Four heroes enter a compact and dark dungeon full of the usual dangers such as monstrous monsters and entrapping traps. Dungeon Heroes is a dungeon in a small box, but are you a true Dungeon Hero or rather a Dungeon Lord?
Setup and goal
In this dungeon in a small box, two players face each other head-on. One player takes on the role of a brave hero (or rather a group of brave heroes) and the other player plays as an evil Dungeon Lord. Or a single player takes on the game, as this game can also be played very well as a solitaire challenge. At the beginning of the game, the heroic player gets four hero tiles, four dice (to keep track of the number of lives) and four corresponding meeples. The Dungeon Lord gets a bag full of tiles with traps and monsters, as well as treasures. The heroes try to collect these treasures, and the Dungeon Lord tries to crush the heroes one by one. This reprint of Dungeon Heroes includes several expansions crammed into the small and already very full box. These expansions add variety to the base game and the setup by introducing a new heroine and several new and dangerous monsters, among other things.
Gameplay
The gameplay consists of two parts: an active phase and a passive phase. The difference between these phases primarily impacts the actions of the Dungeon Lord. Taking turns, players perform actions starting with the Dungeon Lord. During the active phase, the Dungeon Lord starts to assemble his or her dungeon by placing four tiles (drawn randomly from the bag) of his or her choice on the game board each turn. During the passive phase, the Dungeon Lord can reveal tiles or use the monsters in the dungeon to attack the heroes. In the solo game, the game itself assumes the role of Dungeon Lord and 36 tiles are placed facedown on the game board and the heroic player begins. In the solitaire version the Dungeon Lord reveals a row of tiles each turn and all revealed monsters move towards the heroes each round.
Regardless of the phase, the heroic player gets four actions each turn (or eight actions in solo play) to distribute between his or her heroes. The actions are used to move heroes and activate special properties or items. For example, the Warrior can defeat monsters, the Cleric can heal other heroes, the Wizard can reveal adjacent tiles and the Rogue can disarm traps. When a hero moves to a facedown tile, that tile is revealed. By revealing tiles, monsters appear on the scene and attack players, trap players or find treasures or special items.
As soon as a hero runs out of life force due to monster attacks or traps, this hero is defeated. This hero can be revived by an elixir, but this situation is very rare. Once all heroes have been defeated, the Dungeon Lord has won. Three treasure chests are hidden in the dungeon and a fourth treasure chest lies open on the Dungeon Lord’s side. If the heroic player has three treasures (or four in the solo variant), this player has won!
Verdict
Dungeon Heroes is a very amusing and short game for two players or to play solo. The game could easily have been part of the Tiny Epic series, especially considering the box size and because it is published the same publisher. During the first game, the set-up time felt a little too long for the concise play time, but setup wasn’t too bad after the first couple of games. What you get in this little box is a fun asymmetric challenge with plenty of bluff and courage (push your luck) where players have to thwart each other in a very engaging way. The solo game is a fun puzzle where players have to test their luck. This makes Dungeon Heroes a solo game that is easy to pick up and play.
