good

if you are here, you have hopefully played one of the earlier installments of 'bit dungeon'. if not, here's a quick rundown:
Bit Dungeon is a hack and slash dungeon crawler 'roguelike' style game. It is meant to be brutal and punishing in some fashion, and has elements of things like dark souls and early roguelikes. However, the games that it is closest to are the early top-down 'zelda' games, especially the first. This one is probably the best so far, but it really doesn't 'mix up' the formula that gave it a slight 'cult'' following. Instead, it improves upon what made the cult classic ones so good. In the older ones, you play as a spirit being, a ghost, but in this iteration of the game, you actually get four heroes to choose between. Each one is a different 'race' you could say, and each one has a slight variation to the base 'stats' that you can start with. The ghost, the demon, the skeleton, and the alien, each have their own mild stat variations to start, as well as starting basic weapon, to help you assert your playstyle. However, the game's setup is simple and your playstyle won't matter as much as how good you are with timing and learning enemies' behavior.

You will be doing a lot of wandering, with little to no contact with anything that isn't hostile towards you (there are some npcs but mostly you're going to just run into baddies and there's not a lot of plot to follow). You will spam your attack button and possibly block button, learn to unleash your weapon's special at proper times, and probably die a lot if you are not super skilled at this style of game. However, if you die while still posessing a soul, you will be spawned back at a campfire and be allowed to track it down again. If you die while searching for the soul you lost, it's game over and you are rerolling a character and starting your journey over. This probably won't be a hugely common thing until you get into the actual dungeons, where you will get cornered and/or swarmed a lot easier... and then face the boss who will typically have some super cheap thing they can do you have to learn to overcome. This is usually where you'll probably die the most, and are most likely to wind up restarting, unless you get super careless in the overworld or in corridors of dungeons, etc.

The nice thing about the game is, when you kill a group of enemies, slowly, these creatures will spawn to gnaw on their corpses. These are hostile creatures that grow bigger up to a point then may seek you out. If you kill them, there's a chance you will find a health potion that you can walk over to instantly heal a good chunk of health, so if you get knocked around a bit, there's always a way to get yourself back up to snuff.

This game seriously improves upon everything from the other games, from ambience and atmosphere, to controls, to enemy types and animations. This means nothing to you if you haven't played them, but I can assure you, it's awesome to see what this franchise has become and I hope the head guy behind this project chooses to keep pushing it further every few years or so with a new sparkly addition to the game series.

ACTUAL REVIEW TIME!

music and sound: 9/10
it's quite retro, it helps set the feel.this game is trying to set, semi creepy with a nostalgic NES era heart pumping hard. Not much could even be improved, though most of the time you won't hear a lot of music, and mostly be dealing with ambience, which is fine for the setting.

graphics and animations: 10/10
seriously the biggest selling point, probably, is the retro-style sprite-like graphics. if this isn't your thing, you probably aren't even reading this review, and probably won't visit the store page on purpose. everything is well animated, well sprited, and able to be understood. the game has a 'fog of war' like feature where anywhere you haven't been is enveloped in shadow. this honestly helps push the creepy vibe these games are supposed to have, up a lot. everything feels natural for what it's doing, and all the animations i've seen so far are great.

gameplay: 9/10
probably the *most* improvements are in gameplay. the earlier games didn' t even have an attack button, you just walked at enemies to attack, and your stats would determine a bit of how hard you were to hit and how much damage you'd take and you had some say in your stats with gear and other things. In this one, there is fluid attack sequences, blocking, auto-dodges/phasing, and runes you can collect and socket to help bolster your stats. Leveling up seems to mostly be static, but you will find better and better random loot and runes... you will also occasionally find enchanting items to stick to your gear to help bolster its strength even further. overall, you will keep growing until you can't anymore lol. although some things are tricky and take time to get down and you may find some things clunky if you aren't used to this kind of game, overall almost everything is very smooth.

OVERALL: 9.5/10

Not a lot more to say about it. if you don't already have interest, you can always go for an earlier game and try it and see (bit dungeon 2 is still pretty good), but otherwise maybe it's just not your thing, and that's okay. but if you've made it to the end of this review and are debating it, i'd say grab a copy and have some fun, or wait for sales if you really aren't sold on it yet but still curious enough. i hope you enjoy it as much as so many long time fans of the series will, if you're not already one. and if you are, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy.

If you want an enjoyable experience with a bit Dungeon game, play 2. This one has basically no information on itself and it's just objectively annoying to play in. Had a lot more fun with the 2nd game than this one.

This game is a ton of fun, but sadly I CANNOT give this a thumbs up. The one feature that kills it for me that it never mentions outside of no tutorial is the fact that if you invite someone into your game. Whether it be friends or just for PVP challenge runs...IF it doesn't register you under a party and the person kills you...it PERMA wipes your character....THIS is never explained nor said in the game.

(Update) I never updated my review after speaking with the dev, We talked and fixed the situation that caused this to happen. The devs are awesome for being responsive and the game since then has been pretty fun overall.

incredibly confusing game, no way to know what any stats or abilities do. have to rejoin friends after every dungeon because it places you back in a singleplayer world. if you're not the host you can't pick up half the items or interact with anything. if the host dies during a boss fight, everyone else is kicked out.
no explanation or information about any gameplay elements. might get better with time, but currently an extremely unpolished and poorly thought out game, which is surprising as it's the third in a series.

I will start off by saying that there are thinks I like and things I hate about the game. That said, I totally recommend this game.

Likied:
-Slower progression of levels - I hate when this is fast tracked. It feels like no accomplishments. This is not too slow but just slow enough to make gains feel like an actual achievement
-Weapon choices - You dont need 100 different types of weapons to make a good hack and slash dungeon crawler. This just has a couple types. Each type has lots of variety to it.
-The change to the controls was nice.
-the game is deceptive in that you think its a simple hack and slash that you can mindlessly pummel your way through but the bosses do require a bit of strategy
-as you beat bosses, outside enemies get stronger making you never feel too OP... just kinda OP. As fun as it is to feel like a god, smiting everything before you by blinking, the fun doesnt last long. This has a nice balance.
-The game is fun.
-I can play for 15 minutes, go do things I need to do and come back later without much effort to ensure i dont lose any progress


Cons and wants:
-Things need more explaining... like the archon souls. I spent so long holding onto them and not knowing why I was. Things like stats could use a bit more explaining as to what they do exactly. Like STR... is there a % increase in damage given what you have? If so, show that. Same for HP and all that.
-Needs something to let you know you completed a dungeon from the outside. Like a light or something.
-Has some bugs like mouse support just stopping inside the inventory sometimes randomly or when enemies are near. Seems random half the time.
-Really would like ability to have the full view of the map (maybe showing what dungeons are done with that)
-PVP needs more explanation
-Be nice to have "compare" ability. Like on the fly... +3 str, -10 chop, etc.

There are some parts of the game which are really good, and some parts of the game which are really not very good... If there was a mixed icon I'd click it but since there isn't, I went with not recommended. It's fine if you can get it on sale and you've got time to kill, but I definitely wouldn't pick it up otherwise.

If you do get this game, here are a couple things:
- Play with a controller if you can. Keyboard controls are awkward and turning is easier on a controller.
- Do the desert dungeon last - the boss in there is super awkward to kill.
- The tutorial is WRONG. Blocking does NOT block you on all sides. Blocking protects you from ONE side, the side you're facing. Yeah this one got me for a while.

I have a lot of criticisms for this game, but honestly the core gameplay loop is fine. Hitting enemies feels good, and looting stuff can be pretty cool. BUT, that's basically all there is to the game.

This game feels really, really empty. Like, astoundingly empty. There are ~5-6 different zones, each of which has a slightly different aesthetic and a few unique enemy types (each zone has ~4 types of enemies, which all feel pretty samey). The overworld is 95% empty space with monsters. The last 5% consists of NPCs, campfires, entrances to dungeons, and like 2-3 unique structures across the entire map.

I mentioned dungeons, let's talk about those. The dungeons are fine, but they're simplistic and are basically as barebones as the overworld. There are rooms, and you enter the room, and the doors lock until you kill all the enemies. You kill all the enemies, you get to move to the next room. Repeat. The dungeons aren't linear - you can go in different directions - but they might as well be. They've got nothing interesting in them other than enemies and the boss at the end.

Oh, the bosses. The bosses are honestly not the worst thing in the world. They're actually unique, so they stand out. But some of them feel frustrating to fight. There are two categories of bosses: the absolute pushovers, and the ones with a BS one-hit-kill move. The pushover ones can be killed in the same way as every other monster in the game - whacking them with your sword until they die. The BS OHKO ones kind of vary in difficulty. A couple are kinda fun bc you're running around dodging their OHKO move while others are just..... miserable. The Fire Nob Glob is particularly frustrating. I ended up leaving, completing the entire rest of the game, then coming back to kill it last because it has an attack that as far as I can tell is unblockable and undodgeable, which just kills you. (This is the one in the desert, if you haven't played yet. I recommend saving it for last.)

The game is laughably easy outside of the bosses, and only some of the bosses are difficult. For this reason, the roguelike elements of the game are completely ignorable. If you die, your soul stays where you died, and you have to retrieve it before you die again or you're gone for good. I never died once after losing my soul, and I never died on the overworld. I only died in the boss room, and every time I died in a boss room I was able to get my soul back with no issues.

The NPCs are stupid. Every NPC in the game except for one at the beginning and a random ghost blacksmith can be hit. And if you hit them, they aggro on you. And you can't talk to them, and you can't get loot from them, and you can't complete their quests. It's pretty frustrating and I seriously wouldn't be surprised if most people played through the game ignoring all NPCs entirely. Even if you do pay attention to the NPCs and wait a couple seconds after entering each room to see if the inhabitants attack you, it's useless most of the time since each NPC gives a reskin of the exact same quest: find a random item. The item has a low drop chance and your reward probably won't match your build.

Last and probably least, the loot feels really unbalanced. While playing through the game, I never once got a weapon which was based on Int, even though the ghost starts with a staff, so they definitely exist? Also, there seemed to be a TON of loot which gave me bonuses to Spi, even though I only got weapons based on Spi a few times. Maybe it was just me but I kind of got forced into using a sword because a good one dropped and then I couldn't find another good weapon for the rest of the game. (It's definitely a follow-the-loot style game)

bit dungeon 1 and 2 where offline games with simple mechanics. they were one of my retro favorites imo. by including multiplayer and some other over the head design, it wasted the potential of this game...

I've played a lot to say the least in a short time.

It's fun if you know what you are getting into. Complex in a certain way (understanding stats, bosses, and effects) and can also be very simple in way that I don't need to explain. If you're a loot crazed maniac who likes Diablo, then welcome home, this is for you.

Let's get to it --> Main Game: There's five bosses. One optional that opens up one more cool fight. The enemies on the huge map that changes every new game are all designed very well and get progressively harder though I think the difficulty eventually plateaus, as well as, the stats of the loot. While every enemy can be boiled down to "some pixels that damage you in close proximity," if you think that when playing this game then it's probably not for you.

Online: PVP and Coop are pretty fun. If you're overpowered and feel like being a huge d, then it'll be a great time messing with people or just taking their souls immediately (killing them). Coop is also great, but the only complaint I have is how high level characters can share their gear with very low level characters, essentially shortening progression time to nil if you have a couple friends who play. Currently I'm not sure if this is a bad thing though since I'm having a lot of fun and quite frankly lol the people I invade are gonna need extra help to kill me.

Major Complaints:

-no storage space. I get it - it's rogue-like, but are there rules against a simple chest to store some stuff in?

-more lore. Add some readable notes scattered across the world. it would add to the game's atmosphere a lot.

-equipment modification: Just in some minor way. Make low level equipment leveling possible. I feel like the higher level you go, if you don't already have life leech, chop or high constitution then you're kind of screwed. Allowing the equipment we own that have those attributes to be leveled can make NG+++++ more possible as the difficulty starts to ramp up.

10/10 IGN approved

If there was an option for 'Good game, bad features' then I would've picked that one over not recommended. Sadly, no such option exists. It pains me to pick it, but I simply cannot recommend this game until they make the Multiplayer aspect of it 100% optional as a toggle in the game itself, regardless of whether you're Online, Offline or somewhere in between. I don't want to have to keep setting myself in offline mode, forgoing achievements as and when I should earn them, simply because I don't want random people to just hop into my game without any consent on my part. Other online games offer a Lobby function or matchmaking function which allows the player to choose whether they wish for randoms to play with them or if they just want friend groups. This game offers no such thing aside from force-setting Offline Mode on Steam.

At its core, the game is an enjoyable play experience to just drop in and out of. The controls are a little clunky in places and there are still several bugs that need ironing out (mentioned by other reviewers) as well as a proper functioning tutorial that doesn't just explain certain game mechanics in as brief detail as possible. There's no way to tell, outside of picking them up, if gear drops are an upgrade or downgrade to your set, unlike in Bit Dungeon II, so it forces you to pick them up, check them in inventory and then promptly drop them again if they're not good.

Overall, this game looks like it could be great but it is sadly marred by being executed poorly. Once Multiplayer becomes totally optional (and no, I don't mean "Play in Offline Mode if you don't want Online stuff") and the game's polished up a little more, I'll likely come back to it and will change my review as well.