Hit Me Again
HIGH Weaving RPG mechanics into blackjack seamlessly.
LOW Too many specialty cards gets confusing.
WTF How many times can someone face the gambler?
If I had a nickel for every 2024 release that revolved around taking a popular card game and turning it into a roguelike, I’d have… two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
As a reviewer, I feel something of an obligation to compare the subject of this writeup to Balatro, the smash hit mashing up roguelikes and poker, but Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers manages to carve its own niche into the deckbuilder-slash-roguelike genre, and combining the addictive loop of blackjack with RPG elements made me wonder why didn’t someone make this sooner.
The entire scope of Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers takes place in a series of simulated taverns, clubs, and dungeons full of high-rollers and lowlifes alike. All of these characters — ranging between normal humans, monsters, animals, and ghastly spirits — are staring the player down, trying to take their hard-earned chips in multiple rounds of enchanted blackjack. Inspired by something like Dungeons & Dragons, every match with these goofy characters can take as long as it needs to, or be over in 30 seconds. Every room is both equally inviting and repulsive, begging the player to return for another round, but casting aside the idea that they belong there.
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers starts the player out with simple rounds of blackjack– they’re dealt cards every turn, the max score is 21, and the closest to 21 without going over wins a hand. The twist that turns this into a roguelike is that it’s played 1v1 against an enemy AI, and every round is a battle to see who can knock the most hit points off of the other.
Each match starts the player with 100 hit points and a selection of enemies to play against. Once a confrontation begins, the amount of hit point damage dealt per hand is determined by the difference in scores between players. For example, if I decide to end my turn (stand) with a 20, and my opponent scores a 21, they win and that would be one hit point dealt to me. The catch is that if the player busts (goes over 21) then they are dealt damage equal to the full amount of the enemy’s score, as long as they themselves don’t bust.
It’s here where the rules become a bit confusing, and too much to go into in any great detail in this review. There are a plethora of bonus cards to choose from after each round, all with varying effects that require deciphering and experimentation to figure out how they work in practice — and that’s not even mentioning how they interact with the opponent cards. After a few hours I started to really understand the deeper mechanics, so like many roguelikes, people should expect to stumble a bit at first.
As with real blackjack it’s ultimately a battle of luck, but Dungeons isn’t an experience that requires only caution. The best moments happen when making a risky gamble and hitting 21, knocking an enemy flat on their back. However, playing too risky can come back to bite the player later. Drawing over 21 too many times often left me without any recourse, and would end a promising run early. Ultimately, Dungeons is about striking a balance between swinging big while taking a few hits along the way.
It’s not just about the cards, though. The design of the NPCs and the gambling dens where the players will spend their time is where the atmosphere of Dungeons shines. Every area has its own charm and a cast of characters with well-written quips. I started out in a simple tavern with gamblers, drunks, and somewhat misplaced characters like teachers, bards, and giant rats. Later, I was presented with a decision – continue into the upper echelons of high-rolling gambling clubs to reach heaven, or descend further into the dungeons of depravity towards hell. Both offer rewards and plenty of random pop culture references like any D&D campaign would.
Dungeons is playable for hours, but eventually the player will see an end in sight. It’s a true roguelike experience with no permanent progression between runs, but each time I learned a little more about playing, the various bosses between the upper and lower levels, and how to beat them. I learned how the special cards worked and what strategies worked for tough enemies. The player can reach the end with a final boss and see an ending featuring either heaven or hell levels, but there are countless unique events that can happen on each run, ensuring that no one set strategy will always work — yet with enough attempts, the player perseveres.
While Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers may be tough to grasp at first, it doesn’t collapse under the weight of its mechanics. Every run is a unique adventure that surprised me more times than I thought possible, and it ends up a solid entry into the budding roguelike deckbuilder genre.
Rating: 7 out of 10
— Jack Dunn
Disclosures: The game was developed by Purple Moss Collectors and published by Yogscast Games. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 6 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB. Obviously, it revolves around blackjack and gambling. Some crude themes are mentioned, and there is a character smoking setting that can be turned off.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: The dialogue in the game is communicated through speech bubbles. The text for these speech bubbles cannot be resized.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: The dialogue in the game is communicated through visual speech bubbles. The text for these speech bubbles cannot be resized. No audio cues are required for successful gameplay.
Remappable controls: Controls are not remappable. The game uses a mouse.
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