Box Dungeons developed by Indie Studio Mito Games is a unique puzzle game that marries the intricate world of tabletop RPGs, like Dungeons & Dragons, with the strategic depth of turn-based dungeon crawlers, drawing inspiration from the Mystery Dungeon series. The game cleverly integrates classic RPG elements with the straightforward yet engaging mechanics of a sliding puzzle.
Players take control of a character who navigates through various rooms by sliding around, aiming to attack enemies, gather treasures, and fulfill the primary objectives of each stage to progress. Each character boasts distinct abilities, unlocked through their individual skill trees as players earn experience and complete rooms. These abilities are pivotal for solving puzzles, often requiring specific skills to progress, adding a layer of strategy to the game’s core puzzle-solving gameplay.
The gameplay of Box Dungeons presents a turn-based system, where enemies move and act following predetermined patterns. This mechanic necessitates that players identify these patterns and strategically plan their moves to navigate through constantly evolving puzzles.
The game’s dungeons are filled with environmental hazards and interactive elements, allowing players to use the environment to their advantage or to avoid danger. These interactables also encompass collectible items essential for completing side quests, which grant extra skill points.
Beyond merely clearing stages, players are tasked with completing various objectives, such as acquiring loot, finishing within a certain number of turns, or achieving an Overkill on enemies. Each dungeon is specifically designed to complement the skill set of the character chosen, incorporating distinct environments, enemies, and mechanics that nod to the classic themes of fantasy TTRPGs and RPGs alike.
The culmination of each dungeon is a boss battle, challenging players to leverage their acquired skills against formidable foes with unique abilities, emphasizing the game’s strategic depth and innovative approach to puzzle-solving within an RPG framework.
Box Dungeons is in development and expected for PC Via Steam in December 2024, below is an overview of the game and trailer.
About This Game
Box Dungeons is a puzzle game inspired by classic tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and turn-based dungeon crawlers such as the various spin-offs of the Mystery Dungeon series.
The game combines many of the expected elements of an RPG with the simple yet versatile mechanics of a sliding puzzle. Players control a character who slides through rooms to attack enemies, collect treasure, and complete the main objective of each stage to progress to the next.
Each playable character has their own abilities that they unlock in their skill tree as they complete rooms and gain experience (EXP). These abilities modify how players can solve puzzles, with many puzzles requiring the use of these specific skills.
At the end of each dungeon, players encounter the Boss room. Here, they must utilize the abilities they have acquired throughout their progression to face off against the Boss, who possesses unique special abilities for that fight.
FEATURES
– A turn-based system by which enemies make moves and take actions every turn following set patterns, creating puzzles that are in constant shift and require the player to identify these patterns and plan their path accordingly in order to solve them.
– The dungeons’ floors include environmental hazards and interactive elements that the player can either avoid or use in their favor, perhaps pushing an enemy into a spike pit or crushing them with a rolling boulder.
Interactables also includes collectible elements, such as gold coins and treasure chests, that the player must collect in order to complete “side quests” for extra skill points.
– Each floor has objectives besides just clearing them. These “side quests” require extra planning to complete, adding a mostly optional layer of difficulty beyond simply completing the stage.
– Their objectives vary, including collecting loot, finishing the stage under a set amount of turns or even dispatching an enemy with an Overkill by dealing more damage than their maximum HP.
– Each player character has their own unique skill tree from which they unlock new abilities, both passive and active, that either allow new ways to solve puzzles or are required to clear them.
– Each dungeon is tailored for their corresponding character’s skill set, with distinct environment, enemies, and mechanics to match classic themes for both fantasy TTRPGs and classic RPGs, such as the Goblin Cave.
Enemies have skills too!
– The short-fused Goblin Warrior uses “Fury of the Small” to deal damage to targets stronger than them.
The battle-hardened Hobgoblin can “Parry” attacks from the front, reducing the damage they take.
And there are many more.– On the last floor of every dungeon, the player is challenged to a Boss battle, such as the raging Goblin Warband!
Those stages involve beating a powerful foe designed with unique mechanics tailored to be tackled by the skills available to the corresponding player character.
