Once upon a Dungeon

About

Once upon a Dungeon is a roguelike game with a dense atmosphere and challenging gameplay. Explore dark dungeons full of dreadful foes. Defeat them using physical power or mighty spells. Meet Slavic gods, discover how to awake them and unleash their power. Craft magic items, collect unique ones, enhance your attributes and face the main antagonist – Fallen One. The game has following features: - …

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

86%

Audience ScoreBased on 28 reviews

graphics4 negative mentions

The game offers a fun and accessible roguelike experience with a classless progression system and varied gear that visually reflects on the character.
It features interesting mechanics such as crafting, secret rooms, and a good variety of items and spells, making it enjoyable for both casual and hardcore players.
Despite its simplistic graphics, the game has a strong 'one-more-run' effect and is considered a decent value for its price, providing a nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic dungeon crawlers.

The graphics are poorly executed, resembling a low-quality mobile app with amateurish art, which detracts from the overall experience.
Gameplay can feel repetitive and lacks depth, with procedural generation failing to provide meaningful content or engaging level design.
The game suffers from technical issues, such as a clunky interface and bugs, which can hinder the experience and make it feel unpolished.

graphics
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
61%
22%
The graphics of the game have received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users criticizing the low-quality, amateurish artwork that resembles outdated pixel art and simplistic 2D designs. While some players appreciate the visibility of character gear, the overall visual presentation is described as flat, blurry, and lacking polish, failing to meet contemporary standards. Despite options to adjust resolution, these do not significantly enhance the graphics, leaving many players disappointed with the visual experience.
- “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?”
- “Ok, so the graphics aren't the best; I would have loved it if they went for pixel art, but honestly, the graphics are fine when you start playing.”
- “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 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 seen.”
- “It's unclear if this is due to a lack of budget to hire someone who can do graphics properly, or a lack of talent. Regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low as a result of these decisions.”
- “The graphics are blurry, probably from scaling them up.”
gameplay
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
Gameplay is reminiscent of classic hack/rogue titles but features a simplified interface and shallower mechanics aimed at mobile gamers. While it offers a variety of weapons, abilities, and unique boss mechanics, players note issues with inventory management and repetitive gameplay. Despite its basic graphics, the game provides challenging character progression and tactical depth, making it engaging for those who appreciate strategic play.
- “The way the mechanics work remind me heavily of the old Windows game 'Castle of the Winds' and its sequel.”
- “The monsters range from your generic rats and zombies to the really interesting Wawel dragon boss, which has a unique mechanic you need to utilize to defeat it.”
- “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.”
- “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”
- “The clunkiness of this suggests to me that this is not an intended mechanic.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The music in the game is described as basic, featuring public domain tracks and minimal sound effects, which fail to meet the expectations typically associated with commercial roguelikes. Reviewers feel that the audio elements lack the quality and polish necessary to justify the game's price.
- “There is some public domain music in the game and sound effects, one of which is credited as a CC BY attribution.”
- “A commercial roguelike normally offers the following advantages over free roguelikes: music, better graphics, animation, polish, sound effects.”
- “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 CC BY attribution.”
- “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
50%
100%
The story aspect of the mobile app is criticized for lacking proper level design and a coherent plot, relying instead on repetitive procedural generation as a substitute for meaningful content. Reviewers feel that this approach neglects the potential for engaging storytelling in modern gaming, especially in a genre that has evolved to embrace more complex narratives.
- “The industry moved on long ago when it became technically feasible for grand storytelling through video gaming.”
- “The mobile app features no proper level design or game/story flow/plot, as they opted to use repetitive procedural generation algorithms as a substitute for adding meaningful content to the mobile app, avoiding 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
300%
The monetization of "Once Upon a Dungeon" has been criticized as a cash grab by mobile developers, with users feeling that it lacks the quality expected from a PC game and instead resembles a poorly executed ripoff of open-source titles.
- “Once Upon a Dungeon is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it were a real PC game (it's not). It's a cash grab from greedy mobile developers. The game is an unabashed ripoff of the open-source hack/rogue games with a badly done retro pixel/MS Paint tileset.”
- “The monetization in this game is outrageous. It feels like every corner is designed to squeeze more money out of players, making it hard to enjoy without spending.”
- “I was really disappointed by the aggressive monetization tactics. It ruins the experience when you have to pay for basic features that should be included.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect tedious, particularly when relying solely on mouse controls, as it requires repetitive clicking for movement and attacks, making the experience less enjoyable.
- “Can't play with just a keyboard; using only the mouse can get tedious with all the clicking for every square moved and attack taken.”

Buy Once upon a Dungeon

Videos

61%12reviews