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Once upon a Dungeon

Once upon a Dungeon Game Cover
66%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned negative aspects:graphics, gameplay
86% User Score Based on 28 reviews

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Once upon a Dungeon Game Cover

About Once upon a Dungeon

Once upon a Dungeon is a single player tactical hack and slash game with fantasy, medieval, historical and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by KotoGames and was released on January 19, 2018. It received positive reviews from players.

Explore dark dungeons, defeat challenging creatures and collect unique loot in this hardcore roguelike game.

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Reviews

86%Audience ScoreBased on 28 reviews
graphics4 negative mentions
  • Fun and addictive classic-style roguelike with a strong one-more-run appeal and satisfying character progression.
  • Unique features such as classless progression, visible gear on character, crafting, gem encrusting, and secret rooms add depth and strategy.
  • Accessible to both casual and new players with multiple difficulty levels, permadeath options, and fairly simple controls.
  • Graphics are very basic, blurry, and amateurish, with some UI clunkiness and awkward presentation that detracts from the experience.
  • Procedural generation leads to repetitive and bland dungeon layouts with a lack of meaningful story or level design.
  • Some technical issues and design compromises due to being a mobile port, such as mixed input methods and inventory management frustrations.

  • graphics

    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 61% neutral mentions, 22% negative mentions

    The game's graphics are widely criticized for being low-quality, with simplistic, flat, and sometimes blurry 2D art that lacks polish and modern design. While some appreciate the visible detail on gear, the overall visual presentation is considered basic, amateurish, and uninspired, failing to meet the expectations for a commercial roguelike.

    • “True the graphics aren't brilliant but one good thing is that you can see the gear (which is varied) that you wear on your character (even down to your necklace), and who doesn't like that.”
    • “Don't let the minimalistic graphics turn you away - Once Upon a Dungeon's character progression, inventory management and crafting mechanics offer a lot of room for playstyle variety, and figuring out how to beat bosses can be tactically intriguing.”
    • “Graphics are very basic but clean and functional.”
    • “The artwork here is terrible, it's a blend of old retro pixel art used as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics, and some of the most amateurish MS Paint style drawings I've ever hurt my eyes on.”
    • “It's unclear if this is due to lack of budget to arrange someone who can do graphics properly, or lack of talent, regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result of these decisions.”
    • “A commercial roguelike normally offers the following advantages over free roguelikes: music, better graphics, animation, polish, sound effects and they just aren't good enough in this to justify paying for it.”

  • gameplay

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    27% positive mentions, 46% neutral mentions, 27% negative mentions

    The gameplay is reminiscent of classic roguelikes with simplified mechanics and a more accessible interface suited for mobile gamers. While some find the mechanics engaging and challenging with diverse weapons, abilities, and tactical boss fights, others note repetitive gameplay and a cumbersome inventory system lacking quality-of-life features like sorting. Overall, the game offers depth beneath its minimalistic presentation, though some controls feel clunky.

    • “There are many weapons and abilities that can enhance each other, and many different mechanics this game offers.”
    • “Don't let the minimalistic graphics turn you away - Once Upon a Dungeon's character progression, inventory management, and crafting mechanics offer a lot of room for playstyle variety, and figuring out how to beat bosses can be tactically intriguing.”
    • “The monsters range from your generic rats and zombies to the really interesting Wawel Dragon boss which had a unique mechanic you need to utilize to defeat it.”
    • “Gameplay is nearly identical to hack/rogue but with a dumbed down interface and shallower gameplay to accommodate the mobile phone gamer audience this game was designed and intended for.”
    • “+ repetitive gameplay”
    • “I would love a "sort all" mechanic for your inventory and backpack as it can be pretty cumbersome to move items around one at a time.”

  • music

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The music in the game is basic and primarily consists of public domain tracks, with some sound effects also included. It lacks the quality and polish typically expected from commercial roguelikes, making it less compelling compared to free alternatives.

    • “The graphics and music are very basic.”
    • “There is some public domain music in the game and sound effects, one of which is credited as a CC BY attribution too.”
    • “A commercial roguelike normally offers the following advantages over free roguelikes: music, better graphics, animation, polish, sound effects, and they just aren't good enough in this to justify paying for it.”

  • story

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The story aspect is criticized for lacking proper level design and narrative flow, relying instead on repetitive procedural generation. Users feel this approach substitutes meaningful story content, missing an opportunity for deeper storytelling that modern games typically offer.

    • “The mobile app features no proper level design or game/story flow/plot, as they opted to try to use samey repetitive procedural generation algorithms as a substitute for adding such content to the mobile app, to avoid doing the important job of level/map design.”
    • “I know the point is that it's a hack/rogue ripoff, but the industry moved on long ago when it became technically feasible for grand storytelling through video gaming.”

  • monetization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The monetization of "Once Upon a Dungeon" is criticized as a cash grab, with users feeling it’s an uninspired mobile app poorly ported to PC. Many view it as prioritizing profit over quality, lacking originality and polish.

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game can become tedious, especially when relying solely on mouse controls, as it requires frequent clicking for every movement and attack. Using only the keyboard is not fully supported, making repetitive actions more cumbersome.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Once upon a Dungeon is a tactical hack and slash game with fantasy, medieval, historical and dark fantasy themes. Common tags for Once upon a Dungeon include grid-based movement, turn-based, indie, roguelite, traditional roguelike and others.

Once upon a Dungeon is available on PC, Mac OS, Phone, Windows and others.

Once upon a Dungeon was released on January 19, 2018.

Once upon a Dungeon was developed by KotoGames.

Once upon a Dungeon has received positive reviews from players. Most players disliked Once upon a Dungeon for its graphics.

Once upon a Dungeon is a single player game.

Similar games include Quest of Dungeons, Rogue Empire, 1Quest, Rogue Wizards, Grim Quest and others.