This past week I found myself wanting to play a game but nothing too serious. Just something I could play and beat in a few hours and get a few platinum trophies along the way. I was browsing through my huge backlog and noticed I already had Devious Dungeon installed on my Vita. A quick Google search mentioned it was a few hour platinum game. Since I already had it installed I said what the hell. Fully expecting another trash tier game I had zero expectations for the games “fun factor”.
Both games are pixel art games in the vain of Super Nintendo graphics. Normally I stray away from 8 bit and 16 bit games because I feel they are so over done. Since this was just going to be a quick plat I really wasn’t that concerned with the art style. The Devious Dungeon games are “rogue like” which I was not expecting. Every level is randomized and when you start the level backgrounds and enemies change. It really keeps the game feeling fresh and different when you die. The point of the game is to find the key that is located randomly in each level. Once you find the key you find the portal to end the stage. The premise of the game is pretty straight forward. Start the stage, kill some enemies, find the key and finish the stage. The addicting part for me was the level up system. You get XP from killing enemies but the main grind is for coins. Every three stages counts as a check point in game. Each time you complete three stages you also get to visit the vendor and the healer. The vendor sells weapon and armor upgrades as well as potions, rings and amulets. Each item gives increasing benefits and gets more and more expensive. That was the real game play loop for me. Playing the game and trying to collect all the money I could to buy the next upgrade when possible. You can level up your health, strength (damage output) and crit chance.
Devious Dungeon consists of 68 total levels spread out over 5 worlds. There are a total of 5 bosses in the game. Each boss has its own design and move set. I would say the bosses are pretty easy overall. Assuming you’ve been collecting money and upgrading it should only take you a few tries to kill each boss. Knowing that you get a “checkpoint” every three levels also helps with playing the game in bursts. I beat Devious Dungeon over the course of about two days each for both the PS4 and Vita versions. The game was smooth on PS4 with no issues. The Vita port did suffer from some occasional frame drops but nothing that made the game unplayable. I actually preferred playing on the Vita and just laying in bed. Beating a few stages and turning it off for a few hours.
Devious Dungeon 2 follows the same formula as the first. Which is not a bad thing at all. Some things did change that were noticeable right off the bat. First off they added two new playable character. A mage and a Rogue. The core mechanics of the game remain the same. Play the game and gather as much money as you can for upgrades. I noticed buying upgrades got a lot more expensive. The way each new weapon or armor scaled in price seemed a lot higher than the first game. On the other side I did notice that gaining XP was more generous in the sequel. So it was a bit of give and take in both game. By the time I beat Devious Dungeon 2 I had bought the best armor the game had to offer. I still had so many more weapons that I could buy though. The game has six bosses to beat. They also added random mini bosses that can be defeated as part of challenges. They also added some new basic enemies to the game to switch it up just a bit from the first game. So far I only played Devious Dungeon 2 on the Vita. The game has significantly more frame drops than the first game did. Nothing to make the game unbearable but it was definitely more noticeable for sure. I beat part 2 over the course of about 2 days. I would say I enjoyed part 2 a little more than the first but I also found it to be slightly more difficult. Unfortunately I did not play as the other two characters but I intend of beating the game on the PS4 soon so I will choose another character then. Probably the mage character so I can hang back like a wimp.
Overall I would recommend both of these games to anyone who likes the art style and casual rogue like games. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this series. They were both easy platinum games but I’m glad I gave them a shot because they were both really fun to play. Devious Dungeon is $4.99 on almost all platforms. Devious Dungeon 2 is $7.99 on most stores as well but will not be released on Steam until early November. Personally I think both games at $5 each is fair. I would probably add part 2 to a wish list and wait for it to go on sale.
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