ENDLESS™ Dungeon - Definitive Edition Review Summary

Praised for its visuals and engaging gameplay as a fun improvement over Dungeon of the Endless, but feels abandoned and unfinished with repetitive boring elements.

Visuals and art style praised: The art style, graphics, and overall visual presentation are frequently highlighted as appealing and beautiful. Players note detailed backgrounds and a stylish look.

Game is enjoyable and fun: Many players report having a great time playing the game, finding it fun and enjoyable across different play sessions. The positive experience is a recurring theme.

Improvement over Dungeon of the Endless: Players see this game as a clear improvement over Dungeon of the Endless, being deeper, more dynamic, and a worthy successor. It captures the spirit while enhancing gameplay.

Gameplay is engaging and addictive: Players consistently praise the core gameplay loop as engaging, well thought out, and dynamic. The mechanics are fun and the game is challenging in a positive way.

Co-op enhances experience: Co-op mode is widely appreciated, making the game more fun and playable with friends. Support for up to three players adds to the enjoyment and coordination.

Game feels abandoned and unfinished: Multiple reviews indicate the game was released in an incomplete state and subsequently abandoned by developers, with content feeling like an early alpha. This includes reports of the game not leaving beta and being pushed to release too early.

Gameplay is repetitive and boring: The gameplay loop becomes repetitive and boring quickly, with same levels replayed and a lack of variety. Many players found the game getting old fast and monotonous after repeated attempts.

Less content than predecessor: The game offers significantly less content compared to the previous title, with fewer heroes, imbalance issues, and reduced strategic elements. Players felt the content was insufficient to keep them returning.

Lacks strategic depth and fun: Compared to Dungeon of the Endless, this game has much less going for it, lacking strategic depth, character building, and overall interesting gameplay. It misses the first game's atmosphere and fails to capture its fun.

Numerous bugs and glitches: Players report a high number of bugs, some game-breaking, that can make the game unenjoyable and may require quitting the game to fix. These issues significantly detract from the overall experience.

Turrets are core mechanic: The game heavily relies on turret placement, building, and upgrades to defend against enemy waves. Players can reinforce turrets, position them at choke points, and utilize elemental affinities.

Multiplayer co-op support: The game includes multiplayer co-op, allowing players to join levels and create public lobbies. Co-op is emphasized as a key feature, often making the game more enjoyable with friends.

Roguelike and roguelite elements: The game features roguelike or roguelite mechanics, including repeated runs, random maps, and progression through upgrades between runs. This structure encourages replayability and strategic experimentation.

Genre-blending gameplay: The game combines tower defense, roguelike, twin-stick shooter, and dungeon crawler elements into a unique hybrid. This blend offers varied and engaging gameplay mechanics.

Solo play with AI companions: The game supports solo play with AI teammates that can be directed to positions. This allows players to experience the game without human partners while still enabling cooperative tactics.

Great performance on high-end: Some players report excellent performance, such as averaging 200 FPS with ray tracing off, and runs well without issues. This highlights a positive experience on capable hardware.

Frequent crashes cause save loss: The game crashes frequently, ruining good runs and causing save data loss. This high-frequency issue severely impacts player progress and satisfaction.

Graphics glitching and rendering issues: Players encounter glitching graphics and rendering problems, such as issues in the final room and during boss fights. These visual bugs affect immersion and can block progress.

Game instability and freezing: The game exhibits instability issues, including freezes that require ending the task and relaunching. This persistent problem makes the game unreliable during sessions.

Multiplayer stuttering and freezing: Players experience random stuttering and freezing during multiplayer sessions, affecting gameplay fluidity. This performance issue appears in both cooperative and general multiplayer contexts.

Buy on sale: Buying the game at a discounted price, especially during a 50% sale, is seen as acceptable, but not at full price.

Best with friends: The game is highly recommended for co-op multiplayer with friends, enhancing the overall experience.

Not recommended in current state: The game cannot be recommended in its current state due to bugs, glitches, and lack of support, making it unplayable or frustrating.

Not a sequel to Dungeon of the Endless: Players expecting a sequel or reimagining of Dungeon of the Endless will be disappointed; it should not be compared to that game.

Overpriced for current quality: The game's price is too high for its current quality; a positive review would only be given if significantly cheaper.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 48.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endless Dungeon becomes fun after the first few hours or when played cooperatively with friends, as early friction from tutorials, bugs, and slow pacing resolves into engaging co-op strategy gameplay. Some players, however, find the game never clicks due to shallow progression and repetition.

Friction: terrible tutorial; slow game pacing; multiplayer bugs like movement glitches; lack of shared progression for guests; repetitive map generation; shallow meta-progression.

Unlock drivers: co-op play with friends; initial hours of play; tactical understanding of hero abilities; harder difficulty levels.

Co-op Frustrated: Plays exclusively in multiplayer with friends, relying on teamwork and communication, but is stymied by persistent bugs, poor scaling, and frustrating design choices that undermine cooperation. Motivation: Social cooperative gameplay with friends, seeking a fun shared challenge. Stance: no buy.

Disappointed Veteran: Prefers solo or co-op with deep strategic layers, analyzing systems and expecting substantial meta-progression that rewards long-term play. Motivation: Replicating the depth, strategic nuance, and long-term engagement of Dungeon of the Endless. Stance: deep sale.

Newcomer Enjoyer: Plays primarily single-player, focusing on the core gameplay loop without prior expectations or comparisons. Motivation: Enjoyment of a polished, fast-paced roguelite shooter with good graphics, audio, and immediate fun. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: User feedback indicates significant barriers for Steam Deck: Denuvo DRM may fail offline, cloud saves are absent, and excessive telemetry connections drain battery and privacy. These issues push the experience into the broken category for portable/offline use.

Linux and Proton: User feedback contains no Linux/Proton compatibility complaints. The game appears to run smoothly on Linux, with the only negative comment about Denuvo being a general concern, not a Linux-specific blocker.

External guides: User feedback primarily focuses on unclear and misleading in-game stat descriptions, particularly weapon range, forcing reliance on external wikis to understand mechanics. This falls under the 'The Student' category for instructional data needs.

Frequent Dungeon of the Endless comparisons: Many reviews compare this game to Dungeon of the Endless, noting similarities and differences. Some find it a worthy successor, while others consider the original far better.

Original game considered better: A significant number of reviewers feel the first game in the series is superior in terms of depth, strategy, and overall quality. They often describe this title as a step back or unfaithful to the original.

Not a true sequel: Some reviewers emphasize that this game is not a direct sequel or spiritual successor to Dungeon of the Endless, despite comparisons. They see it as a distinct title, which influences expectations.

Game appears abandoned by developers: Several reviewers report that the game no longer receives updates or support, leading to a perception that it has been abandoned. This contributes to a feeling that the game is dead or incomplete.

Denuvo DRM and privacy concerns: The inclusion of Denuvo DRM and related third-party software is a point of criticism. Some users describe it as spyware and express concern over offline play limitations.