Dungeon Crawler games aren’t as common nowadays as they used to be. Part of this is because other styles, such as open-world survival games and open-world RPGs have taken over. Fortunately, there are a few dungeon crawlers that have tried to shift in style by turning to an open world.
Some of the best modern dungeon crawlers allow players to move around the world in whatever way they see fit. Open worlds are one of the most significant advancements in the history of gaming and these games show off exactly how well it can work.
6 Legend Of Grimrock 2
The Legend of Grimrock games are tile-based real-time dungeon crawlers that allow players to experience old-school gameplay in the dungeon crawler style with several more modernized additions such as the non-linear style of gameplay and persistent injuries. While there are limits to the open-world style of Legend of Grimrock 2, it is still a hugely fun one for fans of the dungeon-crawling genre, even if it isn't as accessible as some wish it could be.
The Legend of Grimrock 2 focuses on a party that washes up on the shore of the island Nex after the prison transport carrying them sinks off the coast of the island. Once there, they encounter the island’s master, a mysterious figure who goads them constantly as they traverse the island in a non-linear fashion. Coming across forests and swamps on the surface and ancient crypts beneath it, players have to go at their speed and along their path while they search for enough elemental gems to unlock the castle at the center of Nex.
5 Torchlight 2
The Torchlight series is another that is known for its specialty in dungeon crawling. There are randomly generated dungeons that players traverse, with overland areas and hub towns in-between to turn the game into a much larger experience, and an open-world one to boot, which improved upon the style laid out in the first Torchlight game.
The plot of Torchlight 2 features a new player character being tasked with stopping the player character from Torchlight, The Alchemist. After having become corrupted, The Alchemist destroys a town and players have to hunt him down across several different lands before he can disrupt the balance between the six elements making up the world. Torchlight 2 provides players with a wonderfully fun dungeon-crawling experience in an open world that keeps things narratively simplistic.
4 For The King
For The King is an unusual game, as it is a roguelike that involves exploration, clearing dungeons, and upgrading gear, but it is tile-based and includes many more strategic elements than fans of similar games would be used to. For The King provides a fun addition to a common formula in gaming, and it did it so well that a sequel, For The King 2, is scheduled for release in 2023.
For The King is set up to work similarly to a tabletop RPG, with each different trait having a certain likelihood of success based on each player’s skills. A great game to play as a coop party, there isn’t even a set story due to each adventurer that can be chosen having their own goals. Set in the land of Fahrul, the game involves many of the same locations and events in each different adventure, but because of the variety of tasks that can be completed depending upon which character is played, there is plenty of great replayability to this game.
3 Diablo 4
The recently released Diablo 4 has been somewhat controversial in its attempts to turn the Diablo franchise into an open-world adventure. However, the sales numbers for the game have been very promising and make it seem a major success thus far. Diablo 4 is set long after the other games in the franchise and surrounds the attempts of Lilith, daughter of Mephisto, and her reawakening.
Players take on the role of The Wanderer and must engage in plenty of dungeons delving while adventuring across a much wider open world than many expected possible for such a game. Diablo 4 is a sign of how much modern gaming is trending towards having an open world available, and players are loving the results.
2 Hades
Hades is one of the best-known roguelike games released in the last ten years. Based on the Greek Mythological version of the Underworld, Hades focuses on the son of the God of Death, who rebels and attempts an escape through a series of dungeons and enemies. Narratively powerful as well as amazingly fun, the style of gameplay and the world in which it is set is only a few of the notable points.
Players of Hades are tasked with taking on Zagreus, the son of Hades, who wants to make it to Mount Olympus to meet his mother. With a hugely fun hack-and-slash style of combat, a necessity to play multiple runs to fully experience the story, and plenty of amusement through the various mythological characters met, it is no wonder that Hades has quickly been noted by many as one of the best games of all time.
1 Persona 5
There is nothing like the Persona franchise when it comes to dungeon crawlers, they are the epitome of managing that style with narrative excellence in gaming today. It is hugely impressive the length of campaigns that they manage in such mainstream games, but players always come back for more and love what is produced, especially with Persona 5.
Persona 5 told the story of the Phantom Thieves, a group of school students who come together to explore the Metaverse and help people who become trapped in there as shadow forms of themselves. The story of Persona 5 is phenomenal, the gameplay is amazing and varied in style, and the dungeon-crawling aspects are excellent throughout.