‘Dicey Dungeons’ Review – Worth Rolling the Dice On
Over the years, there have been a lot of games that came out on consoles and PC that seemed like they would be great on mobile. The game went further with Dicey Dungeons ($4.99). It even looked like it was made for mobile interactions from the beginning, but it's a rare game that feels great whether you use touch controls or buttons. Even though it's a late port, Dicey Dungeons is a fascinating game that might be my favorite mobile game of 2022. It's a mix of deckbuilding, roguelikes, and dungeon crawlers. I've now reviewed it on Steam Deck, Switch, and iOS, and I'll compare those versions with the iOS release, just like I do with my other port reviews.
If you play mobile games and haven't heard of Terry Cavanagh, two of his best games, Super Hexagon and VVVVV, were made by him. When it was finally confirmed that Dicey Dungeons would be available on mobile, I was almost sure it would be best on iOS. Now that I've played it on the Switch, Steam Deck, iPad, and iPhone, the iOS port is almost perfect, and the few problems I have with it might not bother you at all.
Dicey Dungeons is a very surprising game, even before you look at the port and mobile version. It seems simple at first, but if you're okay with randomness, it's a masterclass in design. You explore dungeons as a walking dice in a procedurally generated mess with dice rolls, a great soundtrack, great visuals, and more. At first, Dicey Dungeons seemed like it might get boring after an hour or so, but as you meet new characters, the game opens up and makes everything feel new again. It also helps that the mobile version is now out and comes with more free content right away, making this a great deal.
Dicey Dungeons is different from other games like Slay the Spire because it combines puzzles with its deckbuilding and roguelite gameplay. It also has a similar audience. In some stages, Dicey Dungeons feels like both a puzzle and a game of chance, which is different from most other games. This is made better by the fact that each playable character makes the game harder and adds new ways to play. This doesn't mean that the first character is boring, but the later characters look very different, and getting to the final level and boss for each character in their own episodes will be a challenge.
The different floors, enemy designs, character designs, and animations are all amazing. I've liked the look of Dicey Dungeons since the first time I saw it, but seeing it in motion on high-resolution screens really brings home how polished and beautiful it looks and feels. Marlowe Dobbe's art definitely needs to be in an artbook. Keep in mind that the game isn't fullscreen by default on newer iOS devices. You can turn off the colored borders, but I left them on because this is one of the best examples of how to add a border to an iOS version of a game made for 16:9 screens.
This version of Dicey Dungeons for iOS and Android includes the game, the Halloween bonus pack with its own new content, and the new Reunion DLC, which came out on other platforms at the same time as the mobile version. Even if you don't get the free DLC and bonus content, Dicey Dungeons is still a great mobile game that's worth the price.
Both my iPhone 11 and iPad Pro have worked well. The best thing about the mobile version is how fast it loads. The iOS version of Dicey Dungeons loads almost as fast as the Switch version. Like iOS on Steam Deck, the PC version loads almost as quickly.
When it comes to controls, Dicey Dungeons has responsive touch controls that make sense. It makes me even more upset that Slay the Spire still doesn't have better controls. The best way to play Dicey Dungeons is with touch controls. I've even been using touch controls on the Switch and Steam Deck. On those platforms, it works great with a controller, but the mobile version doesn't have controller support yet. At least my DualSense controller didn't work. Given how well the touch controls work, this isn't a deal-breaker for me, but it is worth mentioning in any console/PC to mobile conversion.
It looks like Dicey Dungeons can't sync between iOS devices using iCloud. This is definitely a bummer, but there is an option to "Edit Progress" that lets players from different platforms or devices move their progress manually by choosing which character and episode they want to unlock. This is an interesting addition and a way to let people "bring over" progress, but I would have preferred a real iCloud sync option between iOS devices. If it is in, I haven't been able to make it work on two different iCloud accounts on four different devices.
It took a lot longer than I thought for Dicey Dungeons to come out on mobile, but it was worth it to see the game come out in such a polished state. Even though it has a few problems that I hope can be fixed in future updates, Dicey Dungeons is great and works great on iOS. If you don't like deck-building games or randomness, this might not be for you. I think you'll like Dicey Dungeons if you liked Slay the Spire. It will be hard for me to find a better mobile game than this, and I'm looking forward to trying out the new DLC on Switch this weekend when I'm not playing Sunbreak. I've already played the main game and reviewed the DLC on iOS.
