Monsters' Den: Book of Vengeance Review

Back to the dungeon, one portrait at a time

Monsters' Den is a genuinely old series by indie standards, tracing back to browser-based dungeon crawlers on sites like Kongregate and Armor Games nearly two decades ago, with Book of Dread its most fondly remembered entry. Book of Vengeance, developed and published solo by returning series studio Monstrum, is a deliberate return to that earlier formula after two more recent, more elaborate instalments -- Godfall and Chronicles -- moved the series toward open-world structure and 3D models. It entered Steam Early Access on 2 October 2025 at a low NZ$14.75, and Steam's own news history confirms the date without ambiguity: a versioned patch landed on release day, followed by a genuinely unusual, near-continuous weekly update cadence that has run without a real gap for nearly a year afterward.

That return to form lands well with the series' core, longtime fanbase, according to a small but clearly engaged review sample: 37 reviews at the time of writing, 31 of them positive, a Positive rating built heavily around nostalgia. One reviewer, describing themselves as "a long-time fan since the originals going back over 10 years," writes that "Book of Vengeance even in it's early stage delivers a perfect mix of nostalgia and a fresh take on the series." Another writes plainly, "if you didn't like the original monsters den flash games you definitely won't like this but I think this game has probably the best gameplay of all the monsters den games" -- a specific, informed comparison from someone with the full series history to draw on. A German-language reviewer offers a useful counterpoint, however, preferring the more recent Godfall specifically and describing this Early Access entry as, by comparison, "just a dungeon crawler simulation" without story or clear purpose beyond levelling a party -- a fair, detailed dissent worth weighing against the majority nostalgia-driven praise.

The clearest new mechanical addition, a dual-class system letting characters mix and remix skill sets from different job archetypes, draws consistent specific praise. One detailed review lists it first among the game's strengths, calling it "a Cool new class remixing feature" that sits alongside "classic monster den gameplay without needing to follow a campaign story." Another reviewer frames the same system as the game's standout addition over the originals, describing genuine build experimentation once a second class unlocks at level three in a chosen specialisation. The developer's update cadence draws its own specific, repeated praise too, with more than one reviewer explicitly crediting community feedback as visibly shaping class-balance and itemisation changes across the weekly patch notes -- a genuinely active Early Access development pace rather than an abandoned cash-in.

Set against that enthusiasm, the review sample converges on one specific, repeated, and independently corroborated complaint: the game's art. Multiple reviewers, entirely independently of one another, identify player and monster portraits as AI-generated, several noting that the Steam store page itself discloses this openly. One reviewer, while still recommending the game, writes it's "a bit disheartening to see them use AI for portraits," while another calls the results "kinda gross-looking" despite otherwise enjoying the class-mixing systems, and a more critical review states flatly that a "nearly 20 year old series" should "use their own ****ing artists instead of AI trash." This is a real, repeated pattern across independent reviewers specifically about the game's own art pipeline, distinct from and worth reporting alongside the otherwise positive reception of its gameplay systems -- and several reviewers do note the game currently allows players to swap in custom portrait art as a partial workaround.

A second, more structural complaint comes specifically from the series' most invested fans: named content from the fondly remembered Book of Dread appears to be missing at this stage of Early Access, with one detailed review directly asking "where did the legendary items go? Are they coming? Where's pandora's box and legendary lure? Where's the cool boss loot?" That same review raises a specific balance concern too, noting area-of-effect abilities currently "delete tiles of enemies" regardless of difficulty setting, a complaint about build homogenisation that recurs in substance elsewhere in the sample. A separate, more pointed negative review argues, distinct from any specific content complaint, that a series with a decade-plus history of "selling the same game" without meaningfully new ideas is wearing thin as a business model -- a fair critique of the broader pattern even from a reviewer who otherwise concedes the moment-to-moment gameplay is solid. A smaller, practical complaint about itemisation appears too, with one reviewer explicitly requesting fewer, more curated loot drops rather than the current flood of minor item choices.

Set against the wider field of classic, loot-focused turn-based dungeon crawlers this coverage tracks, Book of Vengeance's clearest strength is a genuine, well-executed return to a beloved older formula that its most invested longtime fans specifically credit as the series' best entry in years. Its clearest weakness is a repeated, independently corroborated complaint about AI-generated art sitting uncomfortably against an otherwise well-regarded presentation, alongside fair, specific concerns from the same fanbase that content still lags behind the series' own established high-water mark.

Verdict

Monsters' Den: Book of Vengeance is a satisfying, nostalgic return to the classic turn-based, portrait-based Monsters' Den formula that its Positive review sample -- built heavily on genuine long-time series affection -- rewards accordingly, backed by an active weekly update cadence and a promising new dual-class system. A specific, repeated complaint about AI-generated art and fair concerns from the series' most dedicated fans about missing content relative to earlier entries are worth knowing going in, but at a very low price and still early in its Early Access life, this remains a reasonable pickup for dungeon-crawler loyalists.