I attempt lots of video games for each work and pleasure, and generally one grabs me so instantly and fully that I simply wish to shake it round and shout about it. The Loopy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles is one such launch. Indie developer Repair-a-Bug’s dungeon crawler is likely one of the finest RPGs to cross my desk shortly; I used to be completely bought ten minutes in, and one other hour had melted away earlier than I even realized it. Combining D&D-style courses with a singular fight system and an unserious angle that calls Undertale to thoughts, it is free to attempt due to a sturdy Steam demo, and a cut price value if you need the total factor.
The highest-down perspective of The Loopy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles virtually makes it really feel like a contemporary twist on Rogue, however you have got extra freeform management as you wander its dungeons. Your objective is to hunt out the fiftieth ground, the place a legendary relic awaits, however alongside the way in which you will cope with every little thing from dodging previous traps and struggling with skeletal necromancers, to cooking up a storm to impress a (literal) troll meals critic. There are easy assessments of agility, puzzles to resolve, hidden buttons to search out, cooking and crafting recipes to study, and a complete ton of loot to gear up your character with.
There is a easy pleasure to the exploration, however the fight is much more up my alley. Timing-based actions are all the trend nowadays (good day, Expedition 33), and I really like what Repair-a-Bug has constructed right here. Battles pull you to a display the place your enemies stand in containers round you, and you need to goal them in real-time to assault or block. Ticking meters hold observe of who’s subsequent within the flip order, and each blow is traded with a timing minigame that varies in problem based mostly in your opponent. It is not fairly like anything I’ve performed, and it sells the fantasy completely.
The dialogue is basically lighthearted and, to its credit score, lands far more typically than it misses, even when a number of the jokes had me shaking my head on the reality they’d acquired me to snigger. There’s a variety from puns to extra nuanced thinkers, and even refined jokes that play in your information of every little thing from D&D tropes to traditional rock. Happily, whereas it is frequent, it not often will get in the way in which. Repair-a-Bug is aware of if you simply need data introduced clearly and when it could actually have enjoyable, and manages to maintain the humor feeling flavorful somewhat than compelled into each nook.
Among the best elements right here is that you may tailor your expertise to your tastes. Selecting a personality is an easy matter of choosing Hero or Heroine (the opposite turns into a Gary Oak-style rival who seems periodically to taunt you as they try to remain one step forward) and setting your beginning weapon. The spear is ideal in case you prefer to be quick, the sword and defend permit you to strike a stability between offense and protection, and the mace is ripe for all-out destruction.
After that, nevertheless, you are requested to choose a play fashion, and that is extra about how the sport presents itself to you. I went with ‘explorer,’ which grants you extra expertise and stock, and ramps up the quantity of puzzles and crafting you will should cope with. Select ‘resolver’ and you will get extra dialogue, simpler battles, and even key encounters you may discuss your approach out of. Go for ‘destroyer’ and you may face extra, harder foes, whereas the sometimes prolonged chit-chat is lower all the way down to a naked minimal. It is a intelligent twist on problem that makes me wanting to check out the opposite settings and see how they examine to my first playthrough.
The Loopy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles is out now on Steam, with a ten% launch low cost which means you will pay $11.69 / £9.89 in case you purchase it by Thursday October 30. You can too obtain the free demo to attempt it out first; simply be warned, you would possibly get sucked in as shortly as I did.
Love discovering hidden gems? Then remember to test in with our decide of the very best indie video games in 2025. For those who’re largely right here for tales of dragons and derring-do, listed below are the very best fantasy video games on PC.
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