We're big fans of roguelike adventure games around here, so we're pretty stoked that the genre is making a big comeback in the indie games universe. A part of that trend is Dungeonmans , a pixel-drawn roguelike with some big ideas and Kickstarter ambitions.
Dungeonmans features classic sprite-style animation and randomly generated dungeons. Permadeath, of course, is a feature not a bug. What sets Dungeonmans apart, though is the Dungeonmans Academy: every artifact your adventurers find before their inevitable, horrible deaths is stored at the academy. Future graduates with a major in Adventuring will gain some of the knowledge and experience passed down by their teachers.
This addition is a great way to bring the hard-won lessons of previous runs beyond the veil of permadeath. I've had more than a few adventurers in Dungeons of Dredmor die humiliating deaths in the first few minutes of exploring, shaming the memories of the all-star run that came before them. The academy will keep fresh adventurers from making deadly rookie mistakes so they can grow up to be big, strong adventurers with backpacks full of gold.
Dungeonmans is currently a little under halfway to its funding goal. If you're eager to dive back into the white-knuckle experience that is the traditional roguelike, go check it out. Dungeonmans is also on Steam Greenlight and has a preview build that is free to download. The game is scheduled for a March 2014 release.
