Dungeon Encounters is Square-Enix's most subversive title

Square-Enix, the company synonymous with lavish cutscenes, convoluted plots, and sky high production values, published a game that's essentially a giant middle finger to all of it.

And it's fun.

It's an incredible piece of work, a minimalist throwback to the days of Wizardry and the like. It's the antithesis of modern RPG design, and it works.

I still can't believe they published it. I'm glad they did, and I hope it signals a willingness to take chances on different game ideas.

I bought it on sale but haven't had a ton of time to put into it...maybe like an hour? Forza 5 and a few other releases have distracted me, but I am hoping my December Steam Deck comes that month because that is an excellent handheld game it seems.

@mackdack: I bought it on Switch, and it is an excellent handheld game. You can save anywhere, and the floors are usually small enough that you can clear several in a relatively short play session. It also gives you a steady drip of new equipment, skills, and enemies. It's deceptively deep despite having what seem like a fairly limited set of mechanics.

Glad some folks are enjoying this, but a role playing game with essentially no story or dialogue is not something I have interest in. I've been known to enjoy well done combat and dungeon crawling in RPGs, both JRPGs and WRPGs, but without any kind of narrative I just don't see the point. The main appeal of an RPG for me always going to be in storytelling, character development, and writing.

A game that strips all that away and leaves just the mechanical trappings of an RPG is just very unappealing. I can and have enjoyed RPGs with bad combat if the writing and storytelling is good, but trying to wring enjoyment out of the opposite, an RPG with engaging combat despite a near total lack of narrative is just not something I could ever do.