Mystery dungeon adventure Dungeon Drafters has been something of a breath of fresh air to me - pushing me well and truly out of my comfort zone. I don't tend to go any way near card based strategy games, in fact you'd often find me as far as possible away from anything remotely card or indeed strategy related in the video game realm, however Dungeon Drafters not only held my attention, but did so very well.
This top down 16-bit looking dungeon crawler gives you 6 characters to choose from: Monk, Explorer, Mage, Bard, Shinobi and Brawler, each getting their own unique starter deck with which to do battle.
You are afforded the ability to customise your deck later should you wish to, so don't get caught up on who to initially go with.
The core of the game revolves around dungeon crawling across a number of biomes. Each biome having different floors, each floor providing a bigger challenge than the last. Entering each particular dungeon and battling the given monsters in turn-based strategic combat, utlising the cards you have to attack, defend of counter any affects you have been dealt. Cards offer up different ranges of attack, heals, buffs, counters etc.
Enemies are wild and hugely varied, each bringing unique battle abilities which you must use every inch of your brains capacity to overcome. You can directly attack, or force enemies into an elaborate environmental hazard, the real challenge in Dungeon Drafters is your creativity.
The environments are incredibly detailed in bright, beautiful sprites, accompanied by a gloriously comforting soundtrack which hums along befitting of the mysterious world you explore.
Dungeons hold cards, secret rooms, puzzles etc. and the game also packs mini games away to break up the pace and drop some calm on you.
In the main hub world outside of the dungeons you'll find an array of NPC's with which to speak and learn the lore of the land, some of which will task you with in-dungeon objectives. There is so much to see and do that the game can quickly become all consuming.
The battles provide a great sense of achievement especially when seemingly overcoming the odds - pitted against vastly more powerful enemies by using cunning and carefully planning out your attacks. You will be punished if you don't plan out your attacks carefully - I know this for a fact!
For those of you who love your Steam Trading Cards there's a heap of these too, so grind away and earn yourselves those little tokens of goodness.
Whilst I will say that the genre isn't one I gravitate toward, I found the game certainly held my hand and didn't introduce overly complex mechanics and it generally left me to get on with it, and I very much enjoyed learning it's ways.
I did try to play this on Steam Deck too and whilst it certainly ran on the handheld it did have some trouble picking up the native controls, so this is something to consider.
If you're looking for a charming adventure title this week, you should very much contemplate the wonderful Dungeon Drafters.
Title: Dungeon Drafters
Developer: Manalith Studios
Publisher: DANGEN Entertainment
Genre: Mystery Dungeon Adventure
Players: 1
Price: 24.99 USD
Release Date: April 27, 2023 (PC), Consoles TBD
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