This is an ongoing list where I attempt to do the following: Play, Complete, and Rank every video game in the known universe in order to finally answer the age old question "What is the greatest game of all time?" For previous entries find the links on the attached spreadsheet.

How did I do?

It seems like everyone is talking about Dicey Dungeons now, so I might as well get this ranking out while the iron is hot... What's that? You say only one person was talking about Dicey Dungeons? That my rankings will never be hot? Ok... ummm.. that's very nice of you to point out, but here we are regardless, so let's talk about Dicey Dungeons either again, or for the first time.

Dicey Dungeons is a rouge-like game where you take on the roll of one of 6 possible characters who attempt to make it through Lady Luck's Dungeon. Each character you pick plays a different role in the dungeon, but the dungeon usually behaves roughly the same way (with some exceptions). There are enemies to fight along the way that will give you experience to level up. Treasure chests and shops that will allow you to get or buy new equipment to use, apples that can heal you, and a single boss at the bottom of the dungeon that will test your build out.

Not only do you play as a sentient die/dice, but the whole mechanic of the game involves virtually rolling dice and then using those values into a set of equipment that you have equipped on your character. For instance the mot basic equipment might just say "do X damage," so if you roll a 1 and put it towards that equipment you will do 1 damage. Most equipment can only be used once per turn, so you are trying to maximize your turn so that you can defeat the baddie you are fighting as quickly as possible. Of course not everything is that cut and dry, some equipment require exact numbers, some require either an odd or even number, some require two dice to be used for it, so not every roll you have is going to be able to be applied into each equipment. Outside of just doing damage, there are pieces of equipment that can add shields, restore health, change a rolled die (or re-roll it entirely) apply status effects to the enemy, etc. There is a fairly large range of equipment you can use, and while not every piece is going to show up in every run, you do have some wiggle-room as to how you are going to set up your character.

This is really where the whole strategy of the game comes into play. Each piece of equipment takes up space on your character, and your character can only bring in so many items to a fight (think inventory management for early resident evil games), If memory serves me correctly, you are able to bring in 6 total spots into battle. Most equipment either takes up either 1 or 2 pieces of equipment, so you can either have 6 single pieces, 3 2-pieces, or a combination there of. While its not always the case, but usually a piece of equipment that takes up 2 places is stronger or more valuable then one that only takes up a single space, but there have been multiple times where I have discarded those to stick to my current build. Without getting into the weeds entirely, you are looking to setup a series of equipment that not only covers what die rolls you might get, but to also maximize your special ability.

You see not only does the character you select determine what equipment you will probably see show up, but it also determines what special ability you get, which can be triggered when you take so much damage from an opponent. For instance the Rouge special ability is to roll 4 1s. Now those 1s might not worth a lot, but based on the kind of equipment you keep, you can turn them into something useful using equipment that allows you to re-roll, change the value, or put it towards applying status effects to the enemy.

There is so much more to just setup this game that I should explain, including the valuable upgrade squares that allow you to upgrade equipment. You usually won't be able to upgrade all the equipment you use before the final boss of the floor, which makes these very important. However, the bigger thing i want to talk about is that each character has 6 chapters to go through. None of your equipment or levels carry over, and each floor has its own special rules that apply only to that chapter. One chapter has you going up against enemies with more health, and all upgraded equipment. One chapter has you going into a parallel dimension where each status effect does not behave how it does on other chapters, and the final chapter has you going through the dungeon like normal, but each time to descend a floor a new rule gets applied going forward.

Ok, that is enough setup.. This game has a lot of stuff going on in it, and the good news is that it doesn't feel overwhelming. The first time you play with each character, the game will kind of walk you through how they play (and they play very differently). I also didn't find the majority of the game all that difficult. There are certainly some chapters and some characters that you might just get a bad run with, but I usually beat each chapter in 1-3 runs. The runs are also fairly short, I could usually make it from the start to the final boss in about an hour if I am really into the game and not distracted. It does have a fairly generous save, so that you can quit anytime you are on the map (not in battle) and then pick it up where you left of. When I started this game, I fell in love with it and really thought the grind to finish 36 chapters would be a cakewalk....

...But then I started getting deeper into the game. The one thing about having 6 playable characters and having them all handle differently is that you are bound to find some characters you enjoy playing, and some characters you do not enjoy playing. Whether that is because you don't like the mechanic tied to them, or because you can't figure out a strategy that utilizes their abilities. I foolishly (inadvertently) played through the game with my 2 favorite characters first, which meant that the 24 chapters I did after those were increasingly less and less fun. I loathed playing as the Thief/Rogue, I disliked playing as the Wizard, and the Warrior and Mystery 6th character, were fine based on the chapter I was in. I think this is going to be a common issue with anyone who plays the game and tries to complete it, there is a very low percent that you will enjoy playing as every single character.

Which then makes the completion of this game even harder to digest. If you want to officially beat the game, you have to complete the 6th episode for each character, and then beat the final dungeon where you can play as any character and it offers up a fun twist that I enjoyed. Which translates to a whole section of your playtime being a grind, or un-enjoyable as you try to force yourself to play through the game with a character you dislike.

There is an out, a light at the end of the tunnel. In the options, there is a edit save file button, where the game allows you to mark any chapter you have unlocked as completed without actually having to play it. The game doesn't punish you for it, there is no asterisk that appears on your save file, there is nothing that anyone would see that could make you feel shame for skipping chapters. It is solely up to you as to how often to use that. I will admit I used it only once to test it out, and then felt bad and forced myself to beat the chapter anyway. I should have used it more, I could have saved myself some frustration and time, but I held myself to a stupid standard that I couldn't "rate" the game if I didn't complete it myself.

This game in total has a fun mechanic and is an enjoyable little rogue-like, but it also comes with its own frustrations and if you don't like playing enough of the characters, then you won't enjoy the game. If you love only the Warrior, you won't come away with a positive outlook on this game, seeing as they are only 1/6th of the game. The game has a semblance of a story that each character goes on, but it basically only comes in 2 places, at the start of the characters journey, and at the very end on the 37th chapter. I wish they would have done more with it, I understand why they didn't (re-playability, etc.) it was a letdown when I finished the final chapter.

Is this the greatest game of all time?: No

Where does it rank: Dicey Dungeons is a very fun, small, rouge-like where you could essentially play in super small micro-doses and probably have a decent time with. While there are plenty of chapters to make you play through it, I don't think this is a game that you re-visit when you officially beat it. You, as the player, have essentially proven you can best the dungeon 37 times, so diving back in to complete chapters multiple times doesn't seem to make sense, but maybe you want to try out a different build. I enjoyed myself with the game, at times, but I also had moments where I really disliked the game. If you are someone who likes managing inventory and finding unique builds to a character this might be for you. I have it ranked as the 49th Greatest Game of All Timeout of 102 games. It sits just above "Serial Cleaner" (50th) and below "NBA2k20" (48th).

Up Next

1. Final Fantasy Theatrythm: Curtain Call (3DS)

2. Figment (Switch)

3. Goof Troop (SNES)

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion). Here. I added links on the spreadsheet for quick navigation. Now if you missed a blog of a game you want to read about, you can get to it quickly, rather than having to scroll through my previous blogs wondering when it came up.

Rouge-like.

There's also no wizard in the game. That's a witch, brah.

This is a game where I mostly agree with your review but really disagree with your ranking. I played a lot of it but haven't finished it yet, mostly because some of the later levels are both really hard and kind of annoying, which you get at in the review. On the other hand the GOOD parts of the game are excellent, and it's a game that you don't have to finish to be satisfied with. I think it's excellently designed, great-looking, and unique. It deserves better than something like Serial-Cleaner.

I've not finished this one yet, though I have gotten to Chapter 4 with every character, I think. I struggled quite a bit with the thief, but enjoyed the other classes for the most part. It is very much a pick up and put down type of game. One run is about the right length, then I'm done for a bit. Good creativity and game design, though.

@bigsocrates: damn, spelling my arch nemesis... I hear you, I really enjoyed some characters and hated others but as I got closer and closer to chapter 36 (and eventually 37) and I started getting fairly bored with it. It was more than likely because I approached the game by completing a whole character first before moving to the next one, and when I was left with only the witch and thief (my two least favorite characters) the game started to drag.

I also enjoyed serial cleaner, so I don't think its that far from it.. both started strong, and then waned as I approached the end game. There is more to it then that, but I can't see it going much higher then like 45 tops.

@redwing42: if you continue to approach it that way, I think you might come out more positive then I was. I had this as my main game, so I was putting in a lot more time per day trying to grind out wins, and as I got stuck playing as the thief and witch, my desire to do that work started to fall dramatically.

It's still a good game and I enjoyed it. I especially like how the last level plays out, but there was a whole 10 chapters give or take that I was just not enjoying.

@imunbeatable80: You spell whatever you want however you want. But you say "rouge-like" and I'm posting the bat. The only people who can stop me are the mods and they are all huge Sonic Adventure 2 fans so I don't think they'll help.

I think that this game is more at the Griftlands quality level. Griftlands obviously has better stories and more intricate art etc.. but it could also be annoying to play at times and it had issues with story repetition etc... I also think that Dicey's actual card battles and deck building are slightly stronger than Griftlands.

The issue I have with comparing it to Serial-Cleaner is that Serial-Cleaner is a little bit generic and forgettable. Dicey has very unique and special mechanics, some of which are really really great. Its highs are much higher and I think your review reflects the fact that you kept playing after you were tired of it (having played your favorite characters earlier) and your score reflects that end state rather than an average of how fun it is to play throughout.

Sometimes forcing yourself to finish a game can sour you (or anyone) on it and I don't necessarily think that's the game's fault.

@bigsocrates: yeah we differ on that. I loved griftlands and I think there is a nice size gap between that game and this one. I do agree maybe my end state reflected how I felt at the end more then the beginning, but when I think about the game, I can't separate out my thoughts of enjoying the game for some characters and being pretty frustrated with others.

There will eventually be games that split this and serial cleaner.. it's better then half the other games on this list.

Fun read. I like this game quite a bit. It gives a VERY strong first impression that kind of withers away as you play later chapters (especially as the thief and witch, both of whom I hated playing as). The problem too with the additional episodes, IMO, is that even characters that I think are great can be rendered not fun by weird rule changes.

Having said that, the robot is fun as hell to play as for most of his episodes. Personally I think it is the best designed character specifically because it walks a balance between risk and reward very well. Although my God going bust at a crucial moment never failed to illicit a cat startling "FUCK!" from me every time it happened.

@sethmode: The robot is fantastic.. I found it funny that after I finished the game I looked up something on reddit about the game, and was surprised that it seemed the robot and inventor got a lot of hate. They were my favorite as I thought they added a fun playstyle to the normal batch, but to each their own.

I'm no expert designer, but I probably would have cut down the number of episodes, because I agree that some of the episodes just didn't do it for me.

It's a good game, fun to play, but even with the ability to edit the save file, I wish I could have "beaten" the game without having to max out the Thief and Witch episodes.

I did not realize this had a technical "ending." Might have to go through and do that save edit for some characters to see what that looks like. I bought this for super cheap, like others on the forum, but kinda fell off once I wasn't looking forward to any of the upcoming chapters' modifiers.

Like Socrates, I enjoyed this more than Griftlands, even though both games are good, and I think it comes down to variety. All the characters in Dicey Dungeons play very differently, and the episodes all add a lot of spice in addition so it never really felt like a grind to me (though the Witch was easily my least favourite character. I think I was stuck on a few of her challenges for 10+ tries). While Griftlands started out really well for each of the characters, and their gameplay was certainly distinct, that game to me started feeling like a grind very quickly. The difficulty simply seems to increase with added modifiers without fun twists like in Dicey Dungeons. I also liked how lacking in frills Dicey Dungeons is. It is very easy to jump into a run and you get thrown into the action. The story of Griftlands (all of them) were pretty generic, but playing the brawl mode made me feel like I was missing out. I still really like it, but it definitely didn't grab me the same way Dicey Dungeons did despite having a lot more content (at least on the surface) and some actual progression.

I definitely enjoyed playing all the characters (except for the witch) but I think you have a point in that the best way to play is to alternate between them when advancing the episodes. That's what I did at least, and it also made it more satisfying to beat a witch episode when you knew five fun episodes would follow instead of yet another witch one.

@noboners: Yeah their is a final episode that actually plays pretty differently, I enjoyed it. Like most of the game play it for the gameplay and not the plot.

@nuttism: Thanks for the read.. yeah no worries there, while both games are in slightly similar boats of the same genre, I just got more out of Griftlands. I liked having a story, I liked being able to play that out differently, and I liked both characters and how they played better then any one single character in dicey dungeon.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy dicey dungeons.. I think it's well made, but there were two characters I disliked playing as, and while I'm ok with it not really having a plot, by the 25th time I entered the dungeon I was getting bored of fighting the same enemies and bosses over and over. That's the nature of these types of games, but in griftlands with its longer campaigns and multiple paths (even with only small divergents) I didn't get bored when I would dive back in.

I can see these games appealing to two different crowds, Dicey Dungeon for those people who want quick campaigns and lots of variety (character selection, and builds), and griftlands for people who might prefer longer campaigns, more plot (even if you didn't enjoy it), and variety in terms of how the dungeon plays out (paths you take, story changes).

I don't chastise anyone for preferring one to the other, but I couldn't stop playing griftlands, even on my 2nd time through with each character, but in dicey dungeons I had to convince myself to finish the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of both the thief and witch, because I played them towards the end of my time with dicey dungeon and I didn't enjoy them.

@charlesmox1: glad you like it.. it's a good game and starts out really strongly. It will also get easier as you start figuring out what builds you like for each character. My advice which you may have seen in these comments, is to spread out the love in terms of the chapters you play, don't just clear out one character at a time, because you might end up stuck having to play 6 chapters of a character you don't like in a row, which might sour the game

I just started playing this game and having a decent time with it. Although i have not yet taken the gamble on many of the 'use 2 dice' powers yet. And i'm having a real hard time getting a win with the witch so far. Up to that point i managed to clear every episode 1 in one or two tries, but the witch is really being a blockade right now.

I also randomly managed to turn into a bear with my first thief run, and that changed the entire run to give me bear-related abilities. That was pretty cool!

@onemanarmyy: It's because the Witch objectively sucks.

@onemanarmyy: yeah the witch is rough to play as.. my quick advice is that don't be afraid to overwrite your spells mid round, even with the same spell.. when you overwrite a spell you can use it, so let's say you cast magic missile once, use another dice to put magic missile back on the board, and use a third dice to use magic missile again.

Also almost always replace your pre-loaded spell with another one. Cauldron is fine and all but not nearly as useful as the first spell that's loaded.

@imunbeatable80: Yeah i have that down pretty well.. I think i just need to experiment a bit more, i tend to go for the extra prepare slot + extra dice on 6 pre-loaded combo, which makes sense to me. But maybe i should just try to play a faster game to keep my health up and not bother with all the dice + magic shielding business.

@onemanarmyy: yeah I usually went upgraded slot, allowed me to put up more damage per dice, or put a status effect spell in there to mess them up..

My best run with the witch came when I got a life suck ability, and I used that as my prepared spell, and eventually loaded it on the upgraded slot as well.. allowing me to do damage and heal twice a turn.