Dungelot: Shattered Lands is a unique mix of dungeon crawling games and…Minesweeper? Yup, in this downloadable game for iOS devices (reviewed on iPad here), you must venture into dungeons to collect loot and defeat monsters to save the world, but the way you do so is a bit like playing Minesweeper.  Each floor in a dungeon has a grid of tiles.  Tap to remove tiles to reveal items, monsters, and a key to venture to the next floor.  But be careful!  If you reveal a tile that has a monster on it, all surrounding tiles will be crossed out and you won’t be able to remove them unless you beat the monster!

Sometimes, you may get lucky and not have to fight on a floor at all. Even if you reveal a monster under a tile, if you found the key elsewhere, you can just tap on the door to move on.  Sometimes that’s even recommended as you have limited resources and pretty low HP.  But if you do go to the next floor, you have to make sure you have enough Meat in your inventory.  You consume one piece of meat every time you go to another floor, and if you run out of meat before you exit the dungeon, you’ll die and have to start all over.  Usually you can find one piece of meat under a tile in each floor, so that’s good.  And this is one of those games that is designed to be brutal, so you will die a lot anyway.  Luckily when you start over, you don’t seem to lose any of your inventory and gold.

When battling a monster, just tap on them to trade blows. You can see how much hit points and power a monster has, so you can see if you really want to fight it or not.  And don’t forget to use your items!  Some can boost your health or hurt baddies, and sometimes you can find characters who will help you fight…for a price.  Usually in every dungeon there is a floor where you can rest in a bed and shop for items.  On the last floor is a boss that you must defeat to exit the dungeon and venture to the next one.  After completing a few dungeons, you’ll be able to unlock new characters to play as, worlds to explore, and items to buy in shops.

I really couldn’t get into this game myself because it was so difficult and I’ve never been a huge fan of Minesweeper anyway. I think casual players who just want to play Minesweeper may find this too complicated like I did, but if you want a bit more challenge with your time-wasters, you may want to try this one out.

Kid Factor:

Some of the items mention bleeding and alcohol, and the game does have a slightly grown-up tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. But the graphics are still cartoony with silly enemies like zombie cows, so I’d be OK with older kids and preteens playing this.  Reading skill is required and the game is a bit difficult, so younger kids might get frustrated.

Tags: Game Reviews