Developed and Published by AMPLITUDE Studios back in October, Dungeon of the Endless is a fantastic melding of several genres in a way that will please a lot of gamers. Dungeon of the Endless is first and foremost challenging. Remember that as you play that you will probably fail, but as you fail you will learn. This seems to be a theme in a lot of games today, and fittingly this game also has that same retro feel. When starting you will be able to pick two characters from a starting roster of four. If you picked up the free DLC offered with it, then you get four more guest characters from Team Fortress 2 which brings you up to eight. When choosing your characters you will notice a ton of other characters that are just waiting to be unlocked. 

Dungeon of the Endless starts with your space ship crashing into a planet and your job is to escape a large tower with a power crystal. Each time you open a door to another room, a new turn starts. When this happens you will gather resources (industry, science, food, and sometimes dust). Opening doors can also cause monsters to spawn in rooms that are unoccupied or not powered. The more dust you have the more rooms you can power. Most rooms have two types of nodes in them that you can build upon. The larger nodes are for modules, which allow you to gather more resources. The smaller nodes are for things like turrets to slow down monsters. These things are all built with industry.

As you move throughout a floor you will discover research crystals where you can use your science to upgrade modules and turrets. These upgrades are certainly vital for success. There is also a chance to run into merchants who sell you weapons and armor for your characters. Some rooms you find will be self powered, which can really come in handy. While exploring you can also find other heroes in which you recruit with food. You can only have up to four characters active at a time so spend wisely. When you’ve recruited someone new you have a chance to unlock them from the start if you beat the game while they're in your party, or at the very least have them survive three floors of the dungeon. This can sometimes be easier said than done depending on how far up the tower you are. Once you find the exit, you can go back to your power crystal and carry it to the exit.

Each character plays a little different and has varying stats. There are characters with ranged or melee attacks. There are ones that can heal your characters and can make your modules produce more resources. Food is also used to heal your heroes as well as to level them up. You will want to level them up fairly often in order to unlock abilities and passive skills that can be very beneficial. A good varied team can be the difference between success and failure. 

Dungeon of the Endless plays a lot like a turn-based RPG or Strategy game with a dash of tower defense. The monsters that spawn ultimately want to destroy your power crystal, and your job is to make sure they don’t, thus the turrets and other things you can implement to stop them. There will be times when you don’t have enough dust to power some rooms, so you will have to place your heroes accordingly in hopes to stave off a larger wave of monsters. Managing your resources and heroes on each floor has almost a board game feel which if you ask me makes the game that much better. Analyzing all your options and setting up for the worst to open a door that does nothing can give you that gasp of relief; however, being over confident and opening a door to six waves of monsters can make you feel horrible. Dungeon of the Endless can make you feel every emotion a gamer can feel. 

Visually Dungeon of the Endless has a neat look to it. It’s got that hip retro style everyone is using, but it really makes the game. The lighting and the shadows really make the dungeons look creepy and otherworldly. The music is very moody too, giving an ambient space sound. It’s a solid sci-fi game that requires a little bit of patience but it pays off big time. Oh, and it has wonderful multiplayer where up to four people can play together each controlling one hero as you try to escape the tower dungeon together. The best part about that is everyone has their own resources so you can give each other stuff depending on what is needed. If someone needs more science and you have a ton, you can help them out. Dungeon of the Endless is fun and rewarding. I highly recommend it.