Dungeon Clawler

Even as Stray Fawn Studio continues to work on The Wandering Village, which has been in Early Access since September 2022 and is due to be released as a full version during the course of 2025, the Zurich-based studio launched another game, also in Early Access, on 21 November 2024. The game is called Dungeon Clawler and it's the fifth game developed by the studio. It began as a small side project for Micha Stettler, one of the studio's co-founders. Driven by a passion for roguelike games and a fascination for claw machines, which they discovered on a trip to Tokyo and its arcades, the project grew and attracted more and more interest. And so the small side project became a game in its own right, turning roguelike deckbuilding on its head by combining the elements of traditional deckbuilders with an arcade-like claw machine mechanic wrapped in a dungeon crawler.

Even as Stray Fawn Studio continues to work on The Wandering Village, which has been in Early Access since September 2022 and is due to be released as a full version during the course of 2025, the Zurich-based studio launched another game, also in Early Access, on 21 November 2024. The game is called Dungeon Clawler and it's the fifth game developed by the studio. It began as a small side project for Micha Stettler, one of the studio's co-founders. Driven by a passion for roguelike games and a fascination for claw machines, which they discovered on a trip to Tokyo and its arcades, the project grew and attracted more and more interest. And so the small side project became a game in its own right, turning roguelike deckbuilding on its head by combining the elements of traditional deckbuilders with an arcade-like claw machine mechanic wrapped in a dungeon crawler.

While the idea is creative and works quite well in practice, instead of just randomly drawing cards from a deck, the entire deck of cards, or rather items, are shaken up in a claw machine, and players can use the claw or other grappling tools - such as magnets or sticky tentacles - to pull out items that can be used in battle. Compared to other deckbuilding games, players have a bit more control over the items they get because they can direct the claw. On the other hand, it is never quite clear what items the player will get, or how many. Or whether half of them will be lost on the way to the drop. For example, if an enemy is preparing a strong attack, it would make sense to grab several shields to strengthen your character - or to counter other attacks. As the game progresses, players will have more and more (upgraded) items in their deck, sometimes creating strange and powerful synergies with collectible charms and treasures. "Break the game - go crazy with creative claw and item combinations" is one of the title's claims.

These turn-based battles are set in a classic dungeon crawler. After gambling away his right paw to the greedy dungeon lord, a down-on-his-luck bunny must arm himself with a (t)rusty claw and set out to regain his lost limb. Multiple playable characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, make their way through randomly generated dungeons where enemies await, as well as other pachinko machines as mini-games where players can spend the coins they have collected on upgrades or new items. This allows players to progress deeper into the dungeon, defeat more enemies, become stronger and face bosses. Multiple difficulty levels, different characters and unlockable Lucky Paws add variety to runs, but the game would benefit from a few more meta progression upgrades that players can earn on runs and take with them on subsequent runs. However, the developers are planning to add new claws, claw machine upgrades, heroes, items, perks and more enemies.

As well as Dungeon Clawler and The Wandering Village, the Swiss company, which expanded into indie game publishing two years ago, has plenty more planned for 2025. The first half of the year will see the release of Airborne Empire by The Wandering Band, Earth of Oryn by Earth of Oryn and River Wtownes by Frogsong Studios. Flotsam by Pajama Llama Games is also expected to leave Early Access after more than five years.

Dungeon Clawler is available in Early Access for PC (€9.99), Android (€4.99) and iOS (€5.99). Prior to its release, the title was on over 200,000 wishlists on Steam.

Conclusion

A creative idea, well executed. With its arcade-style grappling hook, Dungeon Clawler puts its own unique spin on the roguelike deckbuilding genre. While it's in Early Access, more variety and a few more meta progression options would be welcome additions to make the next run even wilder...

Features

• Arcade-style claw machine brings new possibilities to the game and the roguelike deckbuilding genre
• Lots of wild item synergies and effects
• Cute animated characters