The Best Dungeon Crawlers to Delve into this Holiday Season

The sales pitch for the holidays is that they are a time of joy and togetherness, family and friends gathering together to share food, gifts, and love. Good times with good people over some soupy weird beige liquid called “eggnog” or cheap wine that’s been heated up with a handful of potpourri. There’s bad songs, there’s some ok songs, the Waitress’ “Christmas Wrapping,” twinkling lights, and depending on your proximity to and version of climate change, either too much or not enough snow.

But it also often means sitting in a crowded airport terminal while people are screaming and coughing and not masking or, if you can be so lucky to find masked travelers, they’re taking their masks off to scream and cough. These are the people you will be piling into a metal sausage tube and hurtling yourself across the country with. You’ll be breathing their air. Only to be greeted by your racist uncle, your homophobic grandparents, that cousin who’s dead set on chewing your ear off about his experiments with crypto, NFTs, and AI celebrity porn. The racist uncle also wants to talk to you about government surveillance. No, not the actual kind. The kind he learned about on a forum that CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan “told him about.” That’s where his mind was finally opened. 

Look, your family might not be bad. You might have done the Found or Chosen family thing instead. Your family might be a true nightmare hellscape and I sincerely wish you a safe and joyous holiday away from it.

On rare occasions, I would end up on the gulf coast of Florida for Christmas. My grandparents had retired to a cozy all-white-everything condo on Anna Maria Island where they beach-walked at 4 a.m., fed herons whole raw fish right from the breakfast table, and generally enjoyed their senior years being locally active, life-long Democrats. 

They didn’t have HBO. There was no Blockbuster on the island at the time. If there was an arcade it would have been over in Sarasota or god-forbid Tampa. No friends. No games. No AOL, CompuServe, or Prodigy. When 4 a.m. death marches on the beach were done, and they weren’t planning the next meal like Czechoslovakian American Hobbits, it was arguing about the Bush Presidency (the first one), or playing along to the nightly episode of Jeopardy as though it were a bloodsport. I love my grandparents, my dad, his girlfriends (except for that one med student bitch), and the rest of our extended family. 

But you have to understand…Rummikub was involved.

One year, I decided enough was enough. I smuggled my entire fucking Sega Genesis with me, and a game that would help lay the foundation for the next 30 years of my gaming interests.

The 1990 console roguelike classic Fatal Labyrinth.

In 2024, you don’t have to smuggle an entire console layered with a couple days of underwear, socks, some Ocean Pacific shorts and a couple of Lacoste polos in a dayglo Jansport just to survive the holidays. You don’t have to excuse yourself to a guest room for a reprieve from adults discussing Medicare at you as though a 9-year-old should have the vaguest idea about social policy. You can chill out on the couch while everyone around you slowly loses any and all sense of decorum and pretense of respect. As political arguments and slights from decades ago are weaponized and wielded like your dad’s new Sharper Image electric turkey carver… You can opt out with a Steam Deck or a Nintendo Switch. Something that won’t alarm the TSA and fits in your pocket, smuggled up a sweater sleeve, or burrowed in the kangaroo pouch of a hoodie. And while, Sega has decided to delist the only way to play Fatal Labyrinth (legally) on the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, there are so many other impeccable dungeons you can descend into while your family Christmas becomes a hellscape.

It’s dangerous to go alone, after all. Take these.

Wizardry: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (2024)

I’ll admit it. I was a hater at first. When I found out Digital Eclipse was doing an overlaid remake of Wizardry: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord instead of one of their elaborate archival-game-documentary projects, I was a little disappointed. For such an unbelievably foundational series for modern gaming, the idea to just make a version sitting atop the Apple II bones with optional modern conveniences and prettied up graphics just felt weird.

And for a while there, it was a buggy mess that had me low-key feeling vindicated. But, dear reader, I was wrong to doubt. Even if I might still want a comprehensive and deep look into the history of Wizardry, the hating has to stop. 

Digital Eclipse’s update to Wizardry slaps. A lot. My go-to Wizardry for the longest time had actually been Acquire’s Labyrinth of Lost Souls, made as part of the Wizardry Renaissance over a decade ago now. And while that’s still an option that MIGHT work on your Steam Deck (signs point to yes), with how the updated Mad Overlord turned out, I have to say it’s soundly at the top of the list. Even beating out the fantastic SNES and GBC ports.  

This is an incredible update to one of the games that started it all (and in a weird knock on effect also ended up bringing the Good Anime to the United States and saving us all from the tyranny of Robotech). 

UFO 50’s Valbrace

Now, obviously if you put UFO 50 on your Steam Deck or Switch, you’re going to have the entire recovered output of UFO Soft’s Laser-X console games from 1982-1989—literally Paste’s GOTY. But this is the dungeon crawler article, and that means we’re focusing on one of the most charming dungeoneering experiences I’ve played since, well… 1989? (I mean this literally). With tiles that recall the dungeon crawling from the original Master System’s Phantasy Star, Valbrace appears to be a comfortable and cozy 8-bit dungeon crawl. If it stopped there, it would be a worthy inclusion based on charm alone. However, it’s when combat hits and Valbrace turns into a fantasy melee version of Punch-Out that the game pitches over into a modern day marvel in miniature.

I guess for those of us who grew up with rich friends or cashed-up arcades, Alpha Denshi’s Crossed Swords for the Neo Geo is also a natural referent. 

Yet, unlike both Punch-Out and Crossed Swords, there’s a lot of depth to <i>Valbrace</i>’s combat. Beyond the itemization and RPG mechanics, some of the enemy patterns and combinations are far and away more brutal than any version of Mike Tyson you’d find at even the lowest levels of Werdna’s subterranean maze.

Caves of Qud

How many arms do you have? If it’s less than 3, that’s probably not enough. Qud is about getting weird. Note, I said getting—not being.

Actually, a more appropriate question might be, “How many limbs?” Who says they have to be recognizable?

Caves of Qud is simply a marvel. In the wild for nearly a decade, Freehold Games has been crafting the world and systems of a game that is both handmade and procedurally generated, fantasy and sci-fi, tense and jovial. Political systems and extensively simulated physical systems all commingle to create worlds of weirdness for you to explore, change, and become wholly altered by yourself. 

Qud has deep, deep bones and leagues of viscera. You can feel it in the quest systems and the way parts of the game express themselves. It tells the story of how it was made as much as you are divining your own story about the five sultans. You’ll meet people and factions and they’ll hate you, but only some will try to eat you. You’ll make friends and allies, you’ll read weird books. Who you are will change.

While much more of an open, world-spanning RPG than a “dungeon crawler” for some, the sense of discovery and peril is what truly makes a dungeon crawler, and Qud has that coming out of its ears (no, not literally). As for the dungeons in Qud themselves? Well one literally gets colder the deeper you go.

Qud isn’t for everyone. While some people will embrace the text-heavy adventures with graphics that harken back to the era of clandestine mainframe and terminal games while being beautiful and purposeful all on their own, others will bristle at this. It’s fine. Qud either finds you or it doesn’t. Perhaps one of the best descriptions of Caves of Qud comes from our fearless leader himself, “a roguelike based on tabletop role-playing games absolutely in love with the possibilities of language.” An unequivocally true statement.

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island

It’s been a decade since Shiren and his talking ferret Koppa have been on a new adventure. And while if needed, I could have lived off of The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate ports for the rest of my life, Spike Chunsoft came back with a brand new Shiren that unites a back to basics approach with new and invigorating gameplay ideas. Sometimes those gameplay ideas are downright brutal. That’s part of the fun.

If you’ve never played a more classical console roguelike like Shiren, then this is a great introduction to the form. As a player, you control the tempo of the dungeon exploration; as you move, enemies move in tandem. Blitz through levels and you might find a throng of enemies lined up to murder you. Or nothing. Shiren is all about balancing risk and reward. The further along you go in a dungeon, the more dangerous it becomes and the more you risk losing. Levels, equipment, progress: all gone if you perish in a dungeon. If you’re able to call for help, another player may rescue you. Other times, you’re going to be starting over. But don’t despair—that’s the point. 

Shiren is a pressure cooker for creative thought. The genius of this franchise, and this game in particular, is in how all of the systems interact with one another. Carrying an onigiri while you’re on fire? Sure, you’ll take fire damage, but your rice ball will level up from mere food to a delicious grilled onigiri. 

Now apply that to other weapons, or spell scrolls, or the way enemies choose to attack or interact. As dungeons get more complicated, weirder, and more punishing, the options for you to invent whole new strategies becomes integral to playing the game. 

Here’s another favorite riceball centric favorite example: There are traps that will turn Shiren into an onigiri. There are other traps that cause your food to rot. Imagine if they were nearby and you were very unlucky. Yeah. Incredible, right?

Shiren rules. But don’t take just my word for it. 

Go read Sam Barlow being a Shiren sicko over on Twitter if you still don’t believe me.

Lunacid

Look, we can argue about how true-to-King’s Field Kira LLC’s Lunacid actually is, or we can instead acknowledge that these things are facts:
1. From Software has abandoned us for the soon-to-be-acquired misery of being Sony’s Elden Ring regurgitation machine.
2. We are in an era of King’s Field Renaissance.
3. Lunacid may break from the traditions in significant ways, but that only makes it all the more invigorating.

There are many King’s Field-likes to choose from these days. For example, Dungeons of Blood and Dream made Paste’s Top 40 of 2024 list. And while all of them owe a debt to From’s first-person, PlayStation dungeon crawlers, those in turn owe debts to things like Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall or even games like Westwood’s Eye of the Beholder. Iteration and revolution are always going to be more interesting to me than repetition, and Lunacid is nothing if not interesting.

From the first moment I started playing I set the graphics filter to “VHS” and instantly a familiar and delightful staticky blur overtook the dungeon. Lunacid is vibes-based Shadow Tower made much more forgiving by exchanging the clockwork, tank-like combat for Bethesda-style effortlessness. It works. This isn’t a game out to repeatedly punish you. It wants you to explore and luxuriate in its absurd cast of characters, embrace the way your disembodied weapon hands float and guide your movement in the languid way one might conduct an orchestra underwater.

Lunacid is weird. It tries too hard at times. It knows that. It wants you to know that. There are fantastic characters and items written in the most wink-and-nod King’s Field style. It has great monsters, absurdly overpowered weapons, and it absolutely nails the sound design. 

Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City

What makes Etrian Odyssey some of the absolute best that dungeon crawlers have to offer the discerning player? Is it the compelling class system and the intricate systems design that strongly emphasizes party coordination and class cooperation? Perhaps the charming art and lushly designed dungeon tiles? The extensive and compelling maze design? The slow burn onion peel stories that are tried and true anime narratives you’ve heard a thousand times but still work? The clockwork nightmare behemoths known as FOEs that stalk the dungeons like murder-puzzle-mobs? No. 

I mean sure, those are all great. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the incredible soundscapes of Yuzo Koshiro. It’s not often that a blobber’s score takes priority over a podcast or rewatching VOTOMS, but when it comes to Etrian Odyssey? I’m slapping on the headphones and cranking it up. 

As far as Etrian Odyssey goes, you can pick from any of the new HD remakes. They’ve all got their strengths and weaknesses, but they’re all exceptional updates. However, given the option—I’m always going to reach for III because of its marine themes, the opportunity to have a boat for an added layer of exploration, and the story of a lost city buried under the waves…You mean like Ys? 

Yeah, motherfucker. Like Ys.

Dungeon Encounters

That Square-Enix sat on Dungeon Encounters after giving it a generic name is a tragedy and injustice that can never be healed. Any chance I get to sell people on the importance of Dungeon Encounters is a chance I’ll take. Someone has to do Square-Enix’s job because they sure weren’t going to.

This stripped down dungeon crawler looks more like the suggestion of a board game than anything else. A mobile-game-aesthetic version of Hero’s Quest or WarhammerQuest or any of the themselves stripped down versions of tabletop wargaming or Dungeons & Dragons. 

This is the classic Final Fantasy model laid entirely bare. Purity of exploration with a delightful cast of fully storied characters is accentuated with mellow guitar arrangements of classical music by the master Nobuo Uematsu and a reimagining of Active Time Battle by Hiroyuki Ito. It’s absolutely shameful the way Square-Enix let this game founder.

People like to mention how you can drop through unseen pitfall traps into lower levels and lose party members who must be recovered deep in the maze. But the most hateful motherfucker in this entire game is a cute little mouse who will rob you. And rob you. And rob you. And eventually you will be catastrophically in debt to a fucking mouse.

Dungeon Encounters is the best Final Fantasy since XV. There. I said it. Fight me, nerds.

Dia Lacina is a queer indigenous writer and photographer. She tweets too much at @dialacina.