PvPvE chaos, anime heroes, and a loot-filled dungeon adventure are calling—do you answer?
If you’ve been following the rise of extraction dungeon crawlers, Dungeon Stalkers probably should have caught your eye the moment it hit Steam. Developed as a brand-new PvPvE dungeon crawler, this game aims to stand out from the dark aesthetic that is the industry standard for the genre.
The team behind it, ONEUNIVERSE, may not be a household name, but they clearly know a thing or two about balancing the tension of dungeon exploration with PvP encounters while giving players a playground full of flashy heroes and enough traps to keep even the most skilled dungeon veterans on their toes.
The premise is simple, but it is not a bystander by any means. Every character Dungeon Stalkers introduces varies in personality, and each comes equipped with special abilities of their own; the devs have done a commendable job to bring diversity to an otherwise small roster.
There are nine primary characters to choose from. Hilda, the sword-and-shield knight, moves like a tank but can still deal heavy blows in combat. Urud, the archer, offers a safer long-range option, while Nave, the mage, can zap enemies from across the room in quite some style. Other classes include Baron, a brute fighter that reminds you of a barbarian; Rio, a versatile rogue; and Cloud, a supportive priest.
Additional paid classes like Rene, Shinobu, and Lian can be unlocked with adventure tokens, though the grind that comes with it is absolutely mind-numbing, often taking 20–40 hours per character. Although balance is still being worked out, especially between melee and ranged combat, the roster is still enjoyable to play with; each character is unique from the others.
There are five distinct abilities for each class, and you can customize your build using the Rune system, which includes raw damage, magic efficiency, and agility. The Rune system is your main skill tree. The issue with the skill tree is the microtransactions that come along with it, which will be discussed in further detail.
Dungeon Stalkers has managed to find a sweet spot for PvPvE. You’re constantly walking on eggshells with dungeon monsters and traps, alongside the unpredictability of other players who are eyeing the same loot you are. There are multiple game modes to suit different playstyles. In PvE mode, you explore and fight AI monsters. Quick Match lets you hone your skills against other players without losing your gear on death, making it a lighter PvP experience. Ranked mode, however, ramps up the stakes. Here, death means losing all your gear. So beware or be gone!
Solo ranked is also available, which is a welcome addition for those who enjoy going it alone, although the removal of Solo Quick Match may disappoint some fans. Random events, like witches’ curses that break your armor, add to the mayhem, keeping each dungeon run fresh.
The core combat is okay. Yes, it’s just okay. That’s all there is to say. Even though your attacks are heavy, they also function really clumsily. It isn’t much better for movement. It’s common for fights to consist of slowly circling one another, exchanging blows, and hoping that your gear does the trick.
Enemy AI is nothing to write home about as well. Many monsters are far too simple to farm because they can be lured into predictable loops. Even if the difficulty curve may be welcoming to newcomers, it gets stale real fast, real quick.
There are also some events you may be interested in. You just log in for 14 days, and once you’re done, you get some random rewards. You also get rewards for playtime as well. You’ll see that this game is heavily monetized, particularly in the store and season pass. You also have a bunch of cosmetic bundles that are very expensive.
With that being said, we’ll dive right into the game’s Achilles heel: monetization. You do have your bundles for skins. These skin bundles are extortionately priced. There are many layers to the monetization. You can get Prime accounts. You have primary matchmaking, where you can matchmake with other Prime accounts only. It’s weird for a game that’s a dungeon crawler.
You get 500 wish stones if you do have a Prime account, which is the pay currency and stash expansion. You have to pay to get extra slots. Then you have growth item packs, which give you items such as weapons, scrolls, and consumables. This game is essentially pay-to-win.
You also have a membership that is in a 28-day cycle that gives you more market slots and stash expansion, so you get five trades instead of three, which is a decent upgrade. Market fee is reduced, and membership storage gives you more stash space. There are two uses in addition to the dungeon care service. The membership is the only thing somewhat salvageable about the game’s monetization.
In order to unlock additional coins while playing the game, you can also use a utility that allows you to pay wish stones for various boosters. You simply earn gold more quickly than other players, then. In addition, there is a season pass that offers a variety of rewards. There is a paid version of the season pass and a premium version of the premium season pass that you can buy, again milking the cash cow as dry as possible. More monetization, hurrah!
Adventure tokens, as aforementioned, are the main resource for unlocking perks and characters in Dungeon Stalkers. You can unlock more perks using adventure tokens, though the grind can be quite the uphill task if you are not consistent in-game. XP and leveling influence combat and progression equally. One neat thing is the cross-character loot sharing. If your knight finds a bow, you can give it to your archer. No, even though it would be hilarious, your ninja cannot run around with a giant warhammer because each class has gear restrictions.
The first thing that really jumps out at you as you step foot in the game is the art style. It’s colorful and packs a sucker punch of armor choices. Every character definitely has their own vibe, and you can tell them apart right away. But at the same time, they don’t always seem to fit with the world they’re in. It’s like walking through this medieval dungeon, but you are met with someone who looks like they accidentally took a wrong turn on the way to Comic-Con.
Visually the game has its strengths, but the overall presentation leaves a few cracks. The absence of ambient music in the dungeons sticks out like a sore thumb. You expect eerie tunes to set the mood, but instead you’re met with silence that just makes everything feel empty. Silence can work if the game is, let’s say, horror, but here it just makes the place feel half-baked.
For anyone curious about the PvPvE genre, Dungeon Stalkers offers a fresh take that is a surprising contrast to what you typically associate with such games. Its PvP tension makes it worth exploring, at least for a few sessions, until it goes and robs you in broad daylight. There’s fun to be had in the game, only if you can stay cautious of the wallet traps.
Dungeon Stalkers is a game that looks great, plays well enough to keep you engaged, and could become a staple in the PvPvE space if the developers continue to fine-tune combat and maybe lessen monetization. For now, it’s a rocky start, but Dungeon Stalkers has laid the foundation for future success here, but if the mistakes persist, the game also may succumb to a dungeon of obscurity.
