Dec 3

Dec 3 Review | Dungeon Clawler - Grabber Games

Welcome to the arcade! We have many, many toy rabbits and a couple of massive oversized claws. We’ve seen this as a minigame in many places in the past and now it is a full-sized game.

With one screenshot, you can get Dungeon Clawler and after five minutes of gameplay, you’ll understand it. Let me describe it- you play as a rabbit who savagely had his arm replaced with a robotic grabber which you’ll use to snatch a varied amount of strange items to fling at different enemies. Fine, whatever, I’ll just show the screenshot instead.

We’re on the same page now, right? It’s really another deck builder in disguise, using the grabber machine both for aesthetic and gameplay purposes. The grabber is a strangely natural fit for the genre as it efficiently mixes skill, strategy and luck. There were turns where I had to make compromises as the best item was hard to grab and I settled for the easily placed shield. This feels like a very natural risk and reward, one brought about by the very premise of the game and how it works rather than a forced arbitrary one like Chance Time in Mario Party.

I stated that the screenshot told you all but that was a bold lie to sucker you into the premise. The game does mess around with the concept enough to keep it fresh without losing the original appeal. We don’t just stick to claws - you get harpoons, magnets and somewhat gross sticky tentacles. These differences change the mechanical aspect of the machine to make runs feel different and change up strategy. Harpoons for example, prioritise one massive syringe whereas magnets ask for tons of tiny iron daggers.

You’ve got a few playable characters to play with, all with charming little rabbit designs. Each character perk tends to really encourage a specific build path and that does push a specific type of final board, as you play you can see the start of visualise what your run will look like before reaching the end. I think the more general characters which didn’t push as hard a specific build were much more fun and flexible than the ones which clearly wanted you to play a specific way. My favourite was Bernie, the overworked business rabbit who had a strict schedule and only three seconds to use the machine. This created a fun rush where I scrambled to pick up the item I wanted.

I think games like these usually struggle with the start of a run feeling boring, as that is before you’ve had a chance to pick cool items and start any combos or synergies. With fights taking fairly long, this can make the beginning more of a grind. The runs were slow to start but I found that eventually I would have figured out the best strategy and begin flying through. Or I’d struggle on each floor before losing to a mid-run boss. Similar to the claw itself, there was a major swing between these two options and no in-between.

I found the former happens more often as the game puts more of an emphasis on combo-ing pieces which can lead to some fun runs where it feels very satisfying as all your items click into place. You have a lot of control over the items you choose and less over the passives you gain, meaning there is some element of having to adjust strategically on the fly. I think the ease of combos is what makes this game, with that power fantasy being able to be fulfilled once you’ve figured out a specific build.

Like nearly all roguelites nowadays, there is an ascension feature in place which makes runs readily harder on subsequent plays. There is a benefit in being able to start with an additional unique bonus for each difficulty. Being able to choose these benefits really helps make these additional modifiers feel enjoyable to go through as it allows you to craft more of a unique machine and playstyle for each playthrough.

Dungeon Clawler is the experience of playing a claw machine. You’re near grabbing something great, only for it to drop the prize it at the last second. This isn’t to say Dungeon Clawler is a bad game - that’d be ridiculously harsh for a really enjoyable experience. I guess I’d say, unlike some other notable roguelites, you’re not going to get endless hours. That shouldn’t downplay the hours of fun you’ll have, for a game that’s absolutely worth the price point. Who would’ve thought? A claw machine that actually is worth the money in return.

Pros

- Claw mechanics very naturally fit into the more traditional strategy experience.
- Combo-heavy game with synergies between items.
- Funny lil rabbit guys.