So I've been working on a video series covering the most effective strategies and tactics to beat Dungeon of the Endless and I thought I'd write up my thoughts on the game as the 0.9.2 test release is now available and I'm going to reboot the series for the new version.



Note: I've probably played a good 40 hours in version 0.8.7 as I really enjoyed it and all of my feedback is specifically about that version.



DotE 0.8.7 Break the Beta...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53nHD2OOY-k&list=PLOhx4A9z21IbfEWt2JEUYemjuq9dFHLp1&index=1





General Impression



I love playing this game. I'm a fan of all of its mixed genres: tactical, rpg, dungeon crawl, roguelike, tower defense... and the way they're smoothly blended shows some impressive design effort. The art is a plus too. It's fresh, energetic and occasionally menacing. The music matches, reminding you that the game is set in the far future despite the dungeon trappings and, when you pickup your crystal, that you've taken your fate into your hands. Lastly the interfaces are clean and smooth, very modern looking and quite functional though the information displayed may leave players wishing for more details.



Gameplay



Basic elements (Heroes, Resource production, Defense, Exploration) come into conflict regularly.



You can have a plan to focus on one or the other or maybe balance a few of these elements but often the game will throw you a curve ball and you'll have to adjust or suffer. This is the mark of an excellent game as, hard as I've tried, I haven't found a completely dominant strategy that the game can't disrupt.



Each element (Hero, Resource, Defense, Exploration) is unique.



The differentiation between benefits, hazards and methods of improvement is nice. The elements overlap only enough to allow you to makeup for shortfalls in one or the other. For example if you have weak heroes then Industry or Research or Dust or clever exploration pathing can makeup for it and vice versa...



Heroes are unique.



While some heroes seem more useful than others none of them are the same. Each hero brings something unique to the table even if they share an ability or two every now and then. Still, they retain generally comprehensible roles for the most part which let them help you in meaningful ways. Some are tough, some are deadly, some are utilitarian... and most heroes are flexible enough that with the right items they can do a decent job in a role they aren't naturally suited for.



Minor Modules are varied.



Through experience I've figured out what all of the modules, minor and major, actually do. The descriptions aren't all that helpful so the statistics and observation are what you have to rely on. The modules are balanced on a gameplay basis, not an individual module basis. Some upgrades seem insignificant while others are obviously more beneficial... however in the long run upgrading that Neurostun will net you a far safer game despite the fact that your Smoking Gun upgrade gave you 10 extra DPS. Prison Prod isn't useless, it's cheap. Bio-organic Transference is the fastest healing in the game if you support it properly. Etc... Some mods seem more beneficial than others and each has its own purpose.



Exploration defines your game.



Whatever you find will shape how you have to play. Very little dust? Prepare for a tough level. Lots of Major Module slots? Time to stock up for the future or build some of the support modules. No anti-module monsters? Build your Majors out at the edges of your territory. Paying attention and adapting to what you find each level is absolutely key to winning.



Risky moves are regularly punished.



In a roguelike you can expect death around every third corner or so. Dungeon of the Endless does not disappoint. If you play a risky game, fail to take opportunities where you can or simply get really unlucky any game can quickly go downhill. Notably taking steps to avoid risk and play safe often pays off and feels very rewarding.



Wish List



While I have no major complaints about the game there are a couple things I could wish for...



- Hero Overwhelmed Warning: Perhaps the new tactical screen will help with this but an auto-pause or slow-mo zoom (similar to when you find a merchant) when a hero is it a certain (25%) health level (or both) would be incredibly helpful. Maybe this could be done based on the selected difficulty with the hardest difficulty giving no warning, but for the most part I believe a little help from the interface would save a lot of frustration. Dying because you ran out of options is far less annoying than dying without ever realizing you were in danger.



- Lack of Minimap: I hope the new Tactical Map feature will take care of this, but a minimap that lets you look quickly around the dungeon would be a real timesaver.



- Research/Shopping Window: A personal hope of mine is that, per Artefact, a pop-up menu will be available without sending a hero manually to each one. Please... it can take forever depending on your group of heroes to travel to multiple or distant artefacts. If there were a menu that let you open a shop or research menu without physically travelling to one as long as the level was safe it would save a lot of time.



- More obvious Module slots in dark rooms: It can be really hard to tell what and how many module slots are in a a room, especially an unpowered one. Some sort of glowing outline, the central plus-sign, or wire-tracing would really help.



- List of modules in room: It can be hard to tell what modules are present in a given room due to screen clutter. The ability to bring up a list (and remove modules using the list) would be really helpful.



- Indicator of the max health, current defense, current operator bonus of modules: Either in their statistics or as a hover over the module it would be really helpful to have an idea of how tough different modules are at different levels. Also on modules like the Emergency Generator, Tactical HUD, and LAN it is impossible to tell how much benefit you gain from Operators/Mechanical Pals... some way to know would be nice.



- Operator Hero Mark: I would like heroes to mark their current room when a door is opened. The mark lasts until the next door is opened (and a new mark is applied). As long as they are in that room when the next door opens they can operate any major modules there. This would allow operating heroes to roam to nearby artefacts/shops for the group and be more forgiving for misclicks that would normally cost you an operating bonus for a turn.



- Preview of Un-equipping Items: Showing the loss or gain of stats from removing an item would be nice.



- Improve Resource Generating Passives: The passives that add 0.1 Food/Industry/Science(?) per kill are quite weak. Could this scale up a bit based on hero wit? Like 0.1 + (0.01 X Wit)? That would give Wit items a place on more heroes and a little added relevance to the passive. Since heroes don't currently have AoE abilities they number of resources you can get from such an ability is insignificant it seems.



- Extra Defense or Damage Reduction for Melee heroes: Ranged heroes can "kite" (order a move to an adjacent room and then back to the current room), get in range quicker and safer, and have comparable damage to melee heroes (and often faster attack speed). On the other hand melee heroes have to close with monster packs and seem to have no significant advantage based on their weapon types. This makes melee heroes far more likely to be less useful or die in during combat. Adding some sort of defensive passive to all melee heroes, a passive charge & stun, or some sort of "per monster in melee range" defensive and/or offensive bonus might help even out the mechanical benefits of that ranged heroes currently enjoy. At simplest every melee weapon could have an inherent defensive bonus of some amount.



- Splash damage for heroes: I feel like, eventually, heroes should gain at least a little splash damage from levels or items. Perhaps a "critical hit" chance that rises per level (~1% per level, half for ranged heroes) could cause 50% or could be added to some items. This is more of a fun suggestion, but I could see it making watching fights far more enjoyable. Maybe long cooldown weapons/heroes could do more predictable splash damage.



- Tunneling Enemies: I think that enemies that made monster-only tunnels from one room to another would be really interesting. You might try to kill the monster once it comes out, race to clear other waves while it tunnels, or struggle to weaken the wave with a nearby hero before other monsters pour through the tunnel and into your less defended areas. Maybe the tunnels collapse once the original monster dies.



- Lifesaver Item: I think a consumable item that will teleport a hero to the crystal once would be worth putting in the game. Both as a defensive and offensive safety measure I'd consider sacrificing my device slot for something like this.



*v*v*Edit*v*v*



- Zoom To indicator for the last door on the level: It'd be nice to have a zoom-to similar to the crystal/exit zoom icons to help find the last remaining door.



- Pilfer bonus should always apply: Pilfer currently only applies if your hero is the first to open the door. It would be nice if, as long as he was at the door before it opened, you received the Pilfer bonus.



- More obvious 'Enemies on Level' indicator: The Room/Floor indicator in the bottom-right corner flashes slowly from normal to red when enemies are still on the floor. It'd be helpful if it never went completely black as long as enemies were on the floor so that no matter when I look at it I could tell that I wasn't safe.



- Artefact on floor indicator: A message that indicated that an Artefact is present on a floor and/or a message that indicates that an artefact is on the other side of a door would do a lot to ease frustrations over randomly finding an artefact at the end of a floor where it does very little for you.



*^*^*Edit*^*^*





Please feel free to ignore any of the above. The game is excellent and getting better. I'm a rabid fan, I lose time constantly, and I'm tempted to call out of work just to enjoy the little digital world you guys have created for us. Thanks for reading, thanks for making this game.



Sincerely,

Phwop

So after playing in the new 0.9.2 I find a number of my wishlist items addressed by the tactical map.



The Tactical Map covers a lot of ground by providing more awareness of the overall floor, easily identifiable unopened doors, and letting you watch monsters streaming into chokepoints and hero hitpoint indicators without all the lovely distracting graphics...



- More obvious 'Enemies on Level' indicator: The Room/Floor indicator in the bottom-right corner flashes slowly from normal to red when enemies are still on the floor. It'd be helpful if it never went completely black as long as enemies were on the floor so that no matter when I look at it I could tell that I wasn't safe.



- Zoom To indicator for the last door on the level: It'd be nice to have a zoom-to similar to the crystal/exit zoom icons to help find the last remaining door.



- Lack of Minimap: I hope the new Tactical Map feature will take care of this, but a minimap that lets you look quickly around the dungeon would be a real timesaver.



Let me also say that 0.9.2 seems much harder. You are required to use significantly more resources for defense than before as dust and hero levels are less common.