I think this is the first time the full title of the review takes up two lines in the editor. A little aside before I start the review: I didn’t even know this game existed (maybe it was never release here on a platform I owned?) but I’m very familiar with the mainline Dragon Quest titles, having played over half of them. What I did play when I was a kid though, was Azure Dreams. A Game Boy Color game in which you ascended a tower and if you died on the way up, you’d have to start all over again from lvl 1. That concept was new to me but super fresh and I spent dozens of hours on it. Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon does the same, but we’re going down in the dungeon instead. Rest assured (or is it Azured?) it’s every bit as hard.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
| Developer | Square Enix |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
Things I liked!
- Hasn’t aged a day | This didn’t get the “full” HD2D coat of paint as many recent Square Enix remasters, but it still looks great, even on a big screen. The sprites look pretty close to the originals, but all 3D assets are new, and there are even subtle lighting effects that add to the feeling of depth. Not the prettiest game, but it gets the retro feels going.
- Tutorial | The main Mystery Dungeon of the game is 30 levels deep, and you need A LOT of RNG luck to even make it there, but luckily the game eases you in with a 10 levels tutorial first. And if you didn’t find a teleport scroll along the way, you have to make your way back up without dying too. I’ve heard that this took some players 3 hours to beat; I guess I was lucky that I made it in my 4th attempt. The trick is: don’t fight anything you’d rather avoid. Leave the mages that can put you to sleep alone, and ignore the imps that copy themselves…
- Addictive gameplay loop | The fact that the game resets to lvl 1 every run was something I found annoying at first in Azure Dreams, but it grew on me eventually. And now we live in a world where it seems like 1 out of every 3 indie games released is a roguelike. Safe to say, we’re all gluttons for punishment; we just don’t admit it. The randomness of every run just makes it feel all the more satisfying if you find a really good shield or sword early on. And the “monsters only move if you move” mechanic feels pretty tactical. I like that about SUPER HOT as well; just don’t go driving a car after playing a game with these rules, the real world will keep moving regardless of your own actions!
- Some Meta progression | Luckily, it’s not a total wipe-out if you don’t make it through the dungeon alive; you’ll get 50% of your earned gold. If you find a lockbox, it’s 100%, and if you were lucky enough to secure a teleport scroll, you can make it out at any point, with your inventory, which gets sold too. Your store keeps growing, and with it, the number of people that drop by, each with valuable hints that will help your progress.
- Accessibility features | You can make the game easier by increasing your gold earned, experience earned and decreasing the monster encounter rate, among other settings to make it easier. Sadly, this does disable the achievements for beating the game, so I wouldn’t recommend starting off with these modifiers turned on.
Mixed & disliked!
- Am I missing something? | I know the game “resets” everything each run by design. but I could swear the 4th upgrade of the store had a message saying I could pick a loadout from a box to enter the dungeon. But I’ve looked everywhere (including online) and didn’t find anyone mentioning it. Feels like a fever dream at this point, but I swear I saw my in-game wife mentioning this to me. I really wish I could have “some” control over at least 1 item I’d bring into the dungeon.
- It’s SUPER Hard | This is one of the most unfair games I’ve played recently and takes the RNG super seriously. I’ve died a ton of times even with a great loadout, simply because a wizard put me to sleep each time I woke up, or because I got cornered by self-duplicating imps. And then there is the chance of encountering a Monster Den full of enemies, and if you didn’t bring a BOOM scroll, you’re as good as dead. I usually beat games before reviewing them, but I feel I’ve seen all the game has to offer in about 6 hours of play, and while I had fun in those hours, the frustration was beginning to kick in.
- It’s slow | I thought it played this slow because it was a retro game, but after seeing user reviews on Steam and some Reddit threads, it was pointed out that the original release had a very decent combat flow. Here, every message takes a while to load, and even your own actions feel like they have a 1-second delay. It’s a turn-based game, so I didn’t mind as much + I can’t compare, but I can totally see how this is a few steps in the wrong direction for fans of the OG release.
- $25 is perhaps a bit too greedy | Much like our shopkeeper Torneko, Square Enix loves the sight of money. But I can’t help but feel that this particular HD remaster is charged at too high a starting price. It doesn’t feel like a complete makeover, and many people won’t even see the credits roll.
- Achievements are too grindy | There are achievements for setting out on a 1000 adventures (yes, you read that right) and one for earning a total of 300 million gold coins. My best result so far was leaving with around 10.000. To quote a famous meme: Ain’t nobody got time for that!
- How long did I play the review before publishing? 6 hours
- How long to beat the story? 5-10 hours
- How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 190/1000G or 10/27
- How long to get 100%? | 20+ hours
- You’ll love this game if you like these | Rogue, Azure Dreams, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
Score: 70/100
Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is a tough old-school roguelike that still knows how to keep you coming back for one more run, even when the RNG has it out for you. The retro presentation holds up nicely, but the sluggish combat and some seriously punishing luck can make the descent feel like an uphill battle, even when you’re going down.
Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
