Dungeon Brawler: Essentials:
- No. of players: 1-4
- Playing time: 30-45 minutes
- Age: --+
Dungeon Brawler: - Rules of Play says:
Dungeon Brawler takes the dungeon crawl game genre and mashes it with side-scrolling beat 'em up brawler arcade games from the 80's and 90's. Players each control a hero, arrange them in a formation, and prepare for the oncoming waves of monsters, traps, treasure, etc. If they can survive this automatically-advancing onslaught, then they win as a team. This is not your father's "move-and-attack" dungeon crawler: by combining deck-building elements with a blazingly fast "conveyor belt" mechanic, this game has deep tactics, but plays incredibly quickly.
Each player controls one hero. Each hero represents a different theme: chaos, order, harmony, or discipline. Their hero choice decides their starting deck of cards. Each different theme has a different playstyle, but also informs what future cards they can add to their deck. But, the players are not locked into these themes - they can combine others into their decks to create new twists and combinations on classic fantasy characters. These heroes line up in a row, with the “marching order” formation extremely tactically important. Don’t worry, they can (and will) rearrange throughout the game.
Across from the party line-up is the deadly dungeon itself. Whenever a card is removed from the dungeon, be it by killing a monster, overcoming a challenge, or taking some treasure, the dungeon automatically shifts towards the players and refills the missing card. This way, the game is incredibly fast-paced: no moving, exploring, or down-time. This dungeon is coming at you full-speed!
Fighting is resolved by playing unique combinations of cards, but be careful! Your hand of cards is also your lifebar! Overextend and you’ll leave yourself vulnerable.