Hi, Friend! Do you: 💠enjoy action-y twin stick shooters 💠appreciate a tower defense now and then 💠love the Amplitude Studios art style and are also an Endless universe fan 💠have friends who share these traits ... then welcome to my after-100% entirely subjective recommendation of Dungeon Defenders Endless Dungeon ! Note that there is another game by Amplitude called Dungeon of the Endless . I will not be comparing the two, as I others have already done so. Right, then... Endless Dungeon , a gorgeous hybrid of gaming genres. The art style beautifully allows for easy readability during chaotic times. The music excellently sets the theme of a difficult time-is-of-the-essence space western. It also plays a big part in making the Saloon one of the hubs I can vibe for hours in. The sounds amazingly communicate events while not feeling like too much is happening at once. The gameplay proves difficult to master. Practice makes perfect. I am very bad at this game but I still have fun most runs. Companions help with the latter. Also, the lore is endlessly nice but... insufficient in my opinion #MoarLorePLS!!! Before you draw your own conclusions about Endless Dungeon , please consider that it's easy to have false expectations about what you'd want a game to be versus what it really is. Looking at what others have to say, I think the scope and complexity of Endless Dungeon are misunderstood. It is not a bad game, but a difficult one with a lot of moving gears. I'm a big fan of Amplitude Studios and of everything Endless, I've been hyped about Endless Dungeon since they announced it, and so it gets a big recommend from me... But no game is (objectively) perfect so here's the Good🔷, the Bad🔶, and since there is no Ugly (apart from Denuvo Anti-Cheat, yuck!) you'll be getting my unsolicited advice💠instead. BE WARNED - reading from this point on may lead to your own joy of discovery being spoiled. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3145199708 Oh to be Endless, to leave a mark... HEROES 🔷Hero passives, actives, and ultimates matter; remember to use them. 🔶unlocking all Heroes takes time. 💠solo-play picks: Comrade, Zed, and Shroom; Co-op picks: Comrade (Amp, don't nerf plox!) w/ Bunker & Blaze, Cartie & Blaze, or Cartie & Zed. QUESTS 🔷see Steam achievements for Hero pairings; they get extra dialogue lines between Zones; quests bring both unlocks and lore. 🔶not enough voice acting during quests; the texts are great but mini-2D-cinematics or audio would be better; skins look awesome but Saloon models don't update and they don't have 2D art portraits. 💠 1st priority : unlock Heroes and do all of the quests! you can work on up to three quests at once per run, use the Weather Eye to plan; do not try to rush the end-game. CHIPS 🔷Chips are expensive, figure out Heroes and weapons before spending any. 🔶farming Chips is slow. 💠break colored barrels, open chests; bosses always drop currency; expensive Chips aren't always better. LEVELING UP 🔷level 4-9 upgrades are stronger and based on level 1-3 picks. 🔶you won't have three level 9 Heroes in every game; 💠get a 'carry' hero to level 9 before the Core; Fire Rate upgrades are good, there's synergy with Critical Strikes and Heavy Weapons; favorite level 4+ upgrades: Bullet Hail (Fire Rate) and The Mechanic (Wit); favorite CB upgrades: speED . WEAPONS 🔷Light Weapons have average higher Fire Rate, Heavy Weapons have average higher Damage. 🔶each increase in weapon quality only adds +1 to damage. 💠don't knock Knockback; with a Heavy Weapons only team, chests and shops won't spawn Light Weapons and vice-versa; favorite weapon: Photon Cannon (or any Light Element); favorite devices: All4Oner, Mental Blinds. THE SHOP 🔷Shops have 5 items to choose from; weapon quality in Shops increases with each Zone; devices don't have qualities; it's efficient to buy good items earlier on. 🔶shop rerolls require Dust #RarelyWorth. 💠equipped devices and weapons won't spawn in the shop again; want to gamble on getting an equipped weapon upgrade? drop the weapon and then reroll. TURRETS 🔷elemental affinity is efficient; nests colors on minimap show the weakness (note: light green is Light; neon green is Acid). 🔶turret range and HP end up mattering a lot more than elemental affinity. 💠#AlwaysBeSmackingTurrets; favorites: Acid Sharpshooter (range!), Amplifier (stacks!), Laser Blinder (share zone with Jellyfier); for kill-rooms: Diagnosticator. RESEARCH 🔷researching triggers a wave; if a wave is already ongoing, it reinforces the wave. 🔶every research is more expensive than the last. 💠on level 1, getting Science going on 2 generators early gets you 2-3 turrets researched at a point where you can defend with just Heroes; level 1 is the only time I'll consider picking a bonus Science Wildcard; turret rank 3 is rarely worth it. ZONES 🔷 2nd priority : unlock all zones; 3rd priority : get Core Defenses down. 🔶if you rush the Core before 3rd priority, the Defenses will make you cry #notworth. 💠there's lore and chip currency to repeatedly collect; all Zone are worth revisiting; the later you unlock a zone, the bigger it is, and the more rewards it has. FINAL BOSS 🔷the final boss is an absolute pain, good luck! (Red Dead Eye best boss) 🔶invulnerability phases never stop being annoying; the far and wide teleportation is forever aggravating; the room darkening is most times infuriating; good luck! 💠have patience; you're gonna get'em eventually, take your time, learn the moves; you got this! Light Element weapons and turrets help; Amplifiers help; an ample amount of First Aid Kits and related power-up bonuses help; good luck! BEVERAGES 🔷If you wanna flex on Discord, finishing a Beverage run on Hard difficulty will give you a special sticker on the drink menu #GottaCatchemAll 🔶finishing a Beverage run on Hard difficulty only gives you a special sticker on the drink menu. 💠misery loves company, convince your friends to help (not me though, I'm done xD) WILDCARDS 🔷Wildcard effects stack; Drawbacks only affect one Zone at a time; after a few games you're gonna realize which Wildcards fit your playstyle and which don't. 🔶not all Wildcards are designed equally. 💠 Special.Turret.Slot <3 In closing, after more than 200 hours with it, I found Endless Dungeon to be ultimately endearing while also challenging. It is a worthy addition to Amplitude's Endless universe and I will watch its further development with great interest. TL;DR: Game's a blast, play it (with friends)! Final Rating: 5/5 Concrete Endless Skulls and a Core Crystal full of Dust or whatever-ratings-are-dumb... 💀 💀 💀 💀 Amplitude Studios had its 13th birthday on January 21st (bonne fête et longue vie!) and I really wanted my after-100% small but eloquent wall of text to be ready by then. Alas, grinding through opening 10,000 doors took a while longer than I initially thought. On a personal note, this is my third recommendation for 2024 and I'm still hoping I can somehow miraculously get four of these babies out every month. The positive reacts on Boltgun and Kill The Crows omg!!! It is humbling to see that that my words are seen and appreciated and it's motivating me to keep going. Thanks for (the Golden Unicorns ^.^ and) all the positive support! Well, Friend, you've made it to words' end! I hope you enjoyed and I wish you the best! So I'll meet you in the next one, 𝓢𝓮𝓮 𝓨𝓸𝓾, 𝓢𝓹𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝔀𝓫𝓸𝔂...
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