So I'm still waiting for Super Meat Boy

I might pick it up on a friend's Xbox, but yeah, while I've been waiting, I've found two (read: TWO) awesome games. Maybe it's a good thing that I haven't gotten my hands on SMB.

Yahh, we all want Super Meat Boy.

The first of the two is a rouge-like dungeon crawler. The twist is that the boys over at QCF Designs have turned each randomly generated dungeon into a single screen puzzle. The game's developers say that you'll be fighting "your way through a fantasy dungeon in 10 minutes or less," but my god. I haven't been so cracked out on a game since... ever.

See, the thing that makes Desktop Dungeons a puzzle (and so addicting) is that players are limited to a finite number of resources with which to solve how to level up and kill the boss.

This is the 3rd game I've stared while writing this review.

These resources range from mana potions, to glyphs (spells), even to the number of enemies. There have been countless times where I killed higher level enemies too early, leaving myself with a bunch of  level 1s and 2s at the end game which made it impossible for me to level up to the boss's level.

What's even more intriguing is that there is always a solution. There are no dice rolls in Desktop Dungeons. You are always aware of all risks. In fact, mousing over enemies tells you whether or not your next attack will be safe or death.

But if anything I can use the fireball glyph which is always safe, but no, no, that takes up too much mana and I've discovered most of the map. Yeah, but I have mana potions. Oh, but I'm a Sorcerer. I have mana shield, and I regen health from casting. I guess I'll just attack then cast. Wait, but should I even kill this? What would Dracul do?

wtf m8

Every attack, every step, the deity you choose to align with -- every decision must be calculated as the most efficient step towards completing all other remaining tasks, and at this point, the game starts to feel a lot like chess. Decision A leads to these branches of possibilities and Decision B leads to these other branches of possibilities.

And as if the base game wasn't addictive enough, as you thwart each boss's plans, new classes, maps, enemies, and gametypes are unlocked to eat up even more of your time.

Anyway, yeah, this review's getting long, and I want to play some more so yeah, check out the developers' page and play the game  already.

QCF Designs:
http://www.qcfdesign.com/

Direct Download to Desktop Dungeons:
http://www.qcfdesign.com/Files/DesktopDungeons/DesktopDungeons_v015.zip

I suggest watching this survival guide done by the developers. It'll save you a lot of trial and error while you're still figuring things out.