The Fortress

Introduction

The Fortress, released 22 January 2026 by Baryonyx Games, is a dark-fantasy dungeon crawler where players choose a class and roll dice to fight through cursed chambers toward a final boss, building out artifacts and relics along the way. It sits Mixed across both a full multilingual sample of 151 reviews and a larger English-language sample of 93, and reading widely through them shows a release whose reception splits cleanly along a single, well-defined fault line.

Presentation reviewers near-universally praise

The clearest, most consistent thread in this sample is enthusiastic, specific praise for how the game looks and sounds. Reviewers overwhelmingly describe the gritty, retro pixel art and atmospheric music as excellent, many independently noting they didn't expect voice acting this strong from a game at this price point. Several reviewers specifically compare the overall aesthetic to classic tabletop dark-fantasy settings, some directly naming Mork Borg or OSR-style tabletop games as touchstones, and this review reads the consistency of that praise, spanning reviewers who otherwise land on opposite sides of the game's core mechanics, as strong evidence the presentation genuinely succeeds regardless of how players feel about the gameplay underneath.

The single most repeated complaint in this sample

Set against that praise, this review found a complaint so consistently and specifically repeated that it dominates the negative side of this sample: a large share of reviewers independently describe combat as offering little to no meaningful player choice, several using nearly identical language to compare the experience to a slot machine or a dice simulator rather than a strategy game. Multiple detailed reviewers break this down specifically, describing how dice results determine most outcomes directly, with available items and relics nudging numbers only marginally rather than opening up real tactical decisions. This review treats the sheer volume and specificity of this complaint, precise mechanical breakdowns rather than vague difficulty grumbling, as the central fact of this game's reception, one that clearly and directly divides its audience.

A vocal minority who say that's exactly the point

This review also found a smaller but clearly articulate counter-argument running through the positive side of this sample. Several reviewers explicitly push back on the RNG complaint, arguing the game delivers precisely what its marketing and demo promised, a dice-driven, luck-based dungeon crawl in the tradition of tabletop games where managing probability, not direct tactical control, is the intended skill. These reviewers specifically describe finding the format relaxing or tense in a way they enjoy, several explicitly comparing the format favourably to Darkest Dungeon's own embrace of punishing randomness. This review reads that split not as one side being simply wrong, but as a genuine mismatch between what different reviewers expected walking in.

Specific, repeated bugs that halt progress

Beyond the design debate, this review found a specific, separately corroborated set of technical complaints. Multiple reviewers independently report run-halting bugs, including gear that inexplicably stops functioning mid-run, items freezing while being dragged into equipment slots, and a "proceed to next room" button becoming unavailable, each forcing a restart rather than allowing the run to continue. This review treats the specificity and repetition of these separate failure modes, described independently using similar language, as a genuine and current stability problem distinct from the broader design debate above.

A fixed structure that undercuts replayability

This review also found a widely shared complaint about how little runs vary from one another. Multiple reviewers specifically describe every run following an identical sequence of rooms and bosses, several using the phrase "on rails" to describe the experience and explicitly contrasting it against the procedural variety they expect from the roguelite label. At least one detailed reviewer separately notes limited class variety compounds this problem, describing the available classes as small variations on a shared core moveset rather than meaningfully distinct builds. This review reads the combination of a fixed run structure and limited class variety as a real constraint on the long-term appeal the genre typically promises.

A developer visibly responding to feedback

It's worth crediting a specific, checkable pattern this review found running through the sample: several reviewers explicitly note the developer patched in a cutscene-skip option and added achievements after sustained complaints about unskippable cutscenes at launch, one reviewer specifically updating their own review to reflect the fix. This review reads that as a genuine sign of active post-launch support, distinct from empty promises, even as several of the deeper structural complaints documented above remain unaddressed as of this review.

Why this review lands where it does

It's worth being direct about how this review weighs genuinely striking presentation against a dominant, specific complaint about player agency. The art, music and voice acting here clearly succeed regardless of which side of the RNG debate a given reviewer lands on, and the low price makes the experience an easy, low-risk try for players specifically drawn to its aesthetic. But the single most repeated complaint in this entire sample, that combat offers little real choice, compounded by specific run-halting bugs and a fixed structure that limits replayability, describes a release that will frustrate players expecting meaningful strategic depth from its dungeon-crawler framing. This review scores The Fortress as a beautiful but mechanically thin experience best suited to players who specifically want a pure, tabletop-style dice-luck format.

Final Verdict

The Fortress delivers presentation that an overwhelming share of reviewers rate as excellent for its price, backed by atmospheric music and surprisingly strong voice acting. What holds this score down is the single most repeated complaint in this sample, a widely shared sense that combat offers little meaningful player choice, alongside specific run-halting bugs and a fixed run structure that limits replayability. Worth a try at its low price for dice-luck fans; a harder sell for anyone wanting real strategic depth.