Dungeon Encounters

Checkpoint GamingCharlie Kelly

9/10

Every so often, when Square Enix isn’t busy creating another entry in the beloved Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest series, the giant Japanese games company likes to take risks. Sometimes it works out horribly and leaves you wondering “Why?” Other times, they re-release sleeper hits and it works out… okay. Most rare and special is when they drop a title so unique, begging for players’ attention. Dungeon Encounters is that very game.

DestructoidCJ Andriessen

8.5/10

Dungeon Encounters is one of the best games I’ve played this year. I get that may be kind of hard to believe given its stripped-down presentation. After all, this isn’t exactly the type of game we expect to come from Square Enix, a developer that is no stranger to extravagant graphics and battle systems. But if you’re judging it on looks alone, you’re really not going to be able to see the rewarding dungeon crawler found within. Give it a shot, and once you get into it, you might see it the way I do: as a gripping, strategic adventure that is not only a game but a celebration of one of the gre...

Nintendo World ReportNeal Ronaghan

8.5/10

Dungeon Encounters is rough around the edges, but that’s part of the reason why I’m having so much with it. Ito’s past with the Gambit System in Final Fantasy XII and the job system in Final Fantasy V seem to be on full display here because once you learn how to toy with the mechanics and launch some effective attack and ability synergies, you can mow down enemies with flair. I’m addicted to the rewarding feeling of getting my ass kicked by some flying critter, only to line up two shots with gun attacks and take that dumb thing out of the world or, if I bust out that urn, send them to…

Gaming NexusElliot Hilderbrand

8/10

When your only motivation to continue is to see just how far down a tiled dungeon you can get, I became exhausted. I Love the combat system. The amount of weapons and armor you can equip your party members is great. But by not providing any story or character motivation, I became weary of the game. The repetitive music fit perfectly with the same look and feel on floor one as it did on floor 24. While I enjoyed the mechanics and searching, the somber feel of Dungeon Encounters made me realize why they don't quite make them like they used to.

GameSpewKim Snaith

8/10

With some serious talent behind its creation, Dungeon Encounters deserves much more fanfare than it has so far received. This might not be as flashy as a typical RPG from Square Enix, but it’s clever, it’s engaging, and its simple but deceptively deep gameplay loop will keep you coming back for more. Add to that a killer soundtrack overseen by Nobuo Uematsu, and you’ve got something rather special on your hands.

WCCFtechKai Tatsumoto

7/10

Japanese role-playing games are among my personal favorite genre of games to play through and for me, mechanics trumps all. That’s why when Square-Enix announced a game that would be purely mechanical driven without any of the fluff like story or setting, I was immediately curious about what a project would entail. Dungeon Encounters, at first glance, looks like the rough draft of a dungeon crawling RPG yet somehow Square-Enix has put together a complete RPG experience that fills out the $30 experience with thirty hours of gameplay.

Dungeon Encounters is deceptive engaging. What seems at first to be a no-frills dungeon crawler, sliced back to its very minimum eventually reveals itself to be quite the clever little project. It provides the very basic foundation needed for a JRPG, and then gets out of the way, letting the player write their own story and fill in the metaphoric (and literal) blanks in their own way. That makes it an oddly cathartic experience.