Dungeonoid 2 Awakening

Genre: Arcade Brick Breaker

Players: 1

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Review:

Dungeonoid 2, like its predecessor, is an Arcade-style Brick Breaker, with this sequel releasing on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2024. Once again, this game mixes the Brick Breaker genre with a Medieval Fantasy theme, this time having players move through scrolling levels.

The presentation in this game once again makes use of 2D pixel art visuals with more detail and variety than what was in the previous game, backed by some decent chiptune music. While still in no way technically impressive, this is definitely a step above the prior game, though it’s lacking some of the prior game’s retro charm as a result.

Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing it’s lacking. Dungeonoid throws out a lot of what made the prior game so great. The RPG-like mechanics of the prior game are now reduced down to selectable characters at the start that remain the same throughout the game. The well-crafted puzzle-like levels of the prior game also give way to this game’s more arcadey feel, and I don’t think it’s better for it. Quite the contrary, this game’s levels frequently have the screen so full of enemy fire and/or power-down bonuses that it’s seemingly impossible to avoid them, and when this results in your death it feels like the game forced you into a corner more than you making a mistake.

What’s more, the scrolling levels add another issue, which is that blocks become intangible when they scroll far enough down on the screen, but it’s not clear exactly where this happens. This means you will frequently think you’re safe because a block is in the way of the ball’s path into a hole… only to discover that it has scrolled too far down by the time the ball reaches it, resulting in the ball passing right through it.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some enjoyment to be found in Dungeonoid 2, but I must say I’m sorely disappointed in this sequel – not only does it abandon the old-school charm of the original, but the new scrolling levels make things worse, not better, and that’s on top of the worse level design and lack of RPG elements. Take my advice – play the first game instead. And if you have played the first game and are craving more, don’t expect this sequel to be what you’re looking for.

tl;dr – Dungeonoid 2, like its predecessor, is an Arcade Brick Breaker set in a Medieval fantasy world, but this sequel aims for a more Arcade-like experience, and it’s worse off as a result. The scrolling mechanic causes hit detection issues at the bottom of the screen (where it’s most important), and results in worse level design. Plus, this game lacks some of the retro charm of the original. The result is a game that, while arguably more ambitious, still ends up being far worse.

Grade: C

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