New release: Dungeonmans

Developer Adventurepro Games (the new company of existing dev Jim Shepard) has now released their graphical roguelike Dungeonmans. First announced in the summer of 2013 following a successful Kickstarter run, Dungeonmans features a deliberately silly world with persistent progress between characters.

The premise:

In an untamed wilderness, where civilization lives in the shadow of fearsome beasts and lawless villainy, the only light against the darkness are the courageous Dungeonmens! With cunning minds, mighty thews and iron wills, these great heroes and heroines are dedicated toward exploring the unknown, taming the wild, and crushing the fiercest of beasts.

Adventure begins at the Dungeonmans Academy, an ever-growing bastion of learning that expands and evolves based on the efforts of its graduates. As heroes return from their journeys burdened by giant piles of precious loot and ancient wisdom, the Academy grows and future graduates are able to take advantage of this knowledge, starting with a leg up on their quest to avenge the bold graduates who fell in previous battles.

The vast overworld teems with adventure! There are indeed dungeons deep and plentiful, but also dripping swamps, deathless crypts, huddled warrens, forest camps of bandits and highwaymen, ancient towers ruled by powerful despots, and even more terrible dangers waiting in the darkest shadows. A Dungeonmans rises to the challenge with a healthy mix of Skills and Masteries, fighting up close, at range, with steel and spell alike. Unfettered by “class restrictions”, a Dungeonmans chooses the right tools for the battles ahead.

The dev has posted a launch trailer which helpfully shows us what the game looks like without the need for pesky “words”:

(My only regret about this trailer is that it doesn’t feature a choir full of manly altos belting out “Dungeon-maaaaaans!” in time to music, a la the theme to Rawhide.)

The game’s final feature list reads as follows:

• True roguelike adventure: turn-based, tough but fair, countless combat options.
• More than 75 unique player abilities.
• 12 different styles of Dungeons and Battlefields with more on the way.
• Six class archetypes to mix and match.
• 50+ enemies, including the fearsome Triger!
• The Dungeonmans Academy, your home base that grows with each play.
• A world-class soundtrack brimming with music straight from the era of RPG classics.

I went ahead and checked out an early version of Dungeonmans last year; you can view my video preview from that experience here. Suffice it to say, I quite enjoyed it. I’ll be doing my best to give the new, finished version a first impressions piece of its own very soon, along with expanded thoughts on the game and how it stacks up against the current crop of indie graphical roguelikes.

In the meantime, you can nab Dungeonmans for yourself on Steam or via The Humble Store for $15; Windows only.