Tilemancer Dungeon offers a fresh indie twist on dungeon crawling by blending it with deck-building mechanics in surprisingly clever ways. Developed by solo developer Szym Games, the game casts you as an aspiring “Tilemancer” who must design and conquer procedurally-generated dungeons. This streamlined roguelike hybrid merges Slay the Spire’s strategic card play with intuitive tile-based movement. While reminiscent of Cryptical Path in concept, Tilemancer distinguishes itself with more polished execution and accessible gameplay.
If you’re looking for a game that’s easy to pick up and play in short sessions, something you can enjoy for a few hours and return to casually, this is the perfect fit. The mechanics are simple to learn, and after a quick tutorial, you’re ready to dive right in. Having spent a solid hour with the demo first, I unlocked all the classes, like the Rogue or Cultist, each with unique appearances and abilities. The first few hours offer plenty to explore, though the enemy variety does start to feel repetitive over time. That said, the different starting builds and procedurally generated cards and maps help keep things fresh.
Building Your Own Doom
At its heart, Tilemancer Dungeon is about control, not just exploring a dungeon, but creating it. The game gives you a grid and a deck of room tiles, each representing enemies, loot, weapons, traps, potions, bombs, or equipment like swords and armor. Your task is to arrange them strategically to form a connected path. Placement is crucial and tactical: every tile must link to the last, building a linear dungeon of your own design. Once your dungeon is ready, you set a goal for your hero, who then battles through the rooms automatically, fighting enemies, collecting gear, and pushing forward until they either conquer the dungeon or die.
Your hero comes with basic attacks (primary, secondary, and a special ability) as well as unique attributes and gear, with each class offering distinct playstyles. For example, wizard attacks from a distance and gains stronger potion effects while rogue can ambush enemies, avoiding damage on the first strike, but has low health. They also instantly detect mimics.
Enemies vary from common foes like skeletons and bats to increasingly challenging bosses, and there are also unique gimmicks like spike traps. Defeating these bosses unlocks new heroes, but even after completing the game, you can keep playing. A typical run lasts around 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how carefully you plan your dungeon layout.
Strategy aspect is really good here
Strategy is key here – every decision matters. Do you place enemies deliberately, crafting a direct path to the boss? Or do you randomize everything and adapt on the fly? The game pushes you to use every tool at your disposal, like bombs to clear new paths. However, one wrong move could leave you trapped with no way forward, forcing a full restart. It’s a tight, addictive loop: build, fight, die, tweak, and repeat.
But here’s the biggest issue: the game is cozy yet repetitive, a puzzle-fighter hybrid that hooks you at first but struggles to sustain long-term engagement. After completing a run, you might feel like you’ve seen everything the game has to offer. While unlocking new heroes adds some freshness, the initial magic inevitably fades. The core problem lies in the lack of gameplay variety. Designing dungeons follows the same formula each time, with only minor differences in the final boss. The challenge does ramp up, but not enough to justify endless replays.
Don’t misunderstand: there’s genuine progression here. Bosses escalate in difficulty, your hero grows stronger through new armor types and upgrades, and each run offers fresh opportunities to purchase weapons, bombs, and potions. But these systems never quite make each stage feel distinct. While you’ll encounter new enemy variants with deadlier abilities, and the tools to counter them, the core experience remains fundamentally similar throughout. The challenge increases, but the formula stays the same.
Ending Thoughts
Visually, Tilemancer Dungeon delivers a charming 2D pixel art aesthetic that balances cute chibi-style sprites with gritty dungeon-crawling atmosphere. The clean, readable animations keep gameplay fluid, though some may find the character sprites overly small and stat information occasionally hard to parse. While the minimalist approach serves the game well initially, the visual repetition can eventually make environments feel samey across multiple runs.
Tilemancer Dungeon shows promise but currently feels like a game waiting to be fleshed out. While enjoyable, it lacks the content refinement needed to reach its full potential. Szym Games has uncovered a genuinely novel concept here, with further development, this could evolve into something truly special. As it stands, the game will particularly appeal to roguelike enthusiasts seeking fresh mechanics.
| Prednosti | Nedostaci |
|---|---|
| Inovativne mehanike. | Nema puno novog sadržaja. |
| Zabavne kratke sesije igranja. | Tanka progresija. |
| Raznolikost heroja. | Za ljubitelje rougelike igara. |
| Vrlo jeftin naslov. |
Recenzentski primjerak ustupio izdavač
3.8
Hrvatski 
English (UK)