Endless Dungeon offers a fun co-op tower-defense/twin-stick shooter challenge, but its roguelite framework begs for more chaos and gameplay mixups.
Quick Links It’s one hour deep into a station dive before things take a sharp turn for the worse. Every teammate’s weapon is suddenly subpar, the wrong doors were opened, wrong buffs deactivated, and the crabby little crystal bot’s already suffered a beating. In Endless Dungeon — a modern refresh of 2014’s one-of-a-kind roguelite hybrid Dungeon of the Endless — things often go from routine rut to restart in the blink of an eye.
Those original fans will have to face how Endless Dungeon tampers with its predecessor’s formula to deliver a real-time action framework this time, while yet retaining some of its foundational mechanics. They're the same audience who will most likely cobble together a quick understanding of the new game’s obtuse tricks, rules, and best practices; for the rest, frustration with the game’s somewhat bizarre structure could be a problem, especially if they prefer to dive in solo.
Groups of one to three players pick a single starting point onward out of the hub — a basic AI can fill in for one or two partners in solo mode — with three starter zones eventually unlocked with district keys found in later areas. Each biome possesses their own themed flavor and different monster spawner types, all of which react to simple rock-paper-scissors elemental systems, where certain elements are weaker or stronger against specific mobs.
The turrets are a key ingredient in Endless Dungeon’s structure; players might feel more than formidable against certain waves, but the game intends for turrets to be smartly installed and upgraded to fend off the toughest special waves and scenarios.
More Or Less Multiplayer-Only Solo players will doubtlessly struggle in Endless Dungeon, although AI companions are able to take on simple command prompts and employ payload defense tactics while lacking any complicated strategic capabilities, like upgrading turrets when ready. Gaining a third AI helper is a perk which confusingly has to be unlocked with scrap currency, a weirdly punishing design decision for single player devotees.