Endless Dungeon, the latest release from Amplitude Studios and Sega brings a refreshing twist to the tower defense genre with its addictive blend of twin-stick shooting and cooperative gameplay. This game is all about conquering hordes of menacing alien creatures while defending your precious crystal core. With the proper upgrades, character synergy, game plan, and execution, there’s a lot to love in here. I’d even go as far as to say that this is one of the best co-op experiences I’ve had this year.
You play as one of a multitude of playable characters that each have their own unique abilities. You can either play as a support, tank, or assault. Spawning into a level, your goal is to protect a crystal from hordes of enemies, manage resources, and make it all the way to the end. Fairly simple, but there’s a lot that goes into it that makes Endless Dungeon such a fun time to be had.
Defenders, assemble
Endless Dungeon is at its best when it comes to cooperative gameplay. Grab some friends, and you’re in for a wild ride. Strategizing at the start of every level feels engaging and rewarding once you start to see it all in motion. The game’s premise is simple and easy to learn, making it accessible to players of all skill levels. But don’t be fooled by its simplicity; Endless Dungeon is an “easy to learn, hard to master” kind of game. The real fun begins when you and your teammates start to strategize and work together to tackle waves of enemies that have their own corresponding spawn points, especially during a number of the game’s fantastic and intense boss fights. These showdowns are nothing short of amazing, filled with adrenaline-pumping action that needs far more brain than brawns.
Each character has their own starting weapon which you can replace or add a second one to once you find a merchant within the level. Enemies will have certain elements that they’re weaker towards or even immune to so that adds another factor to consider when choosing what type of weapon should be used. While they do have different firing modes, the weapons do sometimes feel like just reskins of each other.
The more you open up doors, you can discover a new enemy spawn area, merchants, upgrade kiosks, resource generators, health machines, or a way to progress the level. The fact that you’ll never be able to predict what’s on the other side is a feeling that never gets old. This is a huge reason why Endless Dungeon is constantly engaging.
Despite the levels being procedurally generated, they still feel like there’s a lot of intention and purpose with each corner. This is also a major factor in ensuring every match feels different. Whatever strategy you had with the previous game, you can’t use it with the next due to the changing floor layouts. It constantly keeps things fresh, exciting, and such a fun puzzle to solve.
You can choose to spend your resources reinforcing a room by placing down different turret types. Alternatively, you can spend on upgrading yourself, buying heals for your team, or purchasing new weapons. All resources are shared within a team so it takes a lot of effective communication to make the most out of everything. I loved this tension of choice as to where should a certain resource be committed to. Every decision or move being made feels impactful which completely elevates the entire experience.
The sense of progression in Endless Dungeon is a testament to the game’s thoughtfully designed mechanics. You’ll level up equipment as you play, unlocking new playable characters with unique abilities that add depth to your team’s strategy. The gameplay loop is straightforward yet engaging, keeping you on your toes and eager to see what’s around the corner.
All this is beautifully presented with great visuals that immerse you in the game’s otherworldly setting. The art style is simple yet striking in the way it presents itself. Endless Dungeon’s world constantly looks like it’s an interesting place to explore and learn more about. It also helps that the lighting and additional VFX work do a lot to add so much tangibility. Whether it be in the heat of combat where bullets and abilities fly to illuminate the area or you’re just exploring poorly lit rooms, the game looks fantastic. And to add a cherry on top, the soundtrack is pretty rad, especially the tracks that play in the hub area where you’ll purchase permanent upgrades, select missions, and talk to certain NPCs.
Not-so-endless wins
However, Endless Dungeon isn’t without its flaws. Some of the starting characters can feel a bit underpowered, leaving players yearning for more exciting options. Solo play, in particular, can be a real challenge and even feel outright unfair due to the game’s emphasis on cooperative mechanics. The unbalanced solo experience is a drawback that could use some fine-tuning.
There were instances where me and my friends were spending a significant amount of time trying to beat a boss and we just thought to ourselves “yea, this is impossible to do on a solo run.” true enough, after trying it out for myself, it was a very demanding endeavor. While it is still doable, it just takes a lot more effort and far less fun compared to bringing along someone else for the wild ride.
Make no mistake, even with a full squad of friends to play with, the game is still very challenging. It’s just that it feels more satisfying to beat a long level or a certain boss fight when all 3 players are synergized and play off of each other’s abilities. The solo experience will leave you having to rely on a very shotty and inconsistent AI partner that uses abilities most times where it didn’t need to.
Additionally, the game’s narrative is not anything special. You won’t remember much. But this is one of those games where it doesn’t really matter. The gameplay is already so much fun that everything else takes a back seat.
Endless Dungeon Review Final Verdict – 8.5/10
When all enemy types are approaching you from every direction, the crystal is almost destroyed while still in transit, you have no heals left, and you can’t afford to put down turrets, the amount of adrenaline-induced pressure is such a thrilling experience that few multiplayer games can replicate nowadays. I and other UnGeek folks spent hours into the night trying to see how far we could go. The game could do with a more comprehensive and understandable tutorial to better ease players into the systems but part of the fun I had was figuring it all out myself alongside my friends.
The experience can vary depending on the type of player you are and what type of games you enjoy. I can definitely see some being immediately turned off within the first few minutes. That’s because Endless Dungeon is not like any other usual AAA game that the market is used to. It’s a roguelike, tower defense, and sci-fi shooter all rolled into one with a few more other genres sprinkled in between. However, it’s in the way the game juggles so many things at once but somehow makes it all work really well with each other is what impresses me the most.
I do hope this title gets supported with more content such as maps, enemy types, weapons, and characters in the future. Endless Dungeon is exactly what its name implies, an unending rabbit hole that you and others can easily fall into.
This review was made using a game code for the PC provided by the publisher. An Asus ROG Flow X16 was used to play the game.