Overview – developed and published by Industry Games, Dungeons of Sundaria is a multiplayer dungeon crawling RPG where players take on sprawling dungeons, fiendish monsters and deadly bosses. Travel the land of sundaria, completing quests and collecting loot as you set out to make your mark as an adventurer. This title is available for the PlayStation, Xbox and Steam platforms, with a link to each version of the game available at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Industry Games for providing the copy of Dungeons of Sundaria that was used for this piece, through the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. I will be skipping the story segment as a narrative is drip fed throughout the game, via conversations and information in quest explanations, so I will be moving straight into discussing the gameplay. Please note that while this is a multiplayer title, I am discussing this from the perspective of a solo player.
Gameplay – this title is an action RPG where players must complete quests, kill monsters and collect loot while exploring the dungeons in Sundaria. When the player starts the game, they will be able to create their character from a selection of classic fantasy races including Dwarves, Elves and Orcs, alongside classes like ranger and wizard. After the character has been created and named, the player will be put into the town where they can speak to the residents.
Within the town of Galdrins Crossing, there are several facilities that the player is able to use, with the Blacksmith, tavern and guild hall where the player can interact with NPCs. While talking to the different NPC characters, the player will be given their first quests to complete before heading off into the dungeons. While in the town, the player can also interact with the different NPC characters and use their services, buying and selling items to them.
There are also special characters that will allow the player to learn new skills based upon their class, expanding their capabilities and skills. These skills are tied to just the class, with the specific trainer being available to train the character to unlock the abilities in exchange for resources that player will earn during play. Once the player is done in the town, they can venture into the dungeons, using the world map that will show all available locations.
When the player selects their dungeon, they will be given three options of difficulty with a recommended level for each challenge. Upon selecting the difficulty level, the player will be spawned into the dungeon at the start point the first time they enter. As an action RPG, the player roams the dungeon in a third person perspective, moving freely through the different areas. When an enemy is encountered, they will charge the player to attack.
Combat in this title plays out in real time, with the player character having a standard attack and multiple special skills/abilities that they can use. The basic melee and ranged attacks that players have use a basic combo, hitting enemy characters multiple times for average damage. Then there are the special abilities, which are more effective in battle than the basic attack, but they have a cooldown time between each of use.
The attacks that players can use are also affected by various modifiers and abilities, including fire, ice and void, which will do more damage depending on the equipment of the player. Speaking of equipment, there are weapons, armor and accessories that can be equipped by the player. At the start of the game, the player has a basic set of gear that will fulfill all of their basic requirements. However, there is a copious amount of loot for players to collect.
While travelling through the dungeons, the player will find destructible items and containers that can be looted for gear. There will also be gear on the bodies of defeated enemies, adding more treasure to the inventory of the player. The loot that can be picked up isn’t restricted to only equipment, as there is also money and resources that can be used to buy items from in game vendors. All of the collected items are shown in the status box in the bottom left corner of the screen.
The dungeons are broken up into segments, with doors, stair cases and hidden rooms that the player will encounter. At set points in a dungeon, the player will need to solve basic puzzles to pass to new areas, like finding switches to open up the path forward. These will often lead to one of several boss fights, which can push the active quest forward or act as a road block to the player, pitting them in combat with a fearsome foe.
When a boss encounter begins, the player will be locked in the area they are counted, acting as a combat arena for the duration of the fight. The different bosses in a dungeon will often have a gimmick, with the most common being to summon additional enemies for the player to battle. These high level combatants can deal devastating damage, while also having a lot of health for players to chip away at, with encounters that can last for several minutes at a time.
Once a boss is defeated, a wanted poster will appear on screen showing they have been taken down, along with a chest containing special loot for the player to collect. Once the boss has been defeated, the player will be able to progress deeper into the dungeon, encountering new threats and finding new treasures. But that is not the only form of progression that occurs in this release, as the player will level up by earning experience from their battles.
When the player takes down enemies in combat, they will be given experience points and these will level the player up when reaching set milestones. As the player levels up, they will earn new abilities and skills that can be used in battle. The addition of this leveling system makes the combat more flexible, with the new skills being added making the overall battle experience more robust. But that isnt the only way to change the way that battle flows.
While in dungeons, the player can encounter blacksmiths, which will let them break down and sell the loot that has been collected (this can also be done in the town). These resources along with those collected from chests and bodies, can be used to craft new weapons and unlock recipes to make those weapons. All of these items can be used to strengthen themselves, with the items that are crafted matching the current player level.
When the player reaches the end of a dungeon, they will encounter the final boss of that dungeon, where they will engage in mortal combat with them. If the player takes this boss down, they will get a quest completion mark and then be returned to the town. Then the player will be able to get a new mission from the NPC characters, sending them to another dungeon to repeat the process over again, making for a consistent gameplay loop.
As this is an action RPG with a lot of combat, the chance of death in the dungeons is quite high. If the player is defeated by an enemy, hazard or boss, they will have to respawn at a checkpoint. Luckily, this title is very generous with the checkpoints, meaning that there is not going to be much progress lost if the player is defeated. This may function differently during a multiplayer game, but unfortunately I was unable to test this out during my time playing the game.
Now with the core of the gameplay covered, I will be moving onto the other aspects of this release starting with the controls.
Controls – as this is an action RPG inspired by other titles in the genre like World of Warcraft, there is a wide array of inputs to use during play. The character movement and general control is tied to the Thumbsticks, with a hot bar on screen showing all of the buttons used for skills and abilities. For the most part, this works quite well, but for those with little experience in the genre, it can take a little while for players to get used to them.
Difficulty – there is a relatively balanced difficulty curve to this release, allowing newcomers and veterans alike to get into the dungeon crawling with ease. However, there can be harsh difficulty spikes when it comes to boss battles, with some enemies dealing massive damage to player with special attacks. This can lead to quick deaths if the player is alone, as there can be some minor balance issues between melee and ranged combatants.
Presentation – this release has a classic fantasy look to it, with environments and characters that would fit anywhere in the wide genre of fantasy RPG titles. But with how good the game looks, there are some flaws with the overall visual performance. The game will stutter and there will be frame drops, causing the game to lag which negatively impacts the overall gameplay experience. This is likely due to the hardware limits, as the system used was a standard PlayStation 4.
The sound for this title is relatively solid, with music and environmental audio that works well with the different locations that the player will travel to. This is best during the boss battles, where the player will hear tense themes during combat adding a sense of grandeur and intensity to these encounters. There is also some use of voice acting for the different characters that can be encountered, but this adds very little to the game as most of the lines are repeated often.
Final Thoughts – when I found out about this game, my attention was caught by the large scale of the dungeons and the rather simple approach to the dungeon crawling. This made it an easy choice for me to want to review and check out, so I jumped at the chance to cover the game. However, after spending some time with this title, I feel like it is a bit of a mixed bag due to a variety of factors, mostly the overall performance of the game due to the hardware used.
The length of the dungeons can also be a little much, as there is less than 10 areas to explore, it can feel a little repetitive especially with the numerous boss battles in each dungeon. This does make the game feel a little long, but for the price that is being asked for, it does give good value for money. I am happy to recommend this to fans of the dungeon crawling genre, as well as those who enjoy action RPG games and it can even be played with other locally or online.
In the end, I give Dungeons of Sundaria a final score of 3.5/5. This is a lengthy Dungeon crawling action RPG, with a lot of content for players to jump into alone or with others, unfortunately it is let down by some performance issues on lower end hardware. If you want to check this title out for yourself, a link to each version of the game is available below.
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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