REVIEW / Dungeon Drafters (PS4)

Since the likes of Slay the Spire hit our screens finding a roguelike with card mechanics has become quite easy. The thing about these games is they tend to follow a certain trope and while they have their own flair it’s difficult to make one game truly stand out from another. The game I’ve been playing the PS4 version of lately, and the one we’ll be discussing today, is definitely its own animal and I’m loving it. The title we’ll be taking a closer peek at is Dungeon Drafters. What makes it so different? Well let’s find out, shall we?

Dungeon Drafters is a game that I can only explain the basics of. This isn’t because I haven’t played much of it, rather that it’s bloody huge and I haven’t experienced anywhere near what it has to offer. This is the card-fueled RPG that I’ve been looking for, for ages. Take your classic 16-bit RPG, (think Zelda: A Link to the Past and its contemporaries,) give it roguelike dungeons, and make everything revolve around abilities that take the form of cards and we’re sort of there. Unlike a lot of games that try to straddle different genres the balance here is great. This isn’t a card game with just enough story to call itself an RPG, nor is it a roguelike that’s using card mechanics because it’s the in thing. This is a game with an amazing depth of story and character interaction with fun battles and cards that are class-based and actually make sense. Getting this right is a feat in and of itself and I’m truly impressed.

You will take the role of one of about six classes at the beginning of the game. Depending on your starting class you’ll get a selection of cards that suit your very particular set of skills. Cards in this game are color-coded. A combination of two colors makes up a class. This is great because you never feel like your character is doing things that don’t fit their profession. This is just the start, there are a ton of archetypes you can adopt, so there’s plenty of room for growth. With cards to buy and collect you’ll have a lot to go at, something that’s great to see as the card genre can feel a little limited at times.

My counter to the point I’ve just made is that (and this isn’t necessarily a moan,) this is a very long game and you aren’t going to restart quickly to see what another character can do. I’m not sure how important it is to play everything but I tend to like to see which playstyle suits me best and in a very long title like this it’s not really going to happen. It would be nice to see a way of testing the starting classes in a separate environment so you can make an informed choice before going into the thick of it. This is just me musing, like I said it’s not a moan, just something that jumped to mind.

In a lot of dungeon crawlers and roguelikes, you’ll have some sort of a hub. In an RPG this normally takes the form of a town where you can sell your gear, buy upgrades, and pick up the odd quest. I’m obviously referring to roguelike RPGs here, as we all know, true open-world RPGs are a totally different conversation. In the Roguelike genre, this is a really important space that will normally build as you discover new things on your runs. In both of these cases though, this hub is usually fairly simple because the core gameplay is elsewhere. In Dungeon Drafters we find something truly impressive. The town is massive, with a plethora of characters to meet, quests to collect, and things to do. You can comfortably spend time here as opposed to it being a five-minute dropping point between games and this is really nice to see.

The dungeons themselves are really well thought out. First off, you don’t need to approach this game linearly. You’re presented with about six different accessible dungeons that you can take on at any point, in any order, and each of these has its own number of floors that will increase in difficulty as you go. Each of these spaces feels very individual with not only its own creatures all with themed mechanics but its own hazards as well. Your combat setup is really important because your skills will be better suited to one zone than another and a certain amount of strategy is called for in planning your trip. You can’t just pick your favorite cards and have at it because what works well in one zone might be asking for an early death in another. This all adds longevity to this title and things never really feel cut and paste. As this is a roguelike every run will be different too, so there’s that to consider as well.

Something else that’s really important about dungeon running in Dungeon Drafters is that there is a real amount of risk involved in your efforts. When you complete one floor of a dungeon you are given the option to head back to town or press on. If you head back to town you’ll keep any spoils you’ve found and collected to that point but have to start the dungeon from scratch on your next run. If you press on and die you’ll lose everything you’ve gained up to that point and get dropped back into town regardless. This means that you’ll need to be sure you can pass the next floor or you’ll lose your hard-earned loot. I like this because it makes you think twice about performing lengthier runs with limited resources.

Combat in Dungeon Drafters is turn-based but not in the sense of just playing cards. This is turn-based strategy in its truest sense and character placement is as important as the cards you play. Anyone who is a fan of this style of gameplay will know the score but each enemy room is an arena with your foes moving about a grid. Different cards are set to different ranges and the monsters each have their own set of abilities to consider. The roguelike element of the game means that you can’t expect to face the same number or types of enemies across different battles so you need to learn to think on the fly. The fact that your cards aren’t at the forefront of play, you are as the character is really important in giving this title a true RPG feel.

Graphically Dungeon Drafters is bringing everything you want from a classic 90s RPG. This game is colorful and cartoony in the best possible way. Sound and music are also very fitting for the period that this game is going for and everything just fits very nicely. Dungeon Drafters also controls like a charm, once you get the basics down, so nuts and bolts-wise we’re all good here.

All in all, this is a must-have for roguelike, RPG, and card fans alike. This is a game that has a really impressive amount of replayability while having the structure you really want from an RPG. I can see myself going back to Dungeon Drafters for a good while and because it’s story-driven, (I deliberately haven’t mentioned the plot,) it’s as much to see where the narrative will take me as it is for the fun Roguelike elements. I know we’re only a little way into 2024 but this is definitely one of my top picks for the year so far for those of you that like this sort of thing.