Tangledeep

Genre: Top-Down Dungeon-Crawler / Turn-Based RPG / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Tangledeep is a Top-Down Dungeon Crawler with Roguelike elements originally released on PC in 2018 and brought to the Nintendo Switch in 2019. This is a game that puts you in the role of an aspiring adventurer in a society of underground dwellers venturing into the caves and underground forests above.

This game’s presentation is delightful, mixing pixel art visuals with an absolutely beautiful soundtrack from composers like Banjo-Kazooie’s Grant Kirkhope and Secret of Mana’s Hiroki Kikuta. Given the grind-heavy nature of the game, the soundtrack seems especially important, since you’ll be spending a lot of time listening to this game’s tunes on repeat, and thankfully what’s on offer here is so good you won’t mind at all. While there’s a lot I really like about this game, its soundtrack is the standout highlight for me.

In terms of gameplay, this is a game that doesn’t stray too far from the typical Roguelike Dungeon Crawler formula, although it does a number of interesting things to set it apart, such as a pet-raising system, itself one of various facets of a hometown you return to throughout the game that allows you to hold over various parts of the progress you make through the game if you should happen to suffer a permadeath in the course of your adventure. However, the game doesn’t hold you to this – you can opt for an easier mode that does away with permadeath, and modifiers for things like health regeneration are also available for those seeking a more breezy experience with the game.

I had a lovely time with this game, but I had one major problem with it. As I mentioned, this game has plenty of loot to collect, and players will undoubtedly want to carefully consider which loot to equip, which to sell, and which to put in storage for their next run if they should happen to fall in the game’s dungeons. Unfortunately, Tangledeep makes it difficult to compare two pieces of equipment with each other, both in shops and in the game’s menus. Given how malleable so much of the rest of this game is, this one crucial element being so lacking is a real shame, especially when equipment in this game can have many statistical variances that set it apart and really call for a more thorough examination.

If it wasn’t for the way this game stumbles when it comes to the simple act of inventory management and comparison, Tangledeep would be an ideal entry in the genre, one with enough unique elements to keep it interesting, a good amount of variety in the combat and loot, and an absolutely stellar soundtrack. As it is, it’s still well worth a look for any fans of the genre.

tl;dr – Tangledeep is a Top-Down Roguelike Dungeon Crawler that is a solid entry in the genre with a good amount of variety and an absolutely fantastic soundtrack, but the inability to directly compare equipment is needlessly frustrating. Still, this game is well worth a look for fans of the genre.

Grade: B

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