Game: Super Dungeon Maker
Genre: Action, Puzzle, Adventure, Education
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam, Windows)
Developers | Publishers: FIRECHICK | rokaplay
Age Rating: US E | EU 7+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: May 3rd, 2023
Review code used, with many thanks to Plan of Attack.
Initially released on Steam last year and now ported to the Nintendo Switch, Super Dungeon Maker is a top-down role-playing game and dungeon-making toolkit inspired by the best 2D adventure games. In the game, you take on the role of a sword-wielding chicken named Fink, which should seem very familiar to any Legend of Zelda fan.
Dungeon Maker
Unlike other games in this genre, like Super Mario Maker, which have a bit of a storyline attached to them, there isn’t a story in Super Dungeon Maker. Instead, you are a heroic chicken living in a small village populated by birds. When the game begins, you are dropped into a pre-made dungeon to find your way to the exit.
There isn’t a tutorial in the game; in fact, it tells you very little information whatsoever when you begin the game. That’s fine for me. As a long-time gamer, I can find my own way around a game without guidance. However, for a first-time player, the fact there isn’t a tutorial or any help will put a lot of people off the game. It’s not a challenging game by any means, but a little direction for a new player is always welcome.
Three In-Built Dungeons
There are three short built-in dungeons for you to try your hand at exploring. You’ll swing your sword, smash some pots, and navigate the dungeons filled with various bad guys.
In addition, Super Dungeon Maker isn’t just about exploring dungeons and fighting enemies but making your own dungeon creations and then sharing those online.
There is a small central village in the game that acts as a hub and sandbox between the game’s three in-built dungeons, and it is here you will find two buildings that you can enter. The Hen & Fam is where you can design your own dungeons, or if you visit the Dungeon Eggspedial, you can download dungeons designed by others to try out. Well, you could if it worked correctly, but more on that in a minute.
Design Dungeons
When it comes to designing a dungeon, all the tools you need are there. From traps, chests, enemies, and decorations, such as plants. However, I had expected more variants in the assets, as the number of assets for designing a dungeon is quite limited, and you don’t unlock any other assets playing the game.
You can create rooms full of monsters, puzzles with switches and obstacles, or a mixture of both. Designing a dungeon is fun, although the controls on the Nintendo Switch are a little fiddly during dungeon construction.
It is Not All Fun and Games
Visiting the Dungeon Eggspedial allows you to choose to play a dungeon designed by other players. You can search for a specific friend’s dungeon if you know its name or choose from the Hot, Top or New dungeons tabs.
When you choose a dungeon you would like to play, you have two options: play it or download it to play later. Unfortunately, this is where I had some hiccups with the game. Whenever I tried to download a dungeon, the game would kick me out of the Dungeon Eggspedial and back to the hub area, or the game would crash completely. That happened quite a few times, and an update to the game would probably fix it. In the end, I did manage to download another player’s dungeon to try out, but it is hit or miss if it works.
Since you’ll spend as much time trying out dungeons as making them, playing through them has to be fun. Unfortunately, combat and movement in Super Dungeon Maker is its weakest component, as the chicken doesn’t move fast at all, and he also has a slow attack.
Visuals and Controls
Visually it is a colourful and bright world of chickens, hens, and roosters that will immediately remind you of the classic 2D Zelda’s. However, the resemblance to Zelda is superficial and obviously, due to copyright laws, the chicken isn’t named Link.
Controls on the Nintendo Switch, other than being a little fiddly when designing my dungeon, like I’ve mentioned, work well overall.
Conclusion
It’s hard not to compare Super Dungeon Maker to the Zelda series, and the game does not attempt to hide the similarities, but it is not Zelda. I also think the game could do with some more assets to give you more variety in what you can use when building your dungeon. Hopefully, an update at some stage will add more assets. Super Dungeon Maker will scratch that itch for players who want to create a dungeon with a hint of Zelda.
Final Verdict: I Like it 