11 best board games Dungeon-Crawl
11 best board games Dungeon-Crawl
Dungeon Crawlers have spiked in popularity in recent years. It seems as if almost every other day on Kickstarter I'll see another campaign for a new dungeon crawler.
They're some of the most popular games out there today, and today we're looking at the best dungeon-crawl board games out there. For those of you who haven't tried one yet, you are definitely missing out.
Our Top Picks for Best Dungeon-Crawl Board Games
In a hurry? Check out our favorites for the best dungeon-crawl board games below.
The best cooperative
Best for Family Game Night
Best overall
Elements of a dungeon spider
“Dungeon crawl” is a relatively broad term in board games and can have different flavors, but usually includes several key elements.
- Dungeon: either procedural or random or preset in the campaign.
- Upgradeable Heroes: You have to spend all this booty and treasure for something.
- Monsters or Baddies to fill the dungeon: This can be an AI on board or another acting character.
Today we will delve into the best dungeon board games to see what treasures we can find.
1. Descent: Travel in the dark
Descent is the most important board game for the dungeon.
If you’re new to the genre and want to see what it’s all about, Descent is absolutely where you should start.
How It Works
One player will take over the role of superior dungeon and his job is to kill every other player. They will control all monsters and traps and will have some special abilities that can turn tables on adventure players. After all, it’s not fun to be Mary Sue or Marty Stu.
Adventure players will try to survive and clean the dungeon by killing everyone inside or meeting targets. The stats and equipment of the actor’s characters are usually greater, but that doesn’t mean they can be complacent. Because the monsters are controlled by the player instead of the artificial intelligence mechanic, the problem may increase depending on how the Overlord plays.
Mechanical upgrade
The mechanics of the superstructure also work in both directions. Each player can upgrade their characters after each game to strengthen them, or save their upgrade points for stronger cards and abilities that they can add to their arsenal. Overlord doesn’t sit around either. With each game, the superior also gains experience and can upgrade the upgraded cards to some rather ugly abilities for the players.
- This is a board game in which one player takes on the role ...
- During each game, the heroes embark on missions and go to ...
- With double-sided modular pieces of boards, countless heroes and ...
Final thoughts on the descent
The descent is balanced and presents challenges at almost all levels. Whether you’re a beginner or an avid enthusiast, Descent deserves a spot on your desk. If you’ve never played a spider in a dungeon and want to know what it’s all about in an instant, Descent will be your best starting point.
2. Gloomhaven
Gloomhaven is one of the biggest boxes in the history of board games and it’s no surprise that hundreds of hours of gaming are stuck in the box.
What's in the box?
In Gloomhaven, players will explore a vast world and participate in changing and changing the world of Gloomhaven through its legacy system . This is different from other older systems in that you don’t have to ruin anything throughout the game, so there’s always the possibility that you can reset the board (with little effort).
There are about 75 scenarios built into the game, but you can only see 50 according to your choice, which encourages you to revisit the game with a new customer and players.
- For 1-4 players
- 60-120 minutes of play
- The cooperative plays a tactical battle inspired by the euro
Final thoughts on Gloomhaven
Gloomhaven is one of the newer players in the field of prison search, but it quickly jumped to the top of the list of mandatory players and the wishes of all players.
3. Arcadia Quest
Who sends all these people to jail? Well, in Arcadia Quest, it becomes you.
Arcadia Quest entrusts you with a guild of adventurers to rob the dungeon. The only problem is that every other player was also in charge of the guild to plunder and attack the same dungeon, and as we know from Highlander, "IT CAN BE ONE!"
How It Works
The game has very cute artwork and is really fun. If you’re staring at the King’s Death or Dark Souls boarded and tormented, if you watch and hear about dismembered bodies and super horrible deaths, this can be a good break The gameplay mechanics are also pretty common. Check out the attack and check out the defense and move on to see who wins.
That’s not to say it’s a Candy Land game where everyone understands each other. Note that each player controls the rival guild and they are all targets. Every game will have a goal and for example to kill a certain monster, but if a competing guild gets there in front of you, nothing prevents you from sneaking up on them and beating them on the head. In fact, it is encouraged.
- Super numbers: With twelve very detailed heroes and ...
- Simple battles: confrontations are resolved quickly and easily ...
- Amazing upgrades: players can get items and equipment ...
Last thoughts on Arcadia Quest
Arcadia Quest barely qualifies as a dungeon spider, but I thought it was such a fun game that those looking for a wonderful game would appreciate it. It’s more of an arena than a dungeon, but it still has some of the same mechanics as a traditional dungeon spider. (Plus, it has some super mini .)
4. Mice and Mysticism
Mice and Mystics is an incredibly designed cooperative of lakes that was inspired by children’s stories. To this end, many of the board components have elements in the storybook and a great game to play with family and young children.
In Mice and Mystics, the prince was imprisoned along with several of his loyal followers. The only way to escape from the dungeon is for Maginos, the court wizard, to turn everything into a mouse and escape into the sewers.
- ADVENTURE GAME WITH STORIES: In Mice & Mystics players progress ...
- COOPERATION STRATEGY: Players work together to solve ...
- FUN FOR FAMILY GAMES NIGHT: Mice & Mystics is the perfect game for ...
Last thoughts on mice and mystics
The game is silly and whimsical, but there’s still a lot of fun to play, especially with younger kids. The story takes place in a booklet that reads like a real fairy tale and really draws you into the world. Are you ready to change into a mouse? Check out our in-depth review of Mice and Mystics before you start playing.
5. Castles of Madness
“Heaven haunts what was crazy to know; and strange abominations always pass between the earth and the moon, and prevent galaxies. Strange things have come to us in foreign terror and will come again. "Lar Clark Ashton Smith
If you need a little more horror fantasy options, Mansions of Madness puts you right in the shoes of a Lovecraft investigator trying to prevent the older gods from going crazy or going down into the world.
How It Works
With the second edition of Mansions of Madness, the game has been extremely streamlined. There is now a companion app that changes the setting to a breeze and helps to start the game by asking players when they need to do certain rolls / checks, which new tile to put in the room and how to set it up.
I’m not usually a fan of a technologically enhanced game . I know there will be more and more games over time and this app didn’t bother me as much as I thought. It’s a very useful and great way to engage new players in more complex games.
- HORROR GAME: This fully collaborative horror board game and ...
- Mystery Game: Players take part in investigators and enter ...
- COOPERATIVE GAME With high variability: The game contains four ...
Last thoughts on the castles of madness
If you’ve ever looked at any of the Fantasy Years policies for any of these Lovecraft-inspired Games, you’ll know that everyone basically has a new size policy. Without the app, we would need a dedicated player to read the rules from front to back and refer to them all the time.
With the app, you get great themed music and a call whenever you want to pull out a card or make a check. The only real downside is that you may want to use a tablet instead of a phone to fully see the visual impact of the app.
6. Welcome to jail
Welcome to Dungeon is not necessarily a clown in jail. But it’s a very fun fast-paced dungeon-themed game, so I decided to add it to the list anyway.
Welcome to Dungeon is a bleff game of chance where each player secretly watches the monsters in jail and bets on whether it can be completed or not.
How It Works
When players take turns, they will discard items and bet they can still complete the dungeon according to the hidden cards they saw. Some players may even discard cards to deliberately dam the dungeon to injure other players.
If you think a dungeon run can’t be won, you can always keep going. When there is only one player left in the round, they take another card and try to complete the dungeon. If they successfully break through, they receive 1 point. If they die, they will lose 1 life. The first player to successfully complete 2 dungeons or the last standing player wins.
- For 2-4 players
- 30 minute playing time
- Defeat the dungeon twice or be the last warrior to conquer ...
Last thoughts of welcome to prison
As I said, it’s not really a dungeon, but I like to use it during longer games to break the tempo with something light. It’s nice to have a small game that can be completed relatively quickly after a few hours of sitting at a table or before playing for a long time to keep everyone in the mood.
7. DOOM
Doom was by no means the first shooting game , but it was the first major success and was recognized as one of the most influential games in game history . Even if you don’t know anything about Doom, it might still be worth checking out the board game.
How It Works
Doom is a quick head-to-head dungeon finder where one player will control demonic monsters and the other players will create a team of Marines who will run and shoot demons in the face.
Playing in a board game to some extent actually follows the original Doom, and by that I mean the story or campaign mode is relatively zero. Marine character characters are called Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. The game is about direct combat. There are scenarios, but you won’t find much more than goals here.
FTW tactics
If you’re a Doom fan, the game will appeal to you, of course, but players who aren’t Doom shooter fans or fans can find a lot to love here as well. The game is clear and easy to enter, and the strategy is enough to keep both sides interested. Which equipment is included in the mission allows the Marines to shoot more demons, add more power, speed up or slow down players, depending on how much equipment they bring.
On the other hand, demons will be able to spawn from portals and can try to kill Marines with various tactics. Do you rush all at once with hit-and-run tactics? Do you throw a big meat shield while a bunch of smaller demons swarm into the attack?
- Based on the science fiction hit Bethesda soft works ...
- Experience the game from both an offensive and a marine point of view
- Customize game boards during missions to improve your sea
Last thoughts on DOOM
Doom was a big hit for my casual gamers friends. It’s facial and unambiguous, with enough strategy that it’s not just a numbers game. For more experienced dwarf spiders, you may lack knowledge and depth. I still remember playing Doom in Windows 95 on a 3.5-inch floppy disk, so even with the new Doom games and the transformation of board games, it still feels nostalgic for me.
8. Myth
You may recognize Myth by his massive Kickstarter campaign. In recent years, Kickstarter has opened up the board game scene to a host of designers and launched many new dungeon spiders on the market.
Myth: Demystified
There’s a lot of conflicting information about myth, so I’m going to try to clear up some of the confusion so you can get to what’s really important: rolling dice and killing monsters.
First, let’s look at the production value of the game. The Miniatures are excellent. All the hero characters and minions look amazing, and the boss monsters look intimidating. At a glance, it's easy to see who is who, and having the bosses tower over the other players gives it a nice aesthetic.
How It Works
The game itself is a lot of fun to play and focuses heavily on teamwork and cooperative play. It is fully cooperative with card AI dictating enemy movement. If you try it solo without consulting a team you're going to run into Leroy Jenkins situation. You'll never really run into a situation where one character is the powerhouse. Everyone has a very balanced skillset, but is also unique enough that they perform better in certain situations.
Worldbuilding is a lot of fun and offers you many free form options as to what you want to do and where you want to fight. There is a campaign / scenario that allows players to upgrade and maintain persistent upgrades, and I like the loot system. You will encounter swarms of monsters from the generator on the board, constantly vomiting minions until you destroy it, but for every 3 monsters you kill, they will drop some prey. And who doesn't like prey?
Policy number
The main problems with the game can be summed up in Myth’s golden rule. If you don’t know how to do something or if the rules aren’t clear, just make it up.
The rules are massive and complex. The learning curve is steep and it’s not something you can pick up and learn on your own in 20 minutes. Given its high production value, we would expect the rules to be a bit more refined. The rules seem to be designed as if they were written for a close friend who knows all their inner jokes.
I can respect the idea that if something doesn’t make sense, we should drive it because of the flow of games, and later there should be something I could rely on to clarify the rules after the fact, and there just isn’t much time.
- Myth is a completely cooperative fantasy game
- For 2-5 players
- Playing takes about 2 hours
The final thoughts on the myth
Myth is a very fun game. Your co-op game is very well done, and the equipment, system upgrades and battles are a lot of fun ... until you get caught up in the rules. If you come across something that doesn’t make sense, simply edit it and enjoy the game as it is. If that doesn’t bother you, it will be a fun ride. If you need structure or want a game you can jump straight into, you can check out Descent or some of the other games on the list.
9. Huge topic
Massive Darkness is one of the newer participants in the dungeon spiders, but he spat heavily when he arrived at the scene.
It was developed by CMON Games (cool mini or not) so you know you will get a ton of high quality Miniature with the game.
How It Works
Massive Darkness follows many traditional prison reptile mechanics, but they deal with death in an interesting way. Each time the character dies, he is aroused again at the beginning of the dungeon, and a token is taken from the lifestone card. It basically acts as a life counter. Each time a player dies, the token is removed from the game, and you can adjust the problem up or down by adding or removing chips from the lifeline.
As you kick the door and explore the rooms, players will be prompted to create monsters and treasure, depending on the scenario.
Leveling mechanics
Probably my favorite mechanic and what else A huge theme works well is leveling. Most dungeon spiders need more games to level up and gain all the skills you want for a character. You can also do this in Massive Theme, but you can do it all in one sitting.
Game modes
There are two ways to play: campaign and single shot. In campaign mode, your characters will slowly rise, but their levels and equipment are persistent during game sessions, allowing you to naturally progress the story.
The one-time shot is exactly as it sounds. Players will progress much faster, but you can create and create characters between sessions, allowing for faster play and much less time.
Need a bigger topic? See our full, in-depth review here .
- For 1 to 6 players
- The whole campaign: story mode There are 10 unique tasks in ...
- Amazing numbers: a huge theme comes with six detailed ...
# 10. Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is an easier mechanic game with different prison themes.
How It Works
You will take control of a character called the Savior, who summons nameless prisoners and fighters to march under the city to fight the demonic attacks that threaten to kill everyone. I thought the theme was a bit refreshing. You really don’t see too many religious / demonic themes. In doing so, some actors may be excluded on a religious theme, but I personally have not seen anything that would offend; each in his own way.
Demon Miniature look great. They all look like something I wouldn’t want to face in a dark hallway, and the actors look like hardened warriors, so it’s a shame that they’re all generic nameless characters.
Dice, dice and more dice
The gameplay is mostly traditional gambling rules are very easy to pick up and play, making it a very good game for new players and those who just want to sit down and roll some dice at the table.
The game is a 2-player and works very well. The demon player has an interesting way of using his dice. They will discard all the dice and look at the map. The dice are then divided into places on the chart depending on the purpose and the demon player can be given various options such as additional demons to appear or appear.
The Redeemer player also has a similar mechanic, as he will assign dice to his board to determine their stats. They have more options, but when a character is injured, they will have less desirable options and are more limited in statistics, which is a very unique way to show the damage and fatigue of the characters.
- Features: 17 finely carved pre-painted figurines
- modular board (36 tiles)
- Easy to learn and quick game setup
Last thoughts on claustrophobia
You won’t actually feel claustrophobic on this map. There are a lot of tile maps and you will get a lot of them. The artwork on each is beautifully designed and adds a very dark atmosphere to the game.
Claustrophobia is a lot of fun and very easy to learn. The dice mechanics try to limit complete randomness so that both players have some options for arranging the dice instead of simply reading the results, which I appreciated. Players looking for a harder game and scenarios won’t find it here. It’s fun and fast, great for beginners, but religious tones and a lack of complexity can turn off avid players.
11. Brimstone Shadows
Shadows Brimstone is a crazy mix of themes that are so weird that they work well together somehow. Shadows of Brimstone is a western-themed game, but it's also full of eldritch horror and monsters. I would never have put this together, but I’m glad they did.
What reminded me of Shadow of Brimstone are the strange themes of the game and bring a fantastic experience. The historical campaign, the role-playing aspects of the characters, and the stories that come from a few rounds of this game are just fun.
How It Works
The game is very dice heavy , so if you want to play games only with highly tuned mechanics, then you may not enjoy how much luck plays a role in this game. You will roll the dice for almost everything. If you get a mutation, injury, or move, a cube and perhaps a graph is available to show the results. He can mess up the game sometimes, but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
About the Miniature they look cool, especially the Harbinger model, but they need to be put together. If you’re like me and we just mix things up, you might have a little trouble.
Leveling mechanics
The upgrade and leveling system is very cool. Each character can have their own separate level and after completing the mission, everyone will have the opportunity to spend money and upgrade points in the city. Each player has all sorts of options on how to spend points and money (you may need to gamble dice).
- Load up six shooters, put on a hat and a poncho and ...
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