Dungeon Clawler

It is clear that the developers had a lot of fun designing the world and characters to keep players on their toes. While it does have a bit of a learning curve that could've been smoothed out and the luck factor can never be underestimated, Dungeon Clawler is a great time. If you're looking for something to sink a lot of time into, but want to save your quarters on, this is a roguelike you shouldn't miss.

Dungeon Clawler is a deck-building roguelike game with a claw machine developed by Stray Fawn Studio and published by Stray Fawn Publishing. After becoming indebted through gambling, your hand is ripped off as payment. Seeking revenge, you attach a claw to the place where your hand once was and venture through the dungeons to reclaim your lost hand. Using a claw machine mechanic, similar to those found in shopping malls with plush toys, you must grab whatever you can and face enemies until you reach your final objective.

A fun roguelike deckbuilder with claw machine gameplay mechanics

Dungeon Clawler is such a clever game that I have to appreciate that it exists. Taking the concept of a claw machine and making it into a deck builder is the kind of unique idea that only ever springs from an indie game. The presence of a physics-driven claw machine turns the standard staples of a deck builder upside down, and that’s a lot of fun to toy with. The wide variety of characters is impressive, especially how each of them alters the game’s core rules in some way or another. Even without factoring in the special claws. Being able to do things like change an item’s material, which affects how it interacts with the machine and other items is brilliant. I just wish there was more room to experiment with it because many of my experimental ideas were simply not viable to realistically pull off and win the run. Be it because of how many specific items it would take, or the final boss simply saying no and slapping it down. The poor balance doesn’t make Dungeon Clawler a bad game by any means. It’s still a fun and unique deck-building game. But with so many builds being nonviable, and so many options clearly taking the throne as “meta” choices, its replay value burns out much faster than it should.

An interesting mix of claw machine mechanics with turn-based combat and roguelike elements