Steam Next Fest: Dungeons of Dreadrock 2 is the puzzle game sequel I was waiting for

Dungeons of Dreadrock is one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. It’s a hidden gem on every platform on which it appears, with its faster-paced action puzzling being both a unique twist on the dungeon crawler genre and a real head-scratcher at times. Now, during Steam Next Fest, a demo for the sequel – Dungeons of Dreadrock 2: The Dead King’s Secret – is available and it’s everything I could have asked for.

For those who haven’t played Dungeons of Dreadrock, first of all, stop reading this, go grab it on Switch, PC, or mobile, and enjoy it. Now that you’ve done that, you’ll know that DoD is an action puzzle game that’s part dungeon crawler and part environmental puzzle game. Movement behaves a little bit like a Mystery Dungeon game, where the world is broken up into a grid, but instead of enemies moving when you do, they move independently of you. Your tools are limited, consisting of just a knife and whatever else you find around each level – like a throwing stone – to solve Zelda-like puzzles.

DoD 2 takes this basic concept and puts it into overdrive. The first game had a few instances where you’d be moving back and forth between levels to solve levels between different floors, but DoD 2 uses this to much greater effect, with multi-floor puzzles asking not only that you think in three-dimensional space, but that you use your memory and spatial reasoning to solve much more complex puzzles. It makes you feel much more clever when you figure out what you’re meant to do, but it doesn’t overwhelm either — if you think things through, you can figure it out without too much trouble. If you get stuck, there’s always a hint system, too.

This time around, you’ll be playing as a priestess of The Order of the Flame, with a staff that can fire lightning bolts and a few extra tools under your belt. That staff can also be used to whack an enemy on the head, too, so if it ever stops working for whatever reason, you’re not totally defenseless. You can still do almost everything you could in the first game, like throw rocks and step on switches, but these extra tools are a welcome addition.

I won’t spoil too much in the way of story, but there’s a connection here to the first game that comes into play in a really fascinating way, and if nothing else it provides more of a reason to go play Dungeons of Dreadrock.

The presentation here is top-notch too, just like the last game in the now-series, with utterly gorgeous pixel art, fantastic sound design, and some really great music. The starting levels are a bit of a throwback to the last outing, but once you get further in it really starts to shine, with its own audiovisual identity coming into clear focus.

Dungeons of Dreadrock 2’s demo isn’t particularly long, but after playing through the half-dozen levels on offer, I’m excited to see more of what’s shaping up to be one of the best puzzle game sequels in recent history.

Oliver Brandt is a writer based in Tasmania, Australia. A marketing and journalism graduate, they have a love for puzzle games, JRPGs, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and any platformer with a double jump.

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