Pixel Dungeon is a turn-based, open source roguelike video game with pixel art graphics. It was released in late 2012 for Android.^[1] It was then made open source on July 26, 2014.^[2] It was released on Itch.io in 2014,^[3] and Steam in 2015.^[4]

Pixel Dungeon

Title screen
Developer(s)	Watabou
Initial release	late 2012
Stable release	1.9.2 / 1 December 2015
Repository	github.com/watabou/pixel-dungeon
Written in	Java
Platform	Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Linux
Available in	English
Type	Roguelike
License	GPLv3
Website	pixeldungeon.watabou.ru

Plot

In Pixel Dungeon, your goal is to obtain the Amulet of Yendor by going deep underground. The player descends through five regions: the city sewers, an abandoned prison, a cave system, an ancient dwarven metropolis and finally halls inhabited by demons. Each region has five procedurally-generated floors. The game is tile based, and each region has its own textures. Along the way, There are NPCs who give quests to the player. There are monsters that spawn on every floor, and each region has a boss battle at the end (every 5th floor).^[5]

Gameplay

A screenshot of the game Pixel Dungeon

Players can choose four character classes: the warrior, specializing in melee combat; the mage, specializing in using magic; the rogue, benefits from surprise attacks; and the huntress, who specializes in ranged attacks and is unlocked later in the game. In addition, each class has two sub-classes. The player may choose one after defeating the second boss.

The player can attack enemies with an equipped melee weapon, or use wands/ranged weapons from their inventory. Armor can be equipped which provides absorption against melee attacks. Rings can be equipped which provide bonuses to the player. Equipment can be upgraded, which enhances their stats. Weapons and armor can also be enchanted, giving them an extra effect. It is important to note that a player must become familiar with a piece of equipment to know its upgrade level. Some pieces of equipment may even be cursed, making them harm the player instead of helping them. The player has a range of items at their disposal. The player can find and use potions and scrolls, but they start off unknown to the player. For example, a player may not know the effect of an "orange potion" until they identify it.

The player levels up by gaining experience points from killing enemies. This increases their max health and effectiveness in combat. Enemies often sometimes drop equipment or money. The money can be used in shops that are on the floor below every boss level. Another mechanic is hunger. The player must find and eat food, or they will starve and take damage every turn.

Every action in Pixel Dungeon is turn-based, but some actions take more turns than others. Eating food takes multiple turns, so doing this in combat would allow an enemy to land multiple hits on the player before the player can perform another action.^[5]

On the top-left of the screen, the player can access information and stats about their character, as well as the status effects currently applied. The three buttons on the bottom-left are used by the player to (from left to right) wait for one turn, search for secrets around the player and see a description of a selected square. The player can access their inventory on the bottom-right, and has a slot to fill with a frequently used item like a wand or thrown weapon. There is also a text log which describes every action that takes place.

Reception

Pixel Dungeon was generally well-received. Many critics expressed that the game can be brutally difficult and luck-based, although the randomness was noted to create a risk vs reward factor which Samuel Horti of GamesRadar+ described as "compelling".^[6] John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun expressed his enjoyment of learning and exploiting the movement patterns of different enemies. He also mentioned that there were many tiny details the player can discover, such as that the player can cook crab meat to make it safe to eat.^[7] On the other hand, Andrew Koziara from TouchArcade brought up the fact that some parts of the game can be unclear, requiring the player to refer to the game's wiki.^[5]

Because of the game being open-source, many forks were made as mods to the original game. Examples include Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Yet Another Pixel Dungeon and Skillful Pixel Dungeon.

References

External links

• Official site