You ever stumble onto a game that just feels like it was pulled straight out of a dusty drawer filled with late-night frustration? That’s Dreadborne Dungeon. A name like that, you already know what you’re in for – dark corridors, something snarling in the shadows, and a healthy dose of “oops, I died again.”
What caught my eye first was the look. Not that “fake-retro” kind where everything is just pixelated for the sake of vibes – but a real commitment to old-school design. It’s got that crunchy pixel art style that immediately reminded me of Heretic (I need to write something about Heretic as well), with a little less hellfire and a little more dread seeping from the walls. It doesn’t hold your hand. It doesn’t even look at your hand. It just drops you in the dungeon and says, “figure it out.”
And here’s the twist – it’s not just a retro shooter. Dreadborne Dungeon leans hard into the Souls-like mentality. Not in the “copy Dark Souls UI and throw in stamina bars” way, but in how it makes you earn every inch of progress. You mess up, you die. You learn, you do better. That loop is alive and well here, and it hits that stubborn, “one more run” part of the brain real hard.
Combat’s tight in a stripped-down way. You’ve got a gun, you’ve got limited ammo, and you’ve got decisions to make. There’s no power fantasy here. No invincibility frames to save you. You move through labyrinthine maps, flick switches, grab keys, and fight things that don’t care about your feelings. You start treating every bullet like it’s gold and every corner like it could kill you. Because it probably will.
What I didn’t expect? How much atmosphere it squeezes out of simple ingredients. There’s no voice-over narration or cinematic lore dumps. The story is minimal – just you and a world that wants you gone. But the way it’s built – the layout of rooms, the enemy placement, the weird little sound cues. It feels like something deeper is going on. It’s that classic trick old games used to pull, where you’d start imagining story threads just from the way the level was shaped.
Now, let’s be real – this isn’t some million-dollar studio production. From what I’ve heard, it was made by one person, and honestly? That makes it even more impressive. It’s got the rough edges that remind you of early PC shareware titles, the kind you’d discover on some demo disk and end up playing all summer because it was weirdly good. That’s the vibe here. It catches you off guard in the best way.
And yeah, it’s hard. Like, walk-away-and-mutter-to-yourself hard. But it never feels unfair. When you die, it’s usually your fault – and somehow that makes you want to go back in and prove something to a game that doesn’t even know you exist. That’s the mark of a game that understands what it’s doing.
Is the Souls-like genre making a comeback? I don’t know. Maybe it never really left. But if Dreadborne Dungeon is any indication, there’s still room for small, smart, gritty games that reward patience over polish.
So if you’re into pixelated pain, cryptic corridors, and the kind of challenge that makes you yell and laugh in the same breath—this one’s worth a look.
Just don’t expect mercy.
I find it amusing that the game’s creator uploaded a looped gif on his game’s Steam page showing “How can you die in my game?” This is something you need to see right there. Those more willing can try the game before buying by downloading the demo version.
And for me? For me it is the best combination of retro shooter and dark souls.
GameDive24 Rating: 9.5/10
