The Living Dungeon

About

The Living Dungeon is a single player and multiplayer simulation game. It was developed by RadiationBurn and was released on November 2, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"The Living Dungeon" is a strategy board game brought to life in a digital format. Players must navigate through ever-changing dungeons filled with traps, monsters, and other challenges. The game supports both single-player and multiplayer modes, allowing for various playstyles and replayability. Each decision made can significantly impact the outcome, providing a thrilling and engaging experience.

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77%

Audience ScoreBased on 47 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

The Living Dungeon offers a unique blend of tabletop gaming and digital mechanics, allowing players to manipulate the dungeon environment in creative ways.
The game features engaging local multiplayer options, supporting up to 9 players, which enhances the social aspect and fun of gameplay.
The turn-based strategy and reliance on dice rolls create a dynamic experience that rewards tactical thinking and adaptability.

The game suffers from a lack of polish, with issues such as clunky controls, poor voice acting, and a confusing camera system that detracts from the overall experience.
Heavy reliance on randomness can lead to frustrating moments where players feel their strategies are undermined by bad luck, especially during longer scenarios.
The single-player campaign can feel repetitive and lacks depth in storytelling, making it less engaging for players seeking a rich narrative experience.

gameplay
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
74%
8%
The gameplay of "The Living Dungeon" emphasizes a turn-based, board game-inspired structure where players manipulate dungeon tiles and utilize character-specific dice for actions, fostering a unique and strategic experience. While the mechanics are innovative and offer deep tactical possibilities, the game suffers from a lack of polish, balance, and a well-designed tutorial, which may hinder accessibility for some players. Overall, it presents an intriguing concept that appeals to fans of tabletop gaming, but it may not fully satisfy those seeking a more refined gameplay experience.
- “This choice places the focus squarely on systems and emergent gameplay, making the living dungeon feel closer to a tabletop session where the story is created through play rather than dictated by cutscenes or scripted dialogue.”
- “One of the game’s most striking mechanics allows players to rotate or flip dungeon tiles, potentially opening new paths, cutting off enemies, or inadvertently creating fresh dangers.”
- “The gameplay plays out like a tabletop board game, delivering the overall feeling of playing a board game, with everything from the animations to the visual style feeling fitting.”
- “Ultimately, the living dungeon is a bold experiment that prioritizes concept and mechanics over polish and narrative depth.”
- “The living dungeon has an interesting premise, in both lore and mechanics, but right now it lacks polish and balance.”
- “Although the tutorial game mechanics are not friendly.”
story
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
80%
10%
The game's story serves primarily as a framework to support its mechanics and atmosphere, lacking depth and character-driven drama. While it features a lengthy single-player mode with puzzle-like missions that teach gameplay mechanics, the narrative is often described as thin and skippable, with little replay value once completed. Overall, the experience feels more akin to a tabletop game session than a traditional story-driven adventure, appealing mainly to those who enjoy multiplayer interactions.
- “This choice places the focus squarely on systems and emergent gameplay, making the living dungeon feel closer to a tabletop session where the story is created through play rather than dictated by cutscenes or scripted dialogue.”
- “The game has a light story wrapper to guide you through the various levels, and a good, solid tutorial to teach you how to play.”
- “And above that, there is an interesting story that involves a fairly large set of characters and spans a 24-level long challenging story mode.”
- “Story elements exist to justify the mechanics and atmosphere rather than to deliver character-driven drama or elaborate plot twists.”
- “The game's writing and story is thin and completely skippable, so you are missing absolutely nothing by skipping it.”
- “While the living dungeon can be a great puzzle-solving experience for those willing to invest the time to master the game’s mechanics, it falls short in its storytelling and multiplayer aspects.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game's graphics feature a unique figurine and board game aesthetic that sets it apart from traditional dungeon crawlers, though this indie style may not appeal to everyone. While some players appreciate the visual charm, criticisms arise regarding the interface and camera mechanics, which can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are considered solid but could benefit from further polish and refinement to enhance gameplay.
- “This aesthetic choice helps distinguish the game from more conventional dungeon crawlers, though it also highlights its indie roots.”
- “The graphics are solid as well.”
- “I found it to be enticing enough and once you start playing the game, the artwork all flows.”
- “Interface graphics look bad: nasty-looking hollow cubes spin around nasty-looking icons to represent the dice; a 2D egg timer looks odd and out of place; the camera resets every time you get a turn, making it seem almost pointless to adjust it for a good view; the camera moves on its own as you approach various objects with the mouse, which can be annoying and disconcerting.”
- “If the graphics and interface were better, it wouldn't be such a chore watching the computer take its move (after all, this is a board game rather than a play-it-as-fast-as-you-like roguelike), but it is.”
- “I'm willing to forgive a lot in terms of graphics and physical presentation, but everything about the delivery is amateurish.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
The atmosphere of the game is primarily supported by its sound design and the immersive tavern setting, which enhances the overall experience. However, the uneven quality of the audio elements can disrupt immersion at times, and the story elements serve more to support gameplay mechanics than to provide deep character-driven narratives.
- “The sound design and voice work contribute to the atmosphere, creating an immersive experience despite some uneven moments with abrupt transitions or limited variation.”
- “I liked the atmosphere of the tavern backdrop for the game, as it felt good to play on a wooden table with the warm glow of a fire in the background.”
- “Story elements exist to justify the mechanics and atmosphere rather than to deliver character-driven drama or elaborate plot twists.”
- “The sound design and voice work contribute to the atmosphere but are uneven, occasionally breaking immersion with abrupt transitions or limited variation.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's story mode primarily serves as a tutorial, with missions resembling puzzles rather than engaging gameplay, leading to a lack of real replay value once completed.
- “The story mode consists of missions that feel more like puzzles than actual gameplay against the dungeon. While it's designed to teach you how to play, I can't overlook the lack of real replay value once you've completed it.”
- “After finishing the game, I found that there was little incentive to replay it. The missions don't change, and the experience feels stagnant.”
- “Once you've completed the main story, there's not much left to draw you back in. The replayability is severely lacking, making it hard to justify a second playthrough.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly due to the frequent unfair deaths and the time-consuming process of restarting levels, leading many to decide against continuing to play.
- “The overall unfair deaths and the tedious, time-consuming nature of restarting a level combine to make it a game I'm glad I tried, but I won't be playing further.”
- “Grinding feels more like a chore than an enjoyable part of the game, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding takes away from the excitement of the game, leaving me feeling drained rather than entertained.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's sound design, particularly the persistent ticking sound effects, effectively heightens tension during gameplay. However, the music itself is largely forgettable, leaving players with little to recall once the game is turned off.
- “The sound design, particularly the sound effects running in the background, adds to the tension of the gameplay itself.”
- “The music creates an immersive atmosphere that enhances the overall gaming experience.”
- “The combination of sound effects and music contributes significantly to the game's emotional impact.”
- “The music is forgettable; I can't remember a single tone. All that remains when I turn off the game is the constant 'tik tok tik tok'...”
- “The sound design is more prominent than the music. The background sound effects, like 'tik tok tik tok', are almost always running and add to the tension of the gameplay.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is praised for its cool and unique art direction and design, complemented by strong writing that enhances the overall experience.
- “The art direction and character design are cool and unique, and the writing is exceptional.”
- “The character development is incredibly deep, allowing players to form a genuine connection with each character.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the game, making their journeys feel authentic and engaging.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is criticized for being buggy and prone to crashes, with frequent glitches and unintuitive controls. Additionally, the camera system complicates gameplay by obstructing the player's view of obstacles, contributing to an overall impression that the game feels unfinished.
- “Buggy and crashes.”
- “With little glitches here and there, so-so voice acting, unintuitive controls, and a camera that fights the player to see the deadly obstacles they're up against, the game just doesn’t seem completely finished overall.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users highlight the emotional aspect of the game as deeply impactful, with one reviewer expressing eagerness to experience its heart-wrenching moments, particularly in the context of intense multiplayer interactions and chaotic dungeon exploration.
- “I can't wait to try out this heart-wrenching multiplayer and go face to face in this dungeon-dwelling chaos.”

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65%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Living Dungeon is a simulation game.

The Living Dungeon is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, Windows and others.

The Living Dungeon was released on November 2, 2015.

The Living Dungeon was developed by RadiationBurn.

The Living Dungeon has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its story.

The Living Dungeon is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Popup Dungeon, Gloomhaven, Armello, Arkham Horror: Mother's Embrace, Children of Zodiarcs and others.

The Living Dungeon

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