Opening
In this article, the various types of dungeon games will be classified and described. The best way to classify dungeon games are into three categories: Dungeon Simulators, Dungeon RPGs, and Dungeon Crawlers. There’s a lot of depth in terms of items, loot chances, classes, attacks, enemies, dungeons (core gameplay loop) and external activities outside of the core loop. It’s hard tell if you don’t know what you’re looking for, so I hope this article will clear things up
Disclaimer
I am aware there is massive overlap between the terms Simulator, RPG, RNG, and Crawler. There’s some games called Dungeon RPG, RNG Simulator, and a lot of other naming schemes.
This is my personal classification between the three, though you are free to direct others to this if you choose to use a similar terminology. Although I have been making RPG-style games for over a decade and dungeon-oriented games for half a decade, please take these classifications with a grain of salt.
The exact reason for wanting to write this is due to the numerous Dungeon games popping up over the years with confusion about how to classify them. The biggest being what’s the difference between a Dungeon Simulator and a Dungeon Crawler. I decided to add a third category to bridge the two - a Dungeon RPG.
What is a dungeon-themed game?
A dungeon-themed game is a game where players are tasked to explore a dungeon, fight enemies and bosses, use various attacks against them, and complete objectives. A few OG dungeon-themed games many dungeoning fans should recognize are Diablo, Runescape, and The Binding of Isaac. These classics specifically fall under the Dungeon Crawler category - I’ll go into details of that later.
Dungeon Simulators
The first category of dungeon games are Dungeon Simulators. These have become very prevalent on Roblox over the years, and it’s pretty easy to spot due to the copy-paste feel. However, there is a specific distinction that makes these stand out from Dungeon RPGs and Dungeon Crawlers.
Dungeon Simulators stand out from the other two by a means of instant gratification and the ability to easily get extremely powerful with little-to-no effort. Want to deal 1M+ damage to enemies? Dungeon Simulators are the way to go! The catch though is these super-powerful items are usually locked behind low-percentage obtain chances with the ability to only get 1-3 items per dungeon run. You’re forced to do the same task countless times in hopes of getting that ultra-rare legendary item with a 1% drop chance.
They are extremely repetitive in which players fight identical enemies and boss(es) in a single dungeon. The only unique property of the dungeon is the ability to go up in difficulty. They make up the repetitive concept by periodically releasing a dungeon dungeon/floor with new everything.
The weapons and skills available in them are usually straightforward: Melee, Ranged, or Magic. Most Dungeon Simulators prevent players from using more than 2 skills at a time (usually activated with the Q and E key) and the skills themselves are included in the loot-pool of items that can be gotten from. The concept of classes in Dungeon Simulators are nonexistent due to the ability to use any skill you want.
Finally, there is little-to-no activities outside of dungeons with the exception of upgrading weapons, skills, and gear. Just like all other simulators, the entire point of is to do a single thing repetitively. Dungeon Simulators are extremely easy to pick up and waste time on. They are very simple, straightforward, and geared more towards younger audiences (<13).
Dungeon RPGs
The second category of dungeon games are Dungeon RPGs. They take the Dungeon Simulator category and adds a bunch more to it to make it feel more along the lines of an RPG game. The leap to the Dungeon RPG category involves the implementation of these key features: randomization, activities outside of exploring dungeons, and classes.
Starting with randomization, this can include anything. A few examples I’ve seen over the years are having items with semi-randomized stats (i.e. randomized damage, armor, rarity, etc.), randomized dungeons, randomized enemies in dungeons, and/or not always having a 100% chance when upgrading items. The best way to describe this is making it more difficult for a player to mindlessly progress through the game and make it harder to get the best items possible outside a single arbitrary chance at the end of a dungeon.
The next important feature to Dungeon RPGs as activities outside of dungeons. Rather than having a single core gameplay loop, players are capable of obtaining items by means other than dungeons. Examples of this include trading and crafting from resources gotten from either salvaging/deconstructing other items or gathering resources from the dungeon/overworld.
The last feature is classes. This takes the concept of skills and categorizes them into specific classes for players to choose from. The skills can be categorized by either getting them as drops or unlocked as the player levels up. Most games disallow players to change their class after choosing it, and those who do usually charge players to do so.
Dungeon RPGs take a bit more effort to pick up and are slightly more complex than Dungeon Simulators. Their more advanced gameplay is more geared towards teens (<18) who are able to grasp the fact their choices can impact a large majority of their gameplay.
Dungeon Crawlers
The last category is a pinnacle of dungeon games - the Dungeon Crawlers. They implement all key features that make Dungeon RPGs stand out from Dungeon Simulators while cranking up the complexity.
Dungeon Crawlers randomize as much they can and implement complex RPG elements in which most decisions players make will significantly alter their gameplay and overall experience of the game. They additionally force players to always be alert of what’s going to happen next, knowing that a slip-up could mean the difference between life and death.
Starting with the dungeons themselves, players tend to not know where to go either due to the sheer size of the dungeon or it being randomized. Though the enemy themes stay the same, the enemies that spawn are randomized and additionally have randomized stats (i.e. health, damage, armor, and special abilities). Players have to be equipped for anything the game throws at them.
Dungeon Crawlers throw tons of items at players to pick up and choose from. This is due to it being near impossible for players to get best items possible since the items have multiple stats and sometimes secondary effects. It’s not uncommon to run out of inventory space with a single dungeon!
There is usually an external environment to explore. Regardless, there are multiple activities outside of navigating dungeons and the ability to obtain items that Dungeon RPGs possess.
The complexity shines in their class mechanic or a skill-tree. Players are given a numerous quantity of skills to create builds while being restricted to only pick skills from a specific class or skill-tree path. This complexity is further fueled by the randomization in items since not all items will fit alongside the skills chosen for builds.
Dungeon Crawlers are complex games that requires a lot of dedication to grasp and fully understand the entire game. This makes them geared more towards adults (18+) who are able to understand that every choice made in the game will alter their experience of the entire game.
Closing
This took me way longer than I thought to type up, but I hope those who read it are able to get a better grasp of classifying dungeon games. I avoided self-inserting my own dungeon games and others on Roblox since updates to them can change their classification. I would rather this article be one that can referenced for years to come.