Dungeons & Miners from developer Angry Bugs is one of those games that has a history. It was originally announced way back in 2017 as an even lighter roguelike inspired by games like Dead Cells and Spelunky, built with one-handed portrait-oriented mobile play in mind. In 2018 the developer pivoted on that idea and decided to expand the game into a full blown roguelike destined for multiple platforms, ditching the portrait orientation and more mobile-focused gameplay loop. Then the project went completely silent until earlier this year when it resurfaced with the news that it was once again a mobile-centric game and that surprisingly it was just about finished. This week, after that years-long rollercoaster ride, Dungeons & Miners finally launched on iOS.

So, was it worth all the fuss and that long wait? Heck yeah it was. It’s no secret we love Dead Cells around these parts, picking it as our 2019 Game of the Year and all, and that’s probably the game I’m most reminded of when playing Dungeons & Miners. Except it’s much more scaled back and, as promised, built from the ground up with mobile play in mind. But those facts don’t mean that there isn’t plenty of strategy and adventure waiting for you in Dungeons & Miners, because there absolutely is. Just maybe not to the extent of something like Dead Cells when it comes to the sheer breadth of weaponry and items. If you ever felt that Dead Cells was too overly complex, this is a much more approachable take on a roguelike action game.

As promised in the title, you’ll run through randomly generated dungeons hacking and slashing away at all manner of enemies and collecting any treasures you can find along the way. In between those dungeons you’ll also be mining. The dungeon entrances are all connected through mineable areas where you’ll try to dig up all sorts of resources. These resources are then fed back into an extensive skill tree system which unlocks new abilities, features, and more. There’s also of course tons of weapons and special items that you can upgrade, improve, and swap in and out of your loadout to try out different strategies. Dungeons & Miners is a really slow burn at first, but once the details click and you’ve made your way through several dungeon runs, things start opening up in an extremely satisfying way.

It’s a great concept, an approachable roguelite built specifically for mobile, but my one criticism is that Dungeons & Miners is a bit rough around the edges at this point in time. You’ll run into spots that are missing textures, or you might fall through a floor into a bottomless pit, thus pretty much ruining your run. Not a huge issue in a game where you’re meant to just die over and over and over again, but still annoying. There are a few other minor niggles too, but Angry Bugs is already aware and on top of these issues so I expect they’ll be fixed in short order. It’s something to be aware of though. If that sort of thing doesn’t bother you however, Dungeons & Miners offers some seriously cool adventuring with that “one more go" special sauce that makes it a hard game to put down once you get sucked into its satisfying loop.