Willow Swift
I’m a big fan of several releases by Big Fish, my day job employers, as y’all know. The last several months, my big favorites have been Fairway Solitaire Blast and Gummy Drop–but both of these games have to move over now, because Dungeon Boss has just rampaged its way into my affections.
It’s another free to play game, available currently only on iOS and Android, and what I’m digging about it is how it invokes my fondness for nethack and old-school D&D–by taking a dungeon adventure and distilling it down into a stream of never-ending boss fights. You get a cadre of heroes to play with, and your goal is basically to cut a swath through increasingly more difficult dungeons. You get 2-4 starter rooms in the dungeon, and then you get the boss monster(s).
The mechanics of the game are super-easy. Combat is turn-based and conducted just by tapping on your target monsters. There are also a host of side things you can do in addition to the main combat–there are specific quests you can fulfill, and you can also go player vs. player by building and defending your own dungeon, and raiding the dungeons of other players.
Design-wise, I find all the characters rather ridiculously adorable. I particularly like how, when you launch a level, your characters (two, three, or four on the various dungeons I’ve played so far) go boinging into place and sometimes do somersaults. It further amuses me that some of the characters who wear robes do not have any visible feet, so they look like they’re levitating instead of walking. And I’ve unlocked enough characters in the game now that I can have my pick of warriors, spell casters, rogues/archers, or fighting beasts. There are also several female characters. WOO!
My favorite characters so far: Willow Swift, Lady Nimriel (elven archers represent!), Abigail the Brutal (I love the juxtaposition of ‘Abigail’ and ‘Brutal’ in her name, and her special fighting attacks are awesome), and Black Diamond (who has a rather distinct Black-Widow-ish vibe about her).
I’ve just blown a good chunk of this past weekend playing this thing, and may have been overheard bellowing “WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?” after a particularly tasty fight with a big pack of boss monsters. ;D
So yeah, if your idea of fun includes whacking the daylights out of dungeon monsters and stealing their stuff (because as the game points out, that’s what HEROES DO lol), give the game a look. And if you jump in, feel free to shoot ‘annathepiper’ a Friend request!
(Disclaimer: I AM an employee of Big Fish, but this post is entirely my own devising and does not represent any official position of my employers. Just so we’re clear on that, mmkay?)