DUNGEON OF THE ENDLESS

A simple but effective strategy game that's still my mainstay.

- Lauren Morton

A strategy roguelite about escaping an alien-infested spaceship should not be relaxing, and yet I've always cultivated a Solitairelike calm when playing Dungeon of the Endless. Amplitude Studios is, fairly, better known for its excellent 4X games: Endless Legend, Endless Space, and, of course, Humankind.

In between all its expansion and exploitation antics is this lesser known but no less excellent run-based strategy RPG from 2014. Amplitude is currently reimagining the space station escape game in the upcoming tactical action game Endless Dungeon, a name more in line with other old hits, but even so it will always be Dungeon of the Endless that I routinely return to for a bit of strategic relaxation year after year after year.

Even when push comes to shove in the eternal battle for hard drive space, I've never betrayed Dungeon of the Endless with uninstallation. Odd of a choice in comfort game as it is, it's as timeless an essential on my PC as Oblivion or Stardew Valley. Even eight years on, I still go back every few months to play a couple floors of deadly spaceship escape.

SIMPLY STRATEGIC

The basic rules of Dungeon of the Endless are comfortably simple. You explore every floor of the space station room by room, looking for the exit to the next floor. The door to each new room of the floor may reveal gear, a new party member to recruit, or an entire crowd of monsters hellbent on destroying the ship's crystal you've got to protect. Opening each one acts like a turn, doling out rewards or consequences, after which I can decide on which door explore next.

Once you've managed to find the exit room, you'll need to have one character ferry that crystal from the beginning of the level to the end with aggressive aliens in tow. Combat happens in real-time, though you're only managing which room your characters are in, not their individual attacks.