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.