The succubus and the werewolf do not seem to be in the current version of the game. Along with the fact that there are extra slots in the armor screen (of the Armory) that still didn’t get anything unlocked in them makes it look like the developers are planning future updates to the game.
The gameplay in Dungelot: Shattered Lands is enjoyable, though very unforgiving. It mostly consists of clicking on tiles or monsters to advance in the dungeons. You don’t move your character. Dungelot: Shattered Lands is a rogue-like after all, so a good amount of patience is required. The graphics are very well done, and the sound effects draw you into the dungeon. For example the gurgling of certain monsters, or the cry of a monster falling in battle as you slay him. The music is very nice, too. It really sets the mood of being in a dank dungeon somewhere deep underground, surrounded by stinking monsters.
The dungeons of Dungelot: Shattered Lands have a different visual style on different continents as well. So the visuals get changed up with new themes as you go. Each world adds in some new types of monsters that you haven’t seen before, and unfortunately for you they get stronger and more dangerous as you go. Fortunately, it is possible to permanently level up your stats in a couple of ways. One way is finding gems. Red gems increase your max health for example, but gems are quite rare. There is a fallen hero bonus floor that has a chance to upgrade a random stat whenever that floor comes up. You have to buy an upgrade from the Mansion first, though. Otherwise you can just get a few coins by clicking repeatedly on the grave on this bonus floor.
Dungelot: Shattered Lands is a fun little game, though apparently not quite finished since two characters that were in earlier versions are missing, and the armor screen has room for more armor types that don’t seem to be in the game either. Perhaps the developers will add a couple new worlds where you will be able to rescue those missing characters and unlock the missing armors. Regardless, it is a well-polished game with very few bugs and overall the developers have put lots of good work into it. It took me two or three weeks to get through all three of the game’s continents and clear all dungeons except for the endless dungeons. Your total play time depends largely on how much you play per sitting, as you will die a lot. It can take many tries before you clear a dungeon, especially in the middle and late stages of the game. The game mechanics are unusual, but fun (unless you’re feeling impatient). Overall, I enjoyed the game and got a little addicted at times. The game is available on Steam for $9.99, and you can also get it on iOS. Dungelot: Shattered Lands is the game that asks if you are brave enough to save the world from its rather strange new overlords!
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