Around these parts our ears always perk up when we hear the words old-school dungeon crawler. So when developer Christoph Minnameier brought his new project Dungeons of Dreadrock to our attention, well, our ears perked so hard they darn near flew right off the side of our heads. Dungeons of Dreadrock poses the question of what if those classic first-person dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, or more recently Legend of Grimrock were actually played from a top-down perspective? That’s at least part of the equation – Dungeons of Dreadrock is a grid-based real-time top-down dungeon crawler. The other half of the equation is that it’s kind of a puzzler, too. Each floor has you negotiating different traps and enemies, collecting keys and opening doors, and the whole thing has a very puzzle-ish feel to it. Check out the trailer for Dungeons of Dreadrock.

That sort of makes me wonder: Have all those first-person dungeon crawlers from over the years actually been puzzle games in disguise? Is it just this switch to a top-down perspective that has allowed me to discover this? Well, I guess anything can be a puzzler if you try hard enough. Just like anything can be a roguelike. However, Dungeons of Dreadrock promises “No procedural roguelike bullshittery" as well as “No inventory sorting MMO grind" and “No open-world searching downtime". This is a focused experience, with 100 handmade levels that represent the 100 floors of the dungeon you’ll be crawling down. If this all sounds like your jam, you can pre-order on the iOS App Store or pre-register on the Google Play Store for Android. It’s free with ads and a one-time IAP to disable them if you choose. Dungeons of Dreadrock arrives on February 13th.