Like Metroidvanias, but much prefer short gaming experiences? Tiny Dangerous Dungeons ($0.99) will hit the spot perfectly for you. This latest title from Adventure Islands updates solo dev Jussi Simpanen’s web game Tiny Dangerous Dungeons into a refined and expanded mobile game. And it’s a super-cool experience that takes all the conventions of open-world 2D platformers centered around getting upgrades to progress, and makes it into a game you can get satisfaction out of in an afternoon, with a solid amount of replay value if you enjoy speed runs, which the game’s short length makes accessible even if you don’t have time for them, usually.
The game puts you into a Game Boy-style visual world, where you control a treasure hunter after a big haul in a dangerous dungeon. In order to get to filthy lucre, you have to collect four keys to navigate the dungeon and unlock the final treasure door. I don’t think there’s any sequence-breaking that’s possible based on my playthroughs. You can pick up four upgrades that help you out, with tools that can attack enemies, help you navigate hazards, and/or reach previously-inaccessible areas. And usually, each item has multiple purposes, like the throwing knives being able to also push blocks. There are four health upgrades to collect as well, but these are hidden in out-of-reach areas, so you have to check the map for when you’re near the hidden rooms, and find the secret entrances. If you mess around, you’ll discover them all, but nothing is hidden in a super-obscure way.
As the name, the $0.99 price, and the limited number of upgrades may indicate, this isn’t really a huge experience. But it’s not meant to be. This is a game that simplifies more complicated games down to a streamlined experience, where there’s only two movement buttons and two action buttons. Save checkpoints are common, but not to an excessive degree. This is a game that you can pick up for a few minutes or burn through in an afternoon in one sitting, and then come back for the speed run mode with Game Center leaderboards and achievements. Some of the achievements are merely progress milestones, but others reward actual skill, like beating the game without dying…or without saving at all. That requires some intestinal fortitude to truly master, and I don’t think I could do it.
The secret to success at Tiny Dangerous Dungeons is to not take a lot of damage, as health can only be refilled at checkpoints and when picking up health upgrades. So, if you play recklessly, like I tend to do, you won’t last long. Thankfully, the game is forgiving once you learn to mostly avoid enemies and seek out the health fruits. Also, if you take damage and fall into lava, then you don’t take an additional heart of damage. I appreciate that, no need to add injury to injury!
While I admittedly rarely replay games after beating them, I found myself attracted to the speed run mode here, perhaps because it was offered as a separate experience. My first speed run took about 39 minutes, but a lot of that was because I got mixed up as to the location of one of the secret fruits for about ten minutes. Then, my second speedrun, hammering down with fresh information on where everything was and ready to try and attempt a 15 minute time, as that’s an achievement, I got 19 minutes. The health fruits take up too much time to get all of them if you’re trying to go for a 15 minute time. But still, I could find spots where I could trim down even further.
You might be complaining that this game seems short because I quoted that 19 minute time to you, and three things about that: first off, your initial playthrough is going to take longer as you get acclimated to the world map and to the game’s mechanics. It’s why complaints over The Witness‘ length based on a speed run time were so darn silly. Second, the game is $0.99 and has the word “Tiny" literally in its name. Third, I actually appreciate that this is a game that’s an approachable length to do something like a speed run through it, and it tracks time and death count! I felt like I got a lot more out of this than games that are orders of magnitude bigger because it’s so approachable. It’s a deeply satisfying game for $0.99.
The experience isn’t necessarily perfect. There seem to be some bugs with load times when saving and if you die – it once took over a minute, at least, for the game to register the death and respawn. These issues could easily be fixed by the time the game comes out, or in a future update, but be patient. Or just git gud, noob. MLG! Jumping and going through doors can be a bit annoying because they’re mapped to the same button, but it rarely will kill you. The save checkpoints are generally well-placed, but the end of the game has checkpoints in annoying positions where you have to go through a gauntlet to get to the actual gauntlet you have to go through to get the last key. The map can be confusing because it only shows you which room you’re in, without showing your actual position, so you need to have some spatial awareness of which door is which in the room you’re in.
I really have to recommend Tiny Dangerous Dungeons to anyone who enjoys platformers or Metroidvanias. Your love of the greenscale Game Boy graphics may depend on whether you grew up with the Game Boy – my first Game Boy was actually the grayscale Pocket version, but the effect gets across to me. If you’re expecting a filling 15-course Metroidvania meal here, you’ll be disappointed. If you want a tasty snack that’ll leave you satisfied till dinner comes, that might get you coming back for second and third servings, Tiny Dangerous Dungeons is fantastic.
