Dicefolk - Review

Slay the Spire meets Pokemon is an apt way to describe the whimsical and wild world of Dicefolk. A tactical roguelite adventure with monster-summoning powers and the ability to change the roll of the dice to benefit you.

Dicefolk is an interesting entry into the tactical roguelite genre. A nice pivot away from the deck building style of gameplay, Dicefolk employs what its name infers; dice throwing. Combining this with a light monster-capturing monster-summoning style, this hand-drawn adventure looks to stand out as a unique prospect in a sea full of tactical roguelites that are simply run of the mill offerings.

Dicefolk puts you in control of monsters known as Chimeras’, animal-like creatures with a wide array of abilities, stats and playstyles. As you play through the game you will unlock more chimeras as you level up your different talismans. Talismans act as your skill modifier of sorts. Depending on which talisman you pick, will affect how your dice are allocated and what unique abilities are related to the dice. For the most part the abilities of the talisman seem to become non-existent soon after you replace your starting Chimera. However the Pain talisman which is one of the last you unlock completely changes the way you use your dice, with a risk and reward style of gameplay. The basic fundamentals of the different talismans, the unlocking of new chimera, and the chimera that are related to each talisman have been worked out very concisely, and result in an easy to pick up and learn experience.

The core gameplay however is done in a way that is very different to traditional tactical roguelites. You control the entirety of the battle. Both yourself and the enemy will have an array of abilities that are determined by the roll of the dice. Dicefolk is unique in that it allows you to control both your own team and the enemy team. This allows for a level of strategy that you wouldn’t normally get in these games. With a variety of abilities, you have unprecedented strategic control of the flow of battle. Choosing when enemies will attack, having some influence over who they will attack. Wasting idle and superfluous actions, so that on re-rolls they are punished for not having more active dice. The decision to allow you full control of the battle seems like it would over-simplify the battles, this is not the case however. In reality it means you spend so long trying to work out ways not to accidentally kill your own units, whilst also effectively avoiding status ailments and debuffs that will make taking your own actions, or using a clash like action at the wrong time and further punishing yourself.

On top of the control of battle, there are even more ways to influence and change the RNG of the dice in your favour. As you progress the Slay the Spire style of map, you’ll come across dicesmith, who you can buy different dice actions from and apply to your dice to change out less desirable dice roll actions into more desirable ones. You also have the ability to buy speciality dice, with a range of different actions and behaviours of their own. A Jester die will re-roll all remaining active dice, whereas a mechanical dice will roll through its face in order, allowing you to set the actions of that dice up more carefully. It sounds like this would get chaotic, and at times that can be the case. However for the most part, the game plays and runs so smoothly, that you never feel truly overwhelmed by the plethora of options available.

Further to this, each individual chimera will have a base and iridescent form, with each form having a unique ability. Some will give strength increases to a damage ally, others will give you a % chance to attack again whenever you attack an opposing creature. Some abilities will even reward you for switching in and out the leader of your three chimera. Mix these abilities together, with an array of stat increases and the unique aspects of the dice and you get a much deeper and complex battle system than what would appear at first. The sheer array of combinations that become available, coupled with your own personal style of play leaves you with hundreds upon hundreds of ways to approach each individual encounter as you replay through the game over and over.

The replay value of this game however, will rely upon how much you enjoy and gel with the combat itself. There is a story here, but outside of the two or three cutscenes that play at the very start and very end of your runs, it doesn’t go into much depth. The major focus on the game is on the gameplay, and as a result the narrative suffers. If you’re looking for a stronger story or narrative direction, you will find yourself left wanting with Dicefolk. Getting to watch the exact same cutscene at the end of every run is always somewhat draining. This may be something that is rectified in future with expansions to the game, or more endings being added. But for the moment, there is not a huge amount of story to digest. How this affects the player will be dependent upon how much the gameplay itself pulls you in. It took me around seven attempts to get the full five clears required to see the ending for the first time, and unlock the special fifth talisman. This will vary from player to player, depending on how quickly they adapt and adjust to the gameplay style, as well as how lucky they get with RNG. For what constitutes a traditional finish of the game, most players are likely to see eight to ten hours of gameplay.

If you do find yourself enraptured by the game however, Trial mode is where you’ll see the most bang for your buck. Trial mode consists of eleven levels of increasing challenges and difficulty. Starting from giving you the ability to re-roll all active dice one per turn, whilst giving the enemy an additional dice. Each tier of trial mode will add more benefits and challenges, to make the game increasingly more intricate and challenging. Trial mode is a significant step up in difficulty from the base game, with it changing the faces of your dice to be less useful at the start, and making the re-rolls far more essential to successful play than you might initially think. Trial mode follows the same three main stages, with a final fourth boss only stage. You’ll add anywhere between twenty to thirty hours minimum pushing through all the trial modes, and will definitely unlock all the different chimeras and dice actions as well.

Finally, the visuals of Dicefolk are an interesting mix. The game consists of 2D cut-outs of every character model, with slight special effects animations to indicate the different attacks, abilities and spells of the chimeras. Everything is hand-drawn, and that small touch and care for detail really lends itself to the whimsicality of the game. There is a passion here in Dicefolk that is severely lacking in many of the copy and paste games in the genre.

Dicefolk is a strong, deeply thought out and highly challenging tactical roguelite. Combining monster-capturing mechanics, with a unique style of dice-roll combat. There is a deep passion for the game that can be seen in the careful detail put into crafting such a complex, but approachable game of this style. There is a lot of replay value for those who are interested in the game, with only a light smattering of a story. The whimsical design shows the love that the developers have poured into this project, and in turn an enjoyable and only mildly frustrating experience awaits.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Good Shepherd Entertainment

The Pros

Deeply challenging combat

The Chimeras all feel varied and unique

Trial Mode adds countless extra hours to the game

The Cons

There is hardly any story to sneeze at

The base experience may be too short for some

Only one of the five talismans feels unique