Dicefolk is a game that puts a literal spin on the creature battler, allowing you to play a good solo game of multiplayer. Confused? Think about it as playing chess all by yourself, but instead of towers and queens you have the chimera, mythical beings that will be your pawns in this turn-based roguelite game. As a chimera summoner, you will recruit and command dozens of hand-drawn creatures, but the twist is that you are both the attacker and the defender. This is a clever little game, one that encourages reruns and manages to remain addictive for hours on end.
Spin It Again
Dicefolk is a card battler where cards just happen to be replaced by dice, but not your regular type of dice with the familiar dots; these are filled with offensive, defensive, and neutral actions that allow you to send your team of three chimera on the left side against the ferocious enemies to the right. You can attack, guard, spin the plates to change the creature that is at the front, among other things. The twist here is that you are doing the attacking for both parties, managing your team the best you can as you deal damage to yourself.
It’s easier to play than to explain, don’t worry. You can only move to the next turn after using all the dice from the opponent, meaning that if the RNG is being hard on you, in all likeliness you’ll be doing some unavoidable damage to your team, and healing items aren’t exactly abundant, so you should be careful. This requires meticulous planning, examining the dice for both teams, and concocting some kind of genius plan where every move falls into the next ones in a way that you take as less damage as possible. Sometimes this fails horribly because there are so many factors, so many character abilities, buffs, debuffs, and equipped items to consider that it’s easy to overlook a mere detail.
For example, you can assign a leader to your party and equip it with an item that says something like “if in the lead at battle end, heals party slightly.” Other items may give them extra attacks when rotating in and out of the lead, or gaining strength at random. Some of these are cursed, meaning that when you equip them on a chimera, you can’t remove them anymore, so choose wisely.
When you die and have to restart each run with your meek Beloid chimera trio, it can be quite a blow to your confidence. But with the new experience gained, in both senses of the word, you are more prepared for the challenges added. Your previous successes allow you to unlock more chimera, adding to the roster that you get to recruit and use when you reach shrines, for example. But be careful, as there are three shrines per stage and when you choose one chimera, the other ones will remain out of your grasp and out of your sight for the rest of that run – there’s no second opportunity after accepting or rejecting one. Don’t rush, examine the stats and abilities, and think just how useful it can be to your party.
This happens on the stage map, a randomized playground of battles, shops, travelers, the big boss that spells the end of the area, and other events that are often one-time visit only, no room for regrets. One of the useful things you can do before going into battle is purchasing some dice to replace the few idle ones you have, or others that you may feel aren’t as relevant to your tactics. There’s definitely a lot going on during each run to make it significantly different from the previous one, as you jump from biome to biome, earn experience, and unlock the best chimera.
Chimera Runs
There isn’t much to complain about Dicefolk, a simple game on the surface but with a lot going on under the hood, and a competent mix of creature battler and roguelike. One thing that I don’t appreciate is how you can’t correct your path as soon as you click on a goal while on the map, giving you no opportunity to avoid a shrine or a buff event, and knowing the importance of these, timing can be crucial – saving them for later can make all the difference.
It also helps that the game looks good, a colorful style that is naturally reminiscent of Pokémon, quite charming in its fairly simple design with very clean lines and distinct identity for each creature, it’s hard to get them mixed together.
Eventually, after a countless number of runs where the dice didn’t always roll as you hoped for, you may feel a tad tired and want to take a break from it. But it’s hard not wanting to return to Dicefolk, as that rewarding feeling after each battle is strong, a showcase that your decisions are by far more important than luck in this roguelite, and it deserves the love – it’s a fun, pretty, and enjoyable creature battler with a great spin to its solo PvP gameplay.
Score: 8.5/10
Pros:
- Very original take on solo PvP
- Clever gameplay with more focus on skill than sheer luck
- Nice hand-drawn graphics
Cons:
- No chance to stop our movement on the map once started
Dicefolk review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.