Dungeon Brawls

Introduction

Dungeon Brawls, developed by Underground Cat and published by Wise Games, released on Steam on 9 September 2026 at NZ$14.17, following a long-running free demo that some reviewers report having played for hundreds of hours before the full launch. It's a 4-player co-op action roguelike that fuses the shared DNA of old Warcraft III defense-style custom maps with survivors-style horde combat: each player controls a hero holding a fixed spawn point, choosing from dozens of available characters and freely combining hundreds of skills and relics into a build, then fighting off waves of enemies and bosses either solo or with up to three friends. The game ships on Windows only, with no controller support, and supports both online and LAN co-op. As a title with a substantial existing demo fanbase, it launched with a modest but clearly positive review base: 99 total reviews at the time of writing, 84 of them favourable, landing the game at Very Positive on Steam's own scale.

What's working: enormous build variety and a co-op hook that lands

What comes through most clearly across Dungeon Brawls' overwhelmingly Simplified Chinese-language review sample is how consistently reviewers credit its sheer build variety with keeping runs fresh. One detailed reviewer sums up the appeal directly, translated: "Build freedom is high, with a large number of heroes and hundreds of skills and relics to mix and match. Summoning, spellcasting burst, melee burst, defensive turtling and other playstyles can all come together. Every run is randomised, so the same hero can play completely differently each time." A separate reviewer frames the loop in simpler terms, describing it as "a lightweight roguelike horde-clearer with great value for money right now," and noting that as builds come together, "you get stronger the more you fight, and it feels great to clear the screen." Reviewers repeatedly compare the game's structure to a "stitched together" mix of familiar influences, with one specifically naming "Warcraft, Dota Arena, Dungeon Fighter Online" as the games it draws from, adding, translated, "the content is rich, easy to pick up, and there's plenty of innovation for players with a base in those games."

Co-op draws its own independent, repeated praise as the game's single biggest strength. One reviewer writes plainly, translated, "The most fun part is playing online with friends — four people running different builds and combining skills to take down bosses together, and the connection stability is good too, great for a group session." Another reviewer echoes the sentiment in blunter terms: "As everyone knows, the scarcest thing in a multiplayer game is other people! As long as you've got friends, even something rough is fun." Beyond the co-op hook, several reviewers specifically credit the developer's post-launch responsiveness, with one writing, translated, "occasional small bugs show up, but updates come fast, and the developer keeps optimising content and adding new heroes and levels — you can clearly feel the game getting better." Reviewers also single out the game's low system requirements and smooth performance, with one specifically noting it "runs fine even on a low-spec PC," and several describe a meta-progression layer that gradually unlocks heroes and relics between runs without forcing heavy grinding.

The honest problems: a stationary combat stance, RNG-heavy builds, and AI-generated art

Set against that praise, Dungeon Brawls' review sample carries a cluster of specific, recurring complaints, several of them concentrated among its smaller English-language contingent. The most consistent is the game's stationary combat stance. One English-language reviewer writes bluntly, "Game is very slow paced, you need to stand still to attack which leads to a very boring gameplay loop where you can't really kite things." A separate reviewer reports refunding the game entirely over the same issue, writing, "I could tell from the start that it wasn't ready. Unless you really like standing by a spawner for 20 rounds, maybe you'll enjoy it. The abilities seemed like they could be interesting, but they never quite get there." A Simplified Chinese reviewer raises a closely related complaint in their own words, translated: "Character movement works like a MOBA, needing to stand in place to attack, except for a small number of characters who can move and cast at the same time — that's tough for a newcomer like me, since if the cards don't go your way, standing and tanking later on just isn't possible."

A second cluster of complaints centres on how heavily builds depend on random drops. One critical reviewer writes, translated, "It's a boring game where the early game is entirely about your luck with the cards. If you get lucky, you coast to an easy win later. If you don't, all you can do is restart," while a separate reviewer adds there's "no speed-up function, so you just have to grind through the time." Beyond RNG, the Steam store page's own AI Generated Content Disclosure states plainly that "most of the game's art and UI are generated by AI," a detail reviewers occasionally reference directly rather than as pure speculation. A different reviewer reports a thin pool of English-speaking rooms specifically, writing, "My only complaint is there's really not too many English rooms/players. I'd like to do a co-op and experience this with more people." One reviewer separately reports a serious technical fault, describing the game locking up entirely on launch: "the game goes to a black screen the moment it starts, the mouse just spins, and the whole computer freezes — I can only restart it." Smaller, more specific requests round out the sample, including calls for a mouse-based item pickup option, drag-and-drop skill and relic management, and complaints that the difficulty spikes sharply and unevenly between the game's early stages.

Verdict

Dungeon Brawls backs up a small, clearly positive launch with a genuinely deep build system at its centre: reviewers repeatedly credit its dozens of heroes and hundreds of combinable skills and relics with keeping runs varied, and its co-op mode draws consistent, independent praise as the reason friends keep coming back. Its honest problems are just as specific: a stationary "stand-and-cast" combat stance that several reviewers, especially in English, find genuinely boring rather than tactical, a build system that leans heavily on early-run luck rather than player skill, and a plainly stated AI Generated Content disclosure covering most of the game's art and UI. None of that undoes what a clearly positive reception is responding to in the co-op build-crafting core, but the combat stance and RNG dependency are worth going in aware of. This is a cautious recommendation for co-op roguelike fans specifically drawn to build variety and old-school RPG-map nostalgia.

Wanderer callout

A reviewer who refunds the game and still takes the time to explain precisely which mechanic failed them, standing still by a spawner for twenty rounds, rather than leaving a vague thumbs-down, is exactly the kind of specific, actionable evidence Wanderer treats as more valuable than a blanket complaint: it names the exact design choice a buyer needs to weigh before purchasing.