Fidel Dungeon Rescue

About

"Fidel Dungeon Rescue" is a critically acclaimed puzzle crawler that combines roguelike elements with the ability to rewind. In this game, you play as a dog on a mission to rescue your owner by finding the perfect path through monsters and treasure in a dungeon. The Anniversary Edition offers three new worlds, improved sound design and graphics, and a daily challenge world. With quick sessions, satisfying payoffs, and intelligent gameplay, this game is sure to keep you engaged.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

95%

Audience ScoreBased on 442 reviews

gameplay42 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Fidel Dungeon Rescue is a cleverly designed puzzle game that rewards experimentation and offers a surprising amount of depth and replayability.
The game features charming graphics, a catchy soundtrack, and a unique mechanic where players can undo moves, making it engaging and fun to explore.
The recent updates have improved the game significantly, removing time limits and adding more content, making it more accessible and enjoyable for players.

The game lacks a tutorial or hints, which can lead to frustration when players get stuck on certain levels, especially since the dungeons are randomized.
Some players find the ghost mechanic, which punishes slow play by forcing a restart, to be annoying and detrimental to the overall experience.
The achievement system, particularly the requirement to complete 319 daily puzzles, is seen as excessively time-consuming and discouraging for completionists.

gameplay
124 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
64%
2%
The gameplay of this puzzle game is characterized by its minimal guidance, encouraging players to explore and discover mechanics through experimentation. While the mechanics are simple to learn, they offer depth and complexity, resulting in challenging puzzles that reward strategic thinking and mastery. The game features a variety of modes, unlockable characters, and daily challenges, enhancing its replayability and addictive nature.
- “The variety of enemies and mechanics, the seamless controls, the additional playable characters, daily new puzzles, and the many easter eggs make this game not only have insane replay value but be so insanely addictive too!”
- “Fidel dungeon rescue is a clever puzzle that offers a few simple-to-understand yet complex-to-solve mechanics, woven together to create an awesomely satisfying little puzzle game.”
- “A very tight, very demanding puzzle-ish game that uses a simple, easily learnable set of mechanics to force you to make mind-destroyingly difficult decisions; getting near-perfect completions of most of the later floors requires you to think five steps ahead, but you don't have to be anywhere near perfect to progress to the next stage, which is a pretty lovely nugget of design.”
- “The mechanics aren't explained; it's up to the player to try different things (including barking) and figure things out for themselves.”
- “Since there are no in-game instructions, it takes a few tries to figure out how the mechanics work, but once you do, the gameplay is addictive and rewarding, providing challenging but not impossible puzzles and plenty of extra secrets to find.”
- “The only things that I don't like are some punishing mechanics, like not being able to go back if my dog dies (I go back but the ghost always catches me), and having a time/steps pressure to complete a level.”
graphics
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
38%
8%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their cute and colorful art style, which enhances the overall experience and immerses players in its world. The pixel-art design is noted for being charming and well-executed, contributing to the game's engaging atmosphere and gameplay mechanics. Additionally, the graphics effectively complement the soundtrack, creating a cohesive and enjoyable aesthetic that resonates with players.
- “The graphics are wonderfully well done.”
- “The graphics do their job well of creating dark, gloomy atmospheres and the monsters are well distinguished so you can remember which monsters do what.”
- “The meticulously designed low-res graphics create an environment which enhances the gameplay mechanics without ever distracting, and the minimal scoring/survival system makes it easy to progress and hard to truly excel.”
- “I find the music fantastic and to be a perfect fit (rather unexpected for a puzzle game!), graphics are charming, the interactions are smooth and reactive, the effects and feedback are just the right amount of juicy.”
music
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
26%
9%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many reviewers praising its catchy, energetic, and fitting soundtrack that enhances the overall gameplay experience. The sound design and effects are also highlighted as exceptional, contributing to the game's charming atmosphere and emotional depth. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature that complements the cute art style and engaging puzzles, making it a memorable aspect of the game.
- “The game is easy to pick up, the soundtrack is amazing, and you'll never regret any time you spend playing it.”
- “I find the music fantastic and to be a perfect fit (rather unexpected for a puzzle game!), graphics are charming, the interactions are smooth and reactive, the effects and feedback are just the right amount of juicy.”
- “I've forgotten my strategy plans more than once, because I was distracted jamming out to the soundtrack.”
- “The music is catchy and the art style is fitting.”
- “I really like the art and the music, and think they complement the gameplay very well.”
replayability
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
37%
10%
The game boasts exceptionally high replayability due to its diverse enemies, mechanics, and additional playable characters, alongside daily challenges and unlockable content. While some players note that the randomly generated level layouts can slightly detract from replay value, the overall experience remains engaging and addictive, with many unique game modes and puzzles to explore. Overall, players find the replayability to be a standout feature, making the game highly recommended for repeated playthroughs.
- “The variety of enemies and mechanics, the seamless controls, the additional playable characters, daily new puzzles, and the many easter eggs make this game not only have insane replay value but be so insanely addictive too!”
- “Good puzzles, every attempt always feels new and different, plenty of challenge and replayability.”
- “Contains an astonishing amount of content, without even factoring in its very high replayability.”
- “Level layouts are randomly generated, but follow strict templates, which somewhat harms replayability.”
- “Again, replayability appears to be fidel's weaker point, but there are hidden levels, characters, and game modes to unlock, daily challenges, and a decent chunk of content overall.”
- “The art, sound, and gameplay all form a very coherent package: short and sweet, and ridiculously replayable.”
story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
64%
21%
The game's story is characterized as simple yet emotionally engaging, featuring a charming narrative that revolves around guiding a corgi named Fidel on a rescue mission. While the main quest may be brief, players appreciate the depth and replay potential, enhanced by the game's visual and auditory elements. Overall, the storytelling is minimal but effectively cute, keeping players invested beyond initial expectations.
- “A lesson of great complexity and depth, presented without fat or pretentiousness; Ernesto makes Storyteller worth waiting for.”
- “The visual art style, the music and sound effects, the simple but tug-at-your-heartstrings cute story!”
- “I was expecting a short iOS-style game but it keeps going: I'm 3 hours in and I still haven't gotten to the end (there is a story).”
- “No story, no instructions, but the way the game is set up intuitively allows you to learn.”
- “Guide Fidel the corgi through various dungeon floors on a granny rescue mission.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its charming and silly tone, complemented by an engaging visual presentation. Players find it adorable and intriguing, with a blend of smart and funny elements that enhance the overall experience.
- “I'm a big fan of the visual presentation and overall tone of FDR. There is a ton of charm, silly humor, and interesting dungeons.”
- “It is adorable, intriguing, smart, and funny.”
- “Funny dog puzzle game, gotta love it :)”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users highlighting its immersive quality and engaging environment, complemented by excellent post-launch support.
- “Great puzzler, great atmosphere, amazing support post-launch.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players feel that the grinding aspect of the game is mitigated by time pressure, which promotes a focus on achieving satisfactory solutions rather than perfect ones. This approach can prevent the experience from becoming tedious, allowing for a more dynamic gameplay flow.
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization system rewards players for their performance on earlier floors, impacting their resources and health for later challenges. This creates a continuous pressure to improve and strategize, even when the ideal solutions are not immediately clear.
- “You gain items and health for doing earlier floors better, so performance on early floors affects your ability on later ones. Even when you can't figure out the perfect solution, you're always pressured to do as well as you possibly can.”
- “You gain items and health for doing earlier floors better, so performance on early floors affects your ability on later ones, and even when you can't figure out the perfect solution, you're always pressured to do as well as you possibly can.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is profoundly impactful, with multiple users expressing that it evokes strong feelings, often leading to tears.
- “Makes me want to cry.”
- “Makes me want to cry.”