Dungeon Stars Review (Switch)

Dungeon Stars is pretty hard to label, since the graphics and feel are that of a 2.5D platformer, the combat is that of a Hack'n'Slash title, and the character management system is that of an RPG, where you have skills to allocate, pets to manage and items to equip.

Normally I'm a person of extremes when it comes to my preferences in videogames. If the title tries to showcase that it has an impressive story, then it better be something epic, heartbreaking or anything that will make me feel something. On the other hand, I also love games where you don't have a plot, but just a shallow excuse to bust the heads of NPCs that see me as a piece of fresh meat waiting to be minced. If you're also a fan of the latter, then Dungeon Stars is a title you will fall in love with.

The premise

I will admit, the game did have an intro story, but it was so forgettable that if it didn't have one at all, it would have been the same to me. The bottom line is, you get to kill monsters and loads of them for that matter. The entire game revolves around a haven from where you send your various heroes out into dungeons to explore. This haven acts as your place of relaxation between dungeon runs, and it is also where you can get new equipment, evolve your heroes, assign pets to them, and more.

The look and feel

As far as graphics are concerned, the game looks pretty good, as it manages to blend 3D environments with funny 2D characters and monsters that look like something you'd doodle on the back of your notebook during classes. Dungeon Stars feels lighthearted at times, especially with the humor it shows in the form of sarcastic character comments, or hilarious situations, like how the star portal guardian gives you advice on how to face an enemy only AFTER it'd killed you. I also got a few good laughs while playing through the game because of the animations and sound effects (one of the few games where you actually might laugh when a character kicks the bucket).

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Meet the heroes

You start with three characters to choose from, and as you progress deeper and deeper into the dungeons, you'll gain access to even more, up to a total of 15. The characters are neatly designed, but unfortunately, they don't have the chance to shine as individuals, mainly because of the game's tendency to auto-play. They can all perform swift attacks, powerful attacks that have long wind-up times, and block incoming damage. The greatest problem about this game arises from the fact that that's pretty much ALL you can do during a dungeon run aside from a few special moves that have long cooldowns anyway. The wizard can block just as well as the warrior, and the warrior can hit just as fast as the rogue, so not much of a budget was allocated towards the creativity department. While all the character's actions can be controlled using the Switch's touchscreen, it isn't something I'd recommend, since you might as well go ahead and buy the mobile version instead.

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Grind mobs, get gold and evolve so you can get better at grinding 

The subtitle pretty much sums up the flow of the game, as your ultimate goal is to create the most powerful roster of characters so that you may eventually face off the end boss if you have the patience to reach him. Death isn't even that much of a big deal in this game anyway, since when a character dies during a run, it is simply replaced by the next one you assigned to that mission's roster, and you only lose the run when all the heroes die, forcing you to start the dungeon from scratch. The problem is that you can't even use a potion to heal up during an actual run, only between floors. This gives the game such a "mobile" feel to it that the only thing missing is a floating ad whenever you die that offers you ten resurrection potions for 4.99$.

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Numbers skyrocket at some point

Hint: Don't be alarmed by the prices that the shopkeeper back in town slapped on some of the items he sells because the gold eventually ramps up quite a lot during later levels (but so does the difficulty).  As such, don't hate him if you barely make 100 gold on your first dungeon run and you see a nice amulet worth 300.000 gold, because he's not greedy, he's just giving you a hint of what's to come.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion