Endless Dungeon review

Dungeon of the Endless is a pixel-art roguelite game from 2014 that even took its creators, Amplitude Studios, by surprise with its success. Based on exploration and resource management, it’s a tactical game in a space usually reserved for thrilling action runs. Endless Dungeon, however, more completely combines both balls-out action and tactical planning to create something brand spanking new, that will still be familiar to fans of the original.

Initially you are Sweeper, a janitor onboard a doomed ship that crashes into the Station, a vast, ever-changing space dungeon. When Sweeper is sort-of adopted by a crew of disparate but gold-hearted badasses, he joins their efforts to find a ship off the Station while looting every damn thing that isn’t nailed down. Sweeper’s pessimistic everyman attitude is the perfect foil for the crew’s leader, the brash, charismatic Zed, who introduced him to the Reloader, a device that will restore each of them to life whenever they die. And they die a lot. Like, A LOT a lot.

There are 8 crewmembers altogether, though you’ll only have access to Sweeper, Zed, and a shield-bearing bot called Bunker at first. Likewise, you can only select two heroes at a time in solo mode until you unlock the relevant upgrade in the Saloon. The Saloon is your chilled-out, neon-lit base of operations where you can chat to crewmembers, unlock upgrades and weapons, hang out and watch the live band perform haunting, melancholic numbers, or change hero outfits. It’s also where you’ll find a lore archive and customise each run into the Station.

With ten districts spread across four floors, the Station is a vast, constantly-changing battleground. Each floor is procedurally generated, and only the enemy type is constant, not their spawn points nor the pick-ups, items, or locations. All 8 heroes have their own unique quest lines spread across the Station that unlock more powerful upgrade options and outfits. Your job every time you head out is to fight through three floors with two districts each and reach the Core. On most runs, you won’t succeed – but that’s okay.

Endless Dungeon is a roguelike designed around your constant failures. So much so that failures rarely feel frustrating. The meta-progression is solidly implemented, meaning you’ll always bring something back to help you. It might be Cells that unlock permanent buffs, or scrap to upgrade the Saloon, maybe something that causes one of the other characters to join your crew, or even Mementos that unlock lore or district keys that let you get a more tactical look at what awaits you.

You don’t have to take Sweeper with you on each run, either. All heroes have different weapons, stats and abilities that make them viable in a trio. You’ll find a favourite or two in no time, but don’t be afraid to mix it up and experiment. There’s not a huge amount of variety in your objectives, but there’s a lot of options in how you approach those objectives.

Each floor is separated into rooms. To access a room you must open the door, which will generate three resources every time. Food is for hero upgrades and buying guns and medikits, Science is for researching new defence types, and Industry is for placing those defences. Largely these are turrets you can place at key points around the floor. Some are straight auto-cannons, while others slow enemies, buff heroes, or auto-repair other turrets in the room. The objective is to explore each floor, install generators to increase resource yields, and protect the Crystal Bot, the cute little robot that can open the door to the next floor.

Opening doors, performing research, or moving the Crystal Bot will trigger a wave of enemies from set spawn points. There are Bots, Bugs, Blobs, and Blurs, all weak to a specific damage type. Bots don’t like electricity, Bugs don’t like fire, Blurs hate light and Blobs are melted by acid. Armed with such knowledge, your priority is to protect the Bot at all costs. In addition to setting up defences (as many as you can afford), each hero can perform a special move and an Ultimate move on cooldown timers. In co-op, things are noticeably easier to handle, as you each take full control of a hero. You can communicate enemy locations, which generators are under attack, and co-ordinate your Ultimates.

In solo, it’s tougher. You can leave the AI crewmates in set locations to defend key areas, and switch back and forth at will, but they won’t think as tactically as another human. That said, the AI is fantastic, using specials and Ultimates, switching weapons, repairing damaged turrets, but never leaving the hill you gave them to die on unless you call them back. And it’s all done with the push of a bumper.

Everything about Endless Dungeon is in service of keeping the challenge fun. Even the three bosses, huge and menacing as they are, have completely unique mechanics. Shelldiver the Blob boss, for example, must be stunned so the Crystal Bot can drill into its tough shell, forcing you to put your most important asset at risk. But failure never feels unfair or demoralising. You just peruse your new unlocks and head back out again.

There’s a large variety of weapons, gizmos, buffs, and modifiers, with more and more available in the Saloon. You can even ask the Barman to up the challenge in a given run, or drink cocktails that boost your performance. And all the time you’ll be steadily improving and learning, like you do in the very best roguelikes such as Hades and Dead Cells.

As expected, Endless Dungeon also runs fantastically well on SteamDeck, which is where I’ve spent most of my time with it. The action is bright enough and bold enough to stand out on the smaller screen, and the immediate, bite-sized nature makes it an ideal shoe-in for the handheld. I left the settings at their default values, and it ran seamlessly, with nary a hiccup or slow-down, even when the action was at its most frantic.

Endless Dungeon is a gorgeous adventure with literally endless replayability only held back right now by a lack of variety in its objectives. Each run ultimately has the same goal, so you’ll adapt and learn but will rarely be truly surprised by anything that happens. If Amplitude add a few different objective types down the road the experience will feel closer to complete. As it stands though, it’s still a fantastic roguelike with beautiful visuals, a charming cast of heroes, genuine humour, and a comprehensive, well-designed meta-game that will keep you hooked for weeks, alone or with others.