Popup Dungeon
- August 12, 2020
- Triple.B.Titles
- 4h median play time
Get on SteamPopup Dungeon is a unique grid-based dungeon crawler that lets you create your own adventures with a powerful in-game editor. Fight enemies in turn-based combat, using a variety of items, spells, and character abilities. With procedural generation and endless customization options, every playthrough offers a new challenge.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique blend of tabletop RPG mechanics and humor, making it engaging and fun.
- The customization options are extensive, allowing players to create their own characters, abilities, and campaigns.
- The voice acting, particularly by John de Lancie, adds a charming touch to the overall experience.
- The game suffers from a confusing UI and controls, making it difficult for new players to navigate and understand mechanics.
- There are significant balance issues, with some enemies being overpowered and combat feeling unbalanced at times.
- The in-game workshop is clunky and lacks the functionality of traditional Steam Workshop, making it hard to find and download user-generated content.
- gameplay226 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Popup Dungeon is a mixed bag, praised for its storytelling and customization options but criticized for its clunky mechanics and user interface. While the tactical turn-based combat and variety of characters offer some depth, many players find the core gameplay shallow and repetitive, with issues like allies blocking line of sight and a lack of engaging progression mechanics. Overall, it provides a fun experience for those who enjoy creative freedom and customization, but it may frustrate players seeking a more polished and balanced gameplay experience.
“The gameplay is well balanced and fairly easy to learn.”
“The gameplay is simple to dip into, but there's a lot of thought and care put in to allow unique builds and challenges.”
“The writing and voice acting are phenomenal, while the gameplay offers a ton of variety in both turn-based strategy and D&D type decision making.”
“While the gameplay is fine enough, the rest of Popup Dungeon is an overblown festival of unfunny memes and big-name voice acting.”
“It looked really fun at first, and it's definitely a really polished game (as far as indie games go), but the core gameplay is extremely shallow and gets stale really quickly.”
“The gameplay itself is utterly generic: you and the computer take turns moving characters around a grid and triggering their abilities (chop for the warrior; zap for the wizard, etc.).”
- story198 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story mode offers a choose-your-own-adventure experience filled with humor and player-driven choices, reminiscent of tabletop RPGs. While the narrative is engaging and allows for significant customization, some players find the humor outdated and the combat less impactful. Overall, the ability to create and share custom stories enhances replayability, making it appealing for fans of both structured and creative storytelling.
“The story-driven campaigns can be challenging and are guided by player choices and the occasional, and enjoyably obligatory, skill check.”
“The story line so far is well-written and feels like playing a digitized tabletop game.”
“The story, the characters, the depth... just wow!!!”
“The combat in the story mode is also just not impactful.”
“The included story is well voiced, but is basically just a series of random, silly events of no consequence.”
“I really hesitate to call it a story mode per se since the only linking factor between the floors is the dialogue you have with the wizard.”
- graphics152 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their unique papercraft and board-game aesthetic, which effectively enhances the overall atmosphere and humor. Many players appreciate the charming visuals and the creativity it allows, although some note that the graphics are not groundbreaking and can be limiting for those wanting to use custom artwork. Overall, the art style is considered a strong point, contributing to a fun and engaging experience, despite some user interface challenges.
“Graphically, I love it; it has a very 'tabletop' feel to it.”
“The art style is unique and adds a lot to the game.”
“There's a lot of care taken in achieving the tabletop art style and feel through the gameplay itself, but also the way that storytelling is done.”
“The appearance of the maps and characters is like a pop-up book, so I wasn't sure I'd like that since I play a lot of games with cranked-up graphics.”
“Things like creating the visual character template is everything but user-friendly - and more rather a refund-request-level turn off as it seems to demand graphic design skills of the player.”
“Right now, if you aren't able to do your own graphics and sounds, you're pretty limited on what you can do with the tools.”
- humor140 mentions
- 99 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding it genuinely funny and creative, particularly in its storytelling and character design, while others criticize it as overly reliant on memes and dated references. The light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek style resonates well with some, especially those who appreciate puns and absurdity, but can feel obnoxious or out-of-touch to others. Overall, the humor is a significant draw for many players, enhancing the gameplay experience despite its polarizing nature.
“This game is seriously funny.”
“Very good sense of humor, gameplay basics are easy to grasp, and the guest voice acting of John de Lancie as the evil wizard was a delightful surprise.”
“The humor alone is worth it for the buy, but the gameplay itself is both fun and challenging while keeping that light-hearted charm through the abilities and animation.”
“While the gameplay is fine enough, the rest of Popup Dungeon is an overblown festival of unfunny memes and big-name voice acting.”
- replayability34 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its high replayability, with many users highlighting features like randomly generated levels, a wide variety of characters, and extensive user-generated content that contribute to near-infinite replay value. While some players noted that community engagement can enhance the experience, the overall consensus is that the game offers a rich and diverse gameplay experience that encourages repeated playthroughs.
“Don't let this game's initial kid-ish appearance fool you; Popup Dungeon offers a wide degree of fun, challenge, replayability, and customization.”
“Near infinite replayability thanks to the creation system.”
“Great humor, strong depth to the mechanics, and a seemingly endless replayability potential make this a no-brainer for the price (~$25 at launch -- if you see it for less, buy it).”
“Any replay value will be entirely dependent upon any community that subsequently grows up around it, or, less likely, later releases/updates by the development team.”
“But it lost its replayability for me when I couldn't get another human being to talk game to.”
“From the gameplay to the replayability, everything feels lacking.”
- grinding32 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 6 % neutral mentions
- 94 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience, with many describing combat as slow and dungeon exploration as tedious. While some appreciate the charm farming system and the ability to simplify actions, others feel that the mechanics for collecting rewards and navigating the environment can be overly repetitive and frustrating. Overall, the game offers opportunities for grinding, but it often feels laborious and detracts from the enjoyment of gameplay.
“Combat is painfully slow, and dungeon exploration is tediously straightforward.”
“The post-apocalyptic level of the tower sucks and is way too tedious.”
“While the maps are pretty, their components quickly become repetitive, and walking around to find fights and rewards is tedious.”
- music24 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, described as enjoyable and effective in setting the tone, though it lacks distinctiveness and originality, with some tracks reminiscent of other popular titles. While the voice acting is praised, it can be polarizing, and the overall musical experience is seen as more functional than standout. Players appreciate the art style and find the music relaxing, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere.
“Published by Humble Games with very nice music by Gabriel Lefkowitz.”
“The music and visuals are on point and the dialogue has been really amusing so far.”
“The music is fine; it doesn't stand out or get on the nerves, but the voices definitely will.”
“You will quickly recognize snippets of other popular titles' music sewn into the various tracks as you play.”
“While the music isn't as distinct as in Ring Runner, where you can recognize individual tracks and enjoy them on their own, the music works well to set the tone and function as a background.”
- atmosphere10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its charming visuals and engaging voice acting, effectively simulating a tabletop experience with cardboard cutout characters. Reviewers highlight the designers' attention to detail, noting the fun humor and creative monster designs that enhance the overall enjoyment. The combination of these elements creates a vibrant and immersive environment that resonates well with players.
“I think the art style of the world fits the atmosphere very well.”
“Cardboard box figures and cut-out standees for enemies will present themselves to you as you pass through floor and floor, harnessing your team's abilities against the many different kinds of foes welcoming you. The first thing that immediately pops out is the amount of love the designers have given to the atmosphere and crispy flavor - be it the charming visuals, amazing voice acting, or even a good amount of fun-loving puns and memes in their monster designs.”
“This game is a blast; the voice acting and atmosphere are top notch.”
“Cardboard box figures and cut-out standees for enemies will present themselves to you as you pass through floor and floor, harnessing your team's abilities against those against the many different kind of foes welcoming you. The first thing that immediately pops out is the amount of love the designers have given to the atmosphere and crispy flavor - be it the charming visuals, amazing voice acting, or even a good amount of fun-loving puns and memes in their monster designs.”
- monetization10 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized for its misleading advertising, which presents a fun experience that users find to be slow and patronizing. However, the developers have committed to avoiding microtransactions and plan to provide free updates, indicating a focus on maintaining a player-friendly approach.
“They've also said they don't intend to include any microtransactions and want to continue delivering free updates.”
“The advertising makes it look fun and whimsical, but in reality, it's slow and patronizing.”
“The developers' way of handling advertising is terrible.”
“Because I'm claiming here that this title's description and advertising are blatantly deceptive, I've edited with quotes to support my claim.”
- stability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally praised, with many players reporting smooth performance and no glitches after several hours of play. However, some users experience freezing issues, particularly on certain laptops, indicating that performance may vary depending on hardware.
“It's well done, runs great, but most of all it's very entertaining.”
“Can't get it to keep running on my laptop; it freezes up.”
“Can't get it to keep running on my laptop; it freezes up.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game faces notable optimization issues, including slight lag in mouse handling and occasional crashes, despite strong voice acting performances.
“Edit: John Delancie's performance is excellent, as always.”
“However, there seem to be performance issues; the game very slightly lags behind in mouse handling and sometimes crashes.”
