


These risk-reward trade-offs are what make Pixel Dungeon so compelling. You can identify them with rare scrolls, or, if you’re feeling brave, you can just try them out and hope for the best. These might be good – healing or invisibility – or bad, such as vertigo of paralysis. With each new run, your items and potions are reset, and many start with unidentified properties. If you burst into flames from using an unidentified item, finding water will quench the fire. You can jump into chasms to reach lower floors, at the cost of hit points. You can find seeds, for example, which you can grow into trap-like plants. But by experimenting, you’ll constantly discover new, unexpected mechanics. You’ll defeat ghouls and rats, open chests, buy items from shops, cast spells, find hidden doors and face a boss once every five floors. The premise is uncomplicated enough: as a Warrior, Mage, Rogue or Huntress, your goal is to strike deep into the earth to find an amulet, searching for stairs on each floor you encounter. Pixel Dungeon looks like a pure and simple roguelike, but once you’re a few floors into its underground dungeons, you’ll release just how deep and complex a game it is.
