The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians, a surprisingly great dungeon crawler

If you like first-person dungeon crawling, I seriously suggest you take a look at The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians.

Some thoughts
I was told about it a while ago from a user here, but I didn't get time to ask the developer for a key. Luckily, the developer sent us one in anyway so I was happy to check it out.

I do love dungeon crawlers, as I started playing them many years ago on the Amiga, so I have a pretty good history with them and understand them. They aren't my favourite genre, but I do enjoy playing the different variations of them.

There's a fair few people comparing it to Grimrock which isn't surprising, as it's one of the newer games in the dungeon crawler genre, but I've been enjoying this game a lot more. I think my enjoyment is better in The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians as it has a better emphasis on the combat of the game.

The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians combat system is actually rather good, it's real-time with pausing which allows you to queue up spells and do whatever else you need. You will really need to use it too, as your "tank" character can end up taking quite a beating.

I decided to go as a mage for my own character, and you can customize the characters your are placed with, but I decided to go with the default. This turned out to be a reasonable choice, as I had a damage and a healing mage, and tank to take a bunch of damage and another general fighter. So, I think I ended up with a pretty balanced squad. You get to unlock more skills later on, so the combat will become a bit more varied too!

What I am also surprised at is the performance, with everything cranked up to max it's screaming along at well over 100FPS. That's excellent, and from and Indie team that's quite brilliant. I get that it's easier to have a good FPS when you're in smaller spaces like this, but it's very smooth so I'm still impressed.

The one thing missing from it is voice acting, if they managed to get that in I would probably like it even more. It's not a deal breaker though, as the dialogue is usually quite short to allow you to keep moving on.

Final thoughts: Really liking it. The combat is great and intense and it really stands on its own in the genre.

About the game
The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is an RPG Dungeon Crawler game, in First Person View, inspired by classics like Dungeon Master™ and Might & Magic®, but featuring a modern combat system based on the triptych “tank/damage dealer/healer” mechanism.

You’re a newly employed guard of a prison deep inside a dungeon. The night of your arrival, strange things happen and when you wake up in the morning, all prisoners have escaped amidst chaos. The warden wisely decides to leave the dungeon as quickly as possible, while tasking you to run after the escaping prisoners. You then assemble your team and venture into the mysterious dungeon.

Enter a big, massive dungeon, full of danger, mystery and secrets.
Fight your way through hordes of enemies and powerful creatures.
Explore intricate corridors, underground palaces, mines fallen into oblivion and evil crypts.
Solve puzzles, avoid deadly traps, uncover hidden passages, and keep your bearing through mazes & hallways.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.