There’s a neat seam to Dungeons & Bombs, where you can see two classics sewn together. The first is Bomberman, as you play a hero who prefers an explosive to a sword. You can drop bombs that explode in the cardinal directions, just as you’d expect, and these wipe out the enemies that are looking to hinder you. The other classic is Crypt of the Necrodancer (or Cadence of Hyrule, if you’re more of a Link fan), where each step is to the beat of the music, and enemies move in sync with you.
Combine these two games, and you have a puzzle game that makes a whole lot of sense. Anticipate the movement of your enemies, drop a bomb, and then move step-by-step out of the explosive yield. Kill the enemy and move on, saving the bearded princess (?), who is your target for each level.
Dungeons & Bombs is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5 and Switch. You’ll also find it on PC through Steam.
You have a limited number of moves to complete each dungeon, so you can’t just sit in a stalemate with the enemies as they scuttle back and forth. 50 levels are on offer, creating a decent package of brain-teasers to unravel.
Dungeons & Bombs pulls on some other classic top-down adventures, as it uses sokoban-style crate-pushing and the use of switches and keys to create more involved levels. We’re particularly enamoured with the soundtrack, if the trailer’s anything to go by, as it’s using some bassy chiptunes to try to capture the rhythm of the game.
We’re readying a review now, so expect to hear our take on this meshing of some of our favourite games.
Dungeons & Bombs is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and starts at £4.19 from the Xbox Store (it comes with a launch discount dropping that to £3.35, so pick it up soon if you want a cheaper price). It’s also out on PS4, PS5, Switch and PC.
Game Description:
Dungeons & Bombs – challenging puzzle game where you need to save your princess… with the beard. This is dynamic fusion of classic puzzles with boxes and bombs. When enemies drag people into their dark lair and do their vile deeds there, the hero and his faithful sword always come to the rescue. But what if the hero does not have a sword, but only a lot of enthusiasm and an endless supply of explosives? Well, bad for them. Go through dark labyrinths of dungeons and try not to blast yourself up!
