Dragon Ruins II

Great Casual dungeon crawler

I found Dragon Ruins I to be an extremely simplistic game to it's own detriment. This was the game I wanted. The systems are simple, but not lacking complexity. Recommended as a simple Dungeon Crawler!

Fantasy dopamine machine goes brrrr...This game was well advertised. Its not particularly difficult, but its relaxing, the graphics are charming, the dungeon synth keeps you into a sort of trance, there's a cute storyline and there's enough mechanical weight so you remain engaged. I finished the entire campaign and I probably would have kept grinding if they had additional dungeons and more enemies. This is my one criticism. There's a lot of repetition in the game already. That's fine, we know what we are in for. The first time you run a dungeon, its actually maze-like and you are exploring, the second time is just a pathing challenge, the third time its repetition. Mix it up a bit. Near the end, all the enemies are known, and the game just keeps recycling them. Make a nice bestiary that only shows up in the last two levels. All new enemies.

Excelent...

This is a first person grid-based movement DRPG/blobber with auto combat and a cool retro vibe. The goal is to map out the dungeons searching for the room with the dungeon boss, while keeping an eye on your health and retreating to rest up, level up, and gear up before heading into the dungeon again. I liked both this game and the original Dragon Ruins. This sequel is almost the same game, with much, much more content and upgraded visuals in terms of variety and detail for the dungeons. I did most of my playthrough on the steamdeck, and while there is repetition I'd say you can get 10 hours or more out of Dragon Ruins 2. While they are on the simple side, there was definitely enough to keep me engaged and I have found Dragon Ruins and Dragon Ruins 2 to be perfect plane ride games.

While I liked Dragon Ruin's 2 i feel like it lost a bit of novelty due to how little gold you can end up getting from doing a re-clear of a dungeon, it felt as if the non exhaustive way to progress was by teleporting to bosses over and over on the higher paying missions until you got a reasonable amount to upgrade your characters or else progression can be quite a slog. I liked the addition of gear slots and passives as well as skills in this one and definitely made the characters feel more unique. Overall I liked it less visually than the first after thinking about it there being more to the graphics left less for my imagination which i enjoyed due to the games simple nature with little distraction, also I wish enemies dropped a lot more gold as the reward for hunting chests was very tiny usually save a nice piece of gear. I may be wrong but it seemed to me as if my characters were barely ever getting tankier. Though most everything else in this game is a direct upgrade over the first, theres more to do, more ways to interact with your characters, ways to guide their build paths etc, a variety in quests and levels which were welcome additions, though I think a lot of the positives are hurt by some odd feeling progression.

Short, simple dungeon crawler with a retro-aesthetic. Amazing art, music, and vibe. The gameplay is simple and a bit repetative, but it makes for a relaxing time. If I had one request, it'd be that the bosses on later quests in a chain not always be in the same location, but it's not a major gripe. I'll look forward to the upcoming expansion DLC.