Games

Best Turn-Based Dungeon-Crawlers

Published

3 months ago

October 12, 2024

Christoph Rediske

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Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Dungeon crawlers like Caves of Qud offer turn-based combat and strategic resource management in a low-pressure environment.
Dungeons of Dredmor stands as an accessible and engaging roguelike with creative character creation and turn-based combat.
Dicey Dungeons combines colorful art with gameplay that’s easy to learn, rewarding, and diverse, with unique playable characters.

With roots in tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, it’s no surprise that there are a plethora of dungeon crawlers that feature turn-based gameplay. From traditional roguelike dungeon-crawlers such as the retro-styled Caves Of Qud to the back-and-forth slug-fests of Darkest Dungeon, there’s a variety to choose from when it comes to this genre.

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Unlike first-person dungeon crawlers such as the recent Dark And Darker, the turn-based nature of these games allows players to focus on the resource management aspects of the genre a little more. Combat is naturally more strategic than the fast-paced, skill-based action of real-time dungeon crawlers, and the slower pace allows players to take their time and explore in a low-pressure environment.

1 Dungeons Of Dredmor

An Older Innovator That Holds Up Well

Dungeons of Dredmor

Systems

Released: July 13, 2011
Developer: Gaslamp Games

Dungeons of Dredmor is an older title with an inventive character creator that’s fun to interact with in and of itself, allowing players to concoct unique and highly evocative adventurers with which to explore the dangerous dungeons. Although it’s beginning to age, the game is tremendously easy to learn and intuitive to play, despite a traditional approach to its design.

Best Turn-Based Roguelikes

Fans of roguelikes and turn-based gameplay may want to consider the following entries.

Dungeons of Dredmor is a roguelike in the true sense of the term, with permanent death and turn-based combat that takes place in randomly generated dungeons. The creativity of the game’s character creation, enemy designs, and variety of loot, as well as its tongue-in-cheek tone, make for a unique and often engaging roguelike experience that’s more accessible than it has any right to be.

2 Caves Of Qud

A Retro-Futuristic Roguelike RPG With Sprawling Dungeons Full Of Danger

Caves Of Qud

Systems

Released: July 15, 2015
Developer(s): Freehold Games

Caves of Qud is much more than a dungeon-crawler; it’s a classic roguelike, it’s an RPG, it’s an open-world sandbox steeped in retro-futurism. It’s evocative, it’s atmospheric, it’s got one of the genre’s most in-depth character creators. There are very few games like Caves of Qud, and for newcomers and veterans alike, the game consistently offers a fresh sense of wonder and exploration. However, a unique aspect of Caves of Qud is its well-balanced combination of procedural and hand-crafted content, with much of the procedural work being done in its titular underground caves.

These dark places are full of danger. Monsters, traps, or simply getting caught in the crossfire between a pilgrim and a lizard man are just some of the things that could spell the end for a hopeful adventurer in Caves of Qud. The simplistic turn-based combat emphasizes the efficient management of resources and ability cooldowns, as well as careful assessment of potential threats, an experience that’s all the more intense when playing with permanent death enabled.

3 Cogmind

A Challenging Traditional Roguelike With A Robotic Theme

Cogmind

Systems

Released: October 16, 2017
Developer(s): Grid Sage Games

It’s somewhat inaccessible, its aesthetic is rooted in ASCII (though brilliantly executed, perhaps not for some), and it’s relatively hard for newcomers until they’ve gotten to grips with the basics. Cogmind is a traditional roguelike. It’s also a dungeon-crawler, though it’s also wrapped in a computer-terminal sci-fi look, drenched in robotics.

Cogmind is a deeply tactical experience that’s rooted in old-school design while remaining unafraid to step outside the boundaries and innovate once in a while. The gameplay loop is relatively simple, tasking players with making their way through a dungeon as they build and modify their robot character, constantly swapping out degrading parts and adapting as best they can to every situation.

4 Dicey Dungeons

A Bright And Colorful Deck-Building Dungeon-Crawler

Dicey Dungeons

Strategy

Tactical

Roguelike

Deckbuilding

Released: August 13, 2019
Developer: Terry Cavanagh

This semi-deck-builder is immediately attractive thanks to its bright and colorful art style and pedigree, developed by the innovative Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV, Super Hexagon). However, its gameplay is just as promising. It’s easy to learn, frequently rewarding, and provides just enough challenge and diversity to keep it fresh for a good chunk of time. A key factor in the replay value of Dicey Dungeons is its variety of incredibly unique playable characters, each of which offers its distinctive strengths.

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In Dicey Dungeons, players battle through several floors of the titular dungeon, taking on an ensemble of quirky enemies in turn-based combat using dice-based mechanics; players roll dice, placing them in the appropriate equipment slots, which make up the deck-building aspect of the game. As players progress, they are able to discover new pieces of equipment and swap out their existing ones, improving their strategy over time. This all makes for an experience that’s unique, replayable, and easy to get lost in.

5 Darkest Dungeon

A Stress-Inducing Strategy Dungeon-Crawler With A Gothic Art-Style

Released: January 19, 2016
Developer(s): Red Hook Studios

The dark, scratchy, hand-drawn aesthetic of Darkest Dungeon and its oppressive Gothic tones and atmosphere are a perfect match for the game’s harsh and unforgiving structure. Darkest Dungeon is all about dungeon-crawling, adventuring through a diverse variety of dungeons with their unique Lovecraft-inspired enemies, managing a party of four heroes built from an ensemble of distinct classes.

Players must manage an entire roster of heroes throughout a campaign, similar to games such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown, leveling them up and equipping them with new items throughout the game. This makes it sting all the more, however, when these heroes die in heroic (or, at times, not-so-heroic) combat. To make matters worse, it may not even be the monsters that defeat a player’s party, but the simple stress of delving into the dungeon itself.