Hunchback's Dungeon
- March 28, 2024
- Patryk Borowski
Get on Steam"Hunchback's Dungeon" is an action-roguelite arena shooter where you defend yourself from hordes of undead skeletons as a deformed, magic-wielding human. Unlock new characters, difficulties, and items, and wield up to four unique and powerful spells at a time in fast-paced 20-30 minute runs. The game promises a growing list of spells and tons of items to power yourself up with. Official Discord server available.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Hunchback's Dungeon offers a fun and engaging gameplay experience with a variety of characters, spells, and item choices, making each run feel unique.
- The game features a solid pixel art style and catchy music, contributing to an enjoyable atmosphere.
- The developer is responsive to feedback and actively working on updates, showing commitment to improving the game during its Early Access phase.
- The game suffers from balancing issues, with certain weapons and items feeling underwhelming or overly powerful, leading to a lack of meaningful choices.
- Movement controls can feel sluggish and imprecise, which detracts from the overall gameplay experience.
- The game lacks depth in its mechanics, leading to repetitive gameplay and a feeling of staleness after a few runs.
- gameplay13 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its depth and intuitive mechanics, offering a unique experience compared to similar titles, despite some initial chaos. While the fusing mechanic and shop dynamics add layers to the gameplay, players note that it can become repetitive quickly, especially in its early access state, which limits content exploration. Overall, the game features solid mechanics and appealing pixel art, though some balancing and UI improvements are needed.
“Hunchback's dungeon is a fairly priced Brotato clone, but the mechanics are deeper.”
“While on the surface it seems similar, the gameplay actually feels different as a lot of stats, characters, weapons, items, and progression are different.”
“Very nice, simplistic yet clean and easy to read pixel art, a solid gameplay, a couple of minor bugs which are easy to fix and not game breaking.”
“The gameplay gets very repetitive very quickly.”
“That highlights the biggest issue with the game in its current state - being early access means that it isn't as fleshed out as a final release would be, so once you've spent a few hours exploring the content and working out the mechanics, you may feel like you've seen it all.”
“Despite the initial chaos caused by the number of bullets, the player will quickly learn to avoid enemy attacks (marked in red) and the gameplay itself is intuitive (I would improve the UI in combining spells and translating spell effects and symbols).”
- graphics11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The graphics in the reviewed games vary significantly, with some titles embracing a retro-minimalist aesthetic that is described as pleasant, while others are criticized for their extremely basic and outdated pixel art. Users noted a lack of innovation and resolution options, leading to frustration with visual clarity during gameplay. Overall, while some games feature charming pixel art, others suffer from poor graphics that detract from the experience.
“Music and graphics are very pleasant in a retro-minimalism kind of way.”
“Nordic Ashes had more aiming and a really cool graphic style.”
“Addictive game with pleasant pixel art graphics.”
“The graphics are extremely basic.”
“A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel 'art' as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
“There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as catchy and well-suited to the gameplay, featuring a retro-minimalist style. While some users find it repetitive, they express hope for future updates to diversify the soundtrack, particularly as players unlock additional elements like breakcore snares. Overall, the music enhances the gaming experience rather than detracting from it.
“Music and graphics are very pleasant in a retro-minimalist kind of way.”
“Gain enough discs to enjoy the regular soundtrack with added breakcore snares.”
“The music is mega repetitive; I get it, early access, maybe you'll add more in time.”
“Even the music, which is normally the first thing I'd turn off in the settings, is catchy and suits the gameplay well.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The optimization issues noted in the demo, particularly related to performance during later waves with numerous projectiles, have been successfully addressed, resulting in smooth gameplay even on systems with integrated graphics.
“Optimization issues from the demo regarding the large number of projectiles in later waves have been resolved, and now, even on my laptop with integrated graphics, the game runs smoothly.”
“Optimization issues from the demo regarding the large number of projectiles in later waves have been resolved; now, even on my laptop with integrated graphics, the game runs smoothly.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization problems, causing frequent frame drops and stuttering during intense battles.”
“Despite the promising gameplay, the optimization is lacking, making it nearly unplayable on lower-end systems.”
- story1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users have noted that after completing a mission, there is a lack of clarity regarding the stats displayed on the right, as they cannot be highlighted to understand their specific functions. This limitation detracts from the overall storytelling experience by hindering player engagement with the narrative elements tied to mission performance.
“The story feels disjointed and lacks a coherent flow, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“Character development is shallow, leaving me with little emotional investment in their journeys.”
“The plot twists are predictable and fail to deliver any real surprises or excitement.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization of Hunchback's Dungeon is criticized as a cash grab, with a price of around $4 USD deemed unjustifiable due to the game's defects and shortcomings, especially when compared to numerous high-quality free alternatives available on Steam.
“Hunchback's dungeon has a cash grab price of around $4 USD. It's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings of the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam.”
“The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as essential features are locked behind paywalls, making it frustrating for players who don't want to spend extra money.”
“I was disappointed to find that the game heavily encourages in-game purchases for basic content, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game excessive, citing a lack of variety in levels and enemies, insufficient spell slots, and minimal synergies, which collectively make the grind for unlocks feel tedious and unfulfilling.
“As of July 2024, it's too grindy for unlocks, with too few spell slots, zero level variety, too little enemy variety, and almost no synergies.”
“The grinding aspect of the game feels excessive, making progress feel more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.”
“I find the grinding to be tedious and repetitive, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Reviewers highlight that *Hunchback's Dungeon* excels in replayability due to its well-designed pixel art, diverse character options, and a smooth difficulty curve, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging.
“Right from the offset, 'Hunchback’s Dungeon' stood out from the crowd as being a well-thought-out offering, from the neat pixel art to the sound design, variety of characters, range of skills and stats, smooth difficulty curve, and general replay value.”
“Right from the offset, 'Hunchback’s Dungeon' stood out from the crowd as being a well thought-out offering, from the neat pixel art to the sound design, variety of characters, range of skills and stats, smooth difficulty curve, and general replay value.”
“The game lacks significant changes in gameplay mechanics, making it feel repetitive after the first playthrough.”
“Once you complete the main story, there isn't much incentive to dive back in, as the side quests feel uninspired and the world doesn't change.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report a high level of stability in the game, noting the absence of major glitches or game-breaking bugs, which contributes to a smooth gaming experience.
