Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Mar 1, 2022

  TLDR: A very hearty recommendation, there ain't many games that does what Dungeon Dreams does so it's worth checking out. Basically a fan made sequel to Azure Dreams, a hidden gem from the ps1 era that doesn't really get talked about much as few people played it, probably because it was sandwiched in between a lot of rpg heavy hitters. But it was a one of a kind game and DD does a great job capturing the formula that made Azure Dreams unique. For the bulk of people who never heard of that game though, i can best summarise it as an jrpg adventurer life sim, except instead of exploring an open world the game revolves around living in a town built around a dungeon which keeps the story centered on one location only. Usual gameplay loop is grinding your way deeper into said dungeon, getting stronger and more efficient at dealing with each new set of monsters before escaping and spending your earnings in town and getting up to story shenanigans, interacting with the townsfolk and general just loitering around. Unlike Azure Dreams which was very linear though, DD has a fair bit of reactivity and choices to make which contribute to making the game world feel lively and adds replay value by exploring different routes or befriending (or alienating, sometimes even outright killing) different npcs. + Game is a cocktail of various design elements making for a type of rpg you will be extremely hard pressed to find elsewhere (i only know of this and azure dreams, if more of these exist i would love to be told about them) +Town feels lively and npcs are decently fleshed out +Decent amounts of reactivity and choices to make along the way - Grindy by design (you will be doing the same dungeon dives over and over again) which wouldn't be so bad except that each set of 4 floors only has 3-4 different monster types at best. A possible hold over from Azure Dreams but I can fully understand why some people might be annoyed at the lack of enemy variety.
• Tasiam

  Nov 29, 2022

  Went to the Adventure's Guild to pick up my best friend to go to the Dungeon Notice a new girl in town with purple hair Start talking to her and discovered we are both from Nightvale and although she doesn't like my magical abilities I intend to prove to her there is nothing to be afraid of Then this rich guy in shinning armour comes in and interrupts me, he tells her he made it 15 floors further than me and that he can take her there SHE FUCKING LEAVES WITH HIM I shout that I'm from Nightvale but she ignores me and the guild master escorts me out for disrupting the peace Was I cucked?
• Adeptus Mechanicus

  Mar 27, 2023

  Great Potential but Lacking in Execution of Content.

  This is one of those moments where I truly wish that Steam had a neutral button for your recommendation. This game is not a bad game but there are many bad issues in it. I will go over my thoughts based upon my experiences through out this review. If you do not wish to partake of such a long review then skip to the end of the review for a summary (TLDR). You will miss out on a lot of information though.

  A Resemblance of Azure Dreams yet Fleeting and Shortcoming

  The developer made this game to be similar to Azure Dreams. It is an old Playstation 1 game that I HIGHLY recommend. This game however fails to reach the pinnacle of what Azure Dreams was, and still is to this day, for a game of its caliber. I shall express my concerns here about why I feel it has short comings.

  The Main Premise of Azure Dreams is Missing

  While the games both are focused on diving into a dungeon (to which "has no end") it misses out the main focus of Azure Dreams. You do not get monster eggs and you do not get to breed them. I know the developer is making a Dungeon Dreams 2 so I hope they add that in to the sequel. This is a big shortcoming when claiming your game is based on Azure Dreams. To quote an excerpt of Azure Dream's case description, "Your family name is legendary, and you have a lot to live up to. Your destiny is to enter the Demon Tower and retrieve the eggs of rare and exotic creatures, which you will then breed for companionship or to sell to the highest bidder. Such is the premise of Konami's newest RPG, Azure Dreams." So it is sad that there was no monster egg hatching, breeding, collecting or gathering to sell for profit or to use in any way in the dungeon as a companion or to even give as gifts to the towns people in the game. The main core of Azure Dreams just isn't even in this game. I had my hopes up for this.

  The Grind of Dungeon Dreams

  In Azure Dreams I felt the grinding was rewarding and fun. I could get stronger monsters (demons) to breed, grow stronger myself and get items. In Dungeon Dreams you get some items, you slowly get stronger but you can't just farm enemies on one level of a dungeon. You are limited to how many monsters are on a level and once they are gone you must proceed farther down. The reason I feel this is a big issue is because in Azure Dreams you could go down get your eggs, get experience and still feel rewarded and gain strength through the monsters. In Dungeon Dreams you can only get so far before you are forced to leave due to the monsters strengths and the unbalanced encounters you face if you are not ready. This becomes an issue when the items you need to leave the dungeon, Wind Crystal, don't drop for you since you can NOT purchase them from ANYONE in the game. They are gifted to you or found only in Dungeon Dreams. If you happen to faint / die then you lose everything you had with you in the dungeon. It does add a sort of challenge to the game but it isn't a rewarding challenge to obtain items and monster eggs. While you can make the style of party you want in Dungeon Dreams you are still forced to have a certain balance or face struggling mid to late game especially.

  Overpriced House Upgrades

  You can pay a carpenter in game to upgrade your home in the game but the cost is phenomenally overpriced for a starting player. The cost is 25,000 for the first base upgrade to merely get a bed big enough to have a spouse move in with you and then the items for furniture range in price from a few hundred gold to 10,000 on some items. So if you wanted a nice house, a kitchen, bookshelves and a few other items you are looking at around 45,000 or more. That is unfeasible early game unless you spend every night gambling and reloading your game to insure you win (you can gamble at an inn in the game with towns people you meet). There are jobs you can do daily in town for gold. They do not pay much. You need to spend this gold on better armor and weapons to even be able to make it down the first 4 to 6 floors and hope to survive in early game. Therefore you are stuck grinding the dungeon repetitiously to obtain a few gold, cheap items to sell and to attempt to get stronger. This goes back to the grind of the game not being fully fun or worthwhile. I have played many old style RPG games back in the day that involve grinding (Azure Dreams, Grandia and others) and this one has been the least fun honestly.

  Poorly Written Dialogue for Dating

  Perhaps I am being a bit picky about this part but the dating dialogue is quite boring. You have the choice of different potential suitors yet it is always the same 1 line responses, the same questions and not very interactive. I feel that perhaps the developer should add in more responses, questions and more emotion the more you get to know someone. Such an example is the following from a potential suitor. "Do you think you'll always be an adventurer?" Well if you say "yes" then perhaps certain ladies / gentlemen would respond "It's great to know you'll always provide for your partner!" and like it. Perhaps others would respond, "Oh I was hoping one day you'd want to retire and spend time with the one you love." These results could lead to someone liking you more or wanting to not date you since you would not be what they are looking for. As you progress more with the dating scene you could also perhaps add in more interesting questions that shows they are interested in you more. So instead of always asking "will you be an adventurer?", "what do you think of me?" or other mundane questions they would ask something like, "How many children do you want to have?" Well if your partner does not want children and you answer you want a lot of them perhaps they would quit dating you. Whereas if you said, "I want many children!" and the person you were dating loves kids they would fall more in love with you. I just feel that the dating scene could have been more in depth with a more intuitive rewarding system. Instead you just save the game before you go on 1 date, reload it if you answer wrong and eventually figure out what to say to get that person to like you. A more long term dating strategy would result in you finding someone in game that actually would like you, your character, based on your honest genuine answers. Then if you wanted a particular partner you would have to study them, find out their likes, dislikes and future hopes and dreams. This could result in a much deeper dating and marriage system. These are just my thoughts and opinion. Also some partners are locked based on your class choice.

  The Conclusion of My Review (TLDR)

  It is not a bad game. It has much potential but I feel that many shortcuts were taken. There is a lack of substance especially comparing itself to Azure Dreams. I feel the leveling system and dungeon grind could have been better. I feel the dating scene and marriage system needs work. I think the price for housing upgrades and the cost of things needs to be adjusted as well especially if you want to buy anything before the game ends. Otherwise you grind only a few dungeon levels at a time and then must leave to prevent certain events from occurring that may cause issues to your story progression and plans. Also the Wind Crystals should be able to be purchased or even crafted out of monster parts. Overall this is not a bad game. I just believe some aspects were not properly thought through. I believe that if the developer continues to do it the same way that Dungeon Dreams 2 will not be what it could be. They are close to making a great Azure Dream style game but are lacking part of the core foundation and important aspects of what made Azure Dreams so great. I hope the developer reads this and knows I mean this in a loving way to help and not to just ridicule them. Thank you for reading my review. I bid you a good day. Safe journeys to you.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 26, 2019

  Can't believe this game hasn't received much love yet. I found it after searching for games similar to the CLASSIC game called Azure dreams. I can't put it down. I don't get really get involved in games hard core anymore like when I was a kid/teenager. I still love games, but they can't keep my attention anymore. I can't stop playing this game. Of course there is a grind, BUT wow, they throw left balls at you the entire time to make the grind not suck. Most of the writing is soooo sneaky and wonderful. It's never been this good in a game before that I've ever played, and I'm talking even the big boys like mass effect. You'll understand what I mean how so very detailed and just cool the writing is with all sorts of characters. Mix and match your team mates and you get all different kinds of screen writing. It's just amazing. It's fun. I'm hard on games. Most games I play just can't give the fun factor I need to have me playing it more than 20 or 30 hours anymore. There are a few things they can do to make it better, more particularly certain things involved in the dating/real estate aspect of the game. That part for me would be a 3/5, the rest a 5/5 so in the end I give the game 4/5. Great job DDreams Games, you didn't disappoint.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 24, 2019

  I grew up playing games like Azure Dreams and Suikoden so I love the idea of this game. However, at least 50% of my after-battle screens freeze up and the exp/JP doesn't tally for another 30-45 seconds. That's game-breaking for me and should be for anyone who wants to experience the dungeon. As soon as that's fixed/addressed I'll be more than happy to recommend the game. Until that happens, I do not recommend playing the game.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 24, 2019

  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Ratings 9/10 (Great Game Mechanics, Dungeon Crawler+ Dating Sim+Town Builder) I have been playing RPG games my whole life, and this is one of the best RPG game that I've come across. It's a game developed by one person and fully funded by Kickstarter backers. Here's what is really great about this game. The most impressive feature is the great game mechanics and game design. This game has 3 broad classes : Fighters, Scouts and Mages. However, each of these classes have about 10 different sub-classes that you can play. You are allowed to freely switch among different sub-classes at the guild hall. Not all sub-classes are available at the start, and you need to master certain sub-classes to unlock more advance sub-classes. In each sub-classes, you can learn a number of different skills (both active and passive ones). Some of these skills are sub-class specific, but there are also skills that are generic and can be applied across all sub-classes as well. In the course of the game, you can also recruit 10-20 NPC team members, each with their own story and conditions for recruitment. What is unique is that each of these NPC team members will also have their own unique and hidden sub-classes as well. These hidden sub-classes need to be discovered by paying close attention to the NPC personal quests. Even if you managed to recruit these NPC team members, you may not be able to discover their unique and hidden sub-classes and unlock their true potentials. As you can tell, I really love the unique game design for each of the NPC team members. This game is quest-rich and story-rich !!! What is great about this game is also the awesome game design. This game is a dungeon crawler, a dating sim and a town management game all rolled into one. Everything is carefully linked to YOU, the main hero. Through quests, you recruit people and build up your team. You and your team goes to the dungeon each day to gain experience and amass treasures. You can also start romances and date different people in the town, including those that can fight on your team, and those that are merchants in the town. The town is also yours to develop as different events unfold. You can strategically choose if you want to invest and build different town facilities like a theatre, a farm, a gymn, etc. Each of these buildings will also bring with it different quests, different NPCs and even new hidden classes as well. What is really nice is that everything is driven by stories, and lead to other stories as well. There are a lot of decisions and choices that you can make in this game. Many of the choices that you make will lead to different hidden outcomes that may not be visible until a much later stage. So, you can really enjoy the suspense and agonize about what your choices will lead to in the days or months ahead. I love this. In conclusion, I recommend without reservation this excellent game.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 11, 2019

  ALTHOUGH I don't usually care for the 16 bit looking rpgs to bother with them, even though I was young in that era (Atari days in fact...Yep I am getting a bit long in the tooth) someone told me that I just had to try Dungeon Dreams out, that it was a true homage to the days of Final Fantasy 3,4, and 5 and the games of its kind. I thought "Well, there are ALOT of these types of RPGS, I dont see how this one could be special really. I mean you cant count the number of 8 and 16 bit rpgs I did play in the past easily", but she was so damn insistent that I gave it a shot...And I am glad I did. Right out of the gate, as your exploring the town for the first time, you realize that someone has done thier own rpg runs, and loves the genre. Its like someone took a time machine, and picked what worked in rpgs of the past, and ignored what didnt. As far as I can tell, there is just the one town, and one dungeon, but thats ok, because both are always changing. The npcs in this game really steal the show, though....As they seem more alive then even modern game npcs, in that they are always doing and saying something different. The day-night cycle matters, but this is more then just "They do this at night and do that during the day"...I dont know how they did it, or how they crammed in so much coding on character events and behavior, but they did and wow what an experience. If you buy ANY 16 bit style RPG, this is the one you want. Everything they boast in thier description is true for a change. The game is a grand acheivement and sets the bar VERY high for those who make oldschool rpgs. The game is addicting, and fun, and thats all fans should ever ask for. After an hour I didnt even care that it was oldschool. I actually shelved my playthrough on World of Final Fantasy to play this...Not saying its a better game BUT it is enjoyable enough that you wont want to put it down once you give it a go....This is how oldschool RPGs SHOULD be done...The music is good, the atmosphere.....Some of it can be a bit cliche, but alot of it feels fresh, and thats a challenge to pull off in an over saturated old school RPG market. Highly recommended!
• gamedeal user

  Apr 15, 2019

  This game deserved more love!! Start from new adventure. Choose your own class. Help other people.Drive into dungeon .Get acknowledge by everyone. Many NPC to team-up and get access their hidden class. Many Choice made when playing. You Can't get everything perfect. Don't need to rushing or trying to spend everyday most efficient in most of time. I actually think you should casually go to Dungeon and spending time in town, go to many places, talk many peoples to trigger event.Drive into dungeon too fast made is possible to miss some event, or make the current event too hard because your level is too low. Guide in steams can help you check which events are exist,(Mostly) without spoiled content and consequence. But even guide look massive is still have many thing to discover when you play game yourself. "Role-playing-game" type game is so many in market, but this game look so difference to me. If you like me who want to customized MC and party members go to many of event with more than one outcome. Must try this game. I quite recommend mod/plugin to speed the battle up since ATB bar are slow to fill. Is will ease up a lot of fight in dungeon which gonna be repetitive in long run.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 10, 2019

  This is one of those super rare situations where the game is greater than the sum of its parts. It is part dungeon crawler, part rogue like, part city builder, part rpg, and part dating sim, and it mixes them really well. I highly recommend it to anyone!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 12, 2019

  IT' S GREAT!