Blending Classic Logic with Roguelite Adventure
Adaptations of classic games are not anything new with variations of card games, gambling, chess and so on becoming video games in either their original form or with different game genres blended in. So it should be of no surprise Minesweeper would also receive this treatment. If anything it is surprising it took so long to utilise Minesweeper.
With Dungeon Minesweeper it is the latter of the core mechanics from the original with added layers creating a different experience. The big question, same with any of these adaptations of classics, is does the game build upon the core structures enough and well enough to become a pillar of its own?
Dungeon Minesweeper is a new contender in this trend. It is published by Stamina Zero and developed by Strudio Company. It is a roguelike Minesweeper adventure with RPG elements requiring a mix of logic and tactics to make progress in any given run.
Blast From The Past
One of the biggest barriers I found for myself at first, as well as those I’ve asked to in regards to playing the original Minesweeper, is that they don’t understand it. In this regard, the first and maybe most important modern improvement to Minesweeper is that there is not only a tutorial, but that it is very useful. It explains not only the original Minesweeper, but gives hints of how to approach common situations and dilemmas. It also explains the additional RPG mechanics which will be helpful for those new to games, but may be common sense to those with a lot more experience in RPGs. After checking the tutorial though, it’s onto the gameplay of which there are two modes: free play and story.
The Free Play mode is the simplest way to understand and practice the game. There are no objectives. Just simply playing through, trying to clear as much of the dungeon as you can while gathering resources to upgrade and survive.
The Story mode is where you start to get more structure of an action/RPG style game. It’s separated into normal and hardcore. In hardcore you only have one life and in normal you have multiple hits you can take before finally dying. The story itself is mostly fetch quests. The narrative itself is bare bones. You wake up in a dungeon with no memory, but by talking to the Wanderer in front of you, you start to get instructions on what to do, interesting with all the different twists from the mining ore, to leveling up at the mage merchant, to other mechanics which add a neat layer but are never so deep they shift it away from being a Minesweeper game. Without spoiling it, the end is a fun little twist and pretty on the nose about the situation, which is nice, but doesn’t necessarily redeem it.
Despite it taking place in a dungeon and being based on an older game, the music is a relatively generic club track pumped through a pair of work out speakers. While it was not bad initially, over time it became irritating. And unfortunately due to there being no audio adjustment options other than mute, I ended up playing the end of Dungeon Minesweeper with the music muted.
However, the art style and sprites are more fittingly minimalist and give a retro feel. This also makes it easy to navigate and identify important resources. The majority that you’ll be looking at are the blocks and castle walls you’ll be mining. For the most part they are the same, outside some colour changes to denote different areas, although that was the biggest difference I noticed.
There are little bits of extra art to add flavour and denote little rooms that contain the likes of health and magic potions and more. However, the character designs are pretty diverse compared to the rest of the game, denoting a hierarchy of enemies whose visible armour matches the amount of hits it takes to defeat them. That’s right, you have a playable character and combat.
Tap, Tap… Boom?
The controls in Dungeon Minesweeper are simple but clunky. This is most evident when moving the character; you have to press the D-pad each time rather than hold which makes movement tedious. Unfortunately, there is no option to change the control schemes. The lack of options may also be a problem for those who require more accessibility due to whatever reason. Pausing the game also just brings you back to the main menu rather than a standard pause menu which is jarring and somewhat confusing the first few times it happens.
As a Minesweeper-like game it handles the basics of Minesweeper quite well. It’s nice to be able to use both sticks to control the cursor with the left being free form and the right snapping to the grid. Plus the RPG mechanics add a nice layer on top. Like most of the controls, the combat is simple yet effective, relying more on timing and tactics than any sort of controller skill. Most of the time combat ended up with me funnelling the enemy into a tunnel then hitting them with magic spells. Since enemies move when you do, often just following, it’s good that you start with a very simple fireball-esque spell that shoots out safely in front.
Dungeon Minesweeper is relatively short. Beating the story will depend on your skill and some degree of luck, but may only take a couple hours and for those wanting to get all the achievements it should take about that long depending on how you play. But since it is a roguelike that means there is essentially unlimited replayability as each run is a different layout. However, unlike traditional Minesweeper the runs here are much longer due to the action and RPG elements as well as the much larger map than traditional Minesweeper. Thankfully, you can save and load your game allowing for short gains if you only have a little bit of time to invest but are feeling the itch to play and still make progress. For those who may want a more traditional experience will feel more at home with the hardcore mode.
A Fun Update That Lacks Accessibility
Dungeon Minesweeper is a fun update on a classic game. It adds layers upon a simple concept and does a good job of explaining the entire process. However it is lacking some depth and accessibility that some may expect. Thus, managing expectations is going to be key for what you ultimately think of Dungeon Minesweeper.
Keeping in mind it’s a smaller title and the core of it, it’s a fun and worthwhile experience to see what a classic can be in another life.
Important Links
Think Before You Step – Dungeon Minesweeper Blends Classic Puzzles with RPG Action – https://www.thexboxhub.com/think-before-you-step-dungeon-minesweeper-blends-classic-puzzles-with-rpg-action/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/dungeon-minesweeper/9PL244GZVHKZ/0010
