Boyfriend Dungeon in Test: Sharp Dates and Dröge Dungeons

Boyfriend Dungeon for Switch and Xbox One comes with an equally bizarre genre mixing like premise: in the mix of dating simulator and rogue-lite-dungeon crawlers, we can tinker with our weapons not only by mass opponents, but these weapons also data . Read right, we can smooch with dagger, crunch and co., because the weapons have the ability to transform themselves into persons.

And this connection from different elements works surprisingly well together, even if the game dating sim fans should make far more happier than rogue-lite player * inside.

Attention, disturbing content: The game treats stalking. The element is part of the storyline and thus not avoidable. The stalling end is not the weapons that can be thought.

Dungeons full of boyfriends, girlfriends and partner

Boyfriend Dungeon begins like so many other dating sim. First of all, we create a mini character and choose name, appearance and pronoun (in addition to female and male there are also non-binary pronouns that are in the German sier.) Then it works On to Verona Beach, a foreign city where we want to spend the summer. For this we can accommodate our Cousin Jesse, who wants to split us in return directly first.

However, he makes that unconventional by sending us into a dungeon (no sexing one, as he is exempt again). There we also meet our first arms man: Isaac, businessman during day and dregen at night. And what coincidence, Isaac is just single - as well as all other weapons persons we can meet in Boyfriend Dungeon. Overall, there are seven, two more should follow.

The name of the game may be a bit misleading here, because there are both male and female and non-binary romance options: From Valeria (an artist who becomes a dagger) about Seven (laser agbus / K-pop star), to Pocket pocket, who is actually a cat. In the female loves, however, it looks a bit of Mau. Currently Valeria is the only one of the weapons that identifies with the female gender.

Let's feel at one, several or even all of the weapons we can fight with them and go to dates to increase our love rank. The dating sim factor is closely linked to the dungeon crawling and vice versa.

Dungeon crawling stays too shallow

The different weapons we meet almost exclusively in the Dunj dungeons for the first time - a good incentive so to explore. Incidentally, it is not dark crunchy caves, but the shopping center and the nightclub of the city, in which someday simply monster appear.

Rogue-lite fans may be directly familiarized by the game principle: we have a lightweight and a serious attack that can be lined up to combos, as well as an escape role. In the best millennial manner, we heal ourselves with caffeinated drinks (of which we can have a maximum of three) and have a magazine that gives us a special skill: for example a fireball or a mine we can throw in the fight, or even one Insect companion.

Also the choice of our weapon influences our play style. Each has a special ability to be extended at the beginning when we increase the emotion level with it. Sundew of the Krumm bench, for example, enemies bleed, while Rowan can produce the sense of black holes to put on opponents.

So we work floor for floor down to the boss of the Dunj. With the opponent types there is little variance here, some gripping out, others from afar. Also new opponent types are added only a few, and the dunge design remains largely unchanged, so it can quickly get boring here. All two floors also have elevators with which we can safely leave and enter the Dunj. If our lifestyles are sinking to zero, we are simply fainted and transported home.

In treasure chests we also find new blueprints for outfits or items that we can give the weapons. Opponents drop the materials needed for the construction, but we get a nice principle, but we get every time we get a new material for the first time a popup, which is annoying in the fight. And more than once, we were annoyed to a material, because it had fallen in an area we could not enter.

Where the Dunjs can be quite demanding at first, they are quickly lighter, as we will race with each pass and become stronger. Even the rising degree of difficulty on the lower levels of the dungeon does not come afterwards.

Whoever wants to focus primarily on the Dating SIM share primarily, which can turn on the goddess mode, which reduces damage suffered by half. Also, various headgear, which we unlock during play, give us bonuses, such as more medicinal objects to wear or be revived. Too bad is only that the turban and the headscarf, which are available from the outset, do not have such bonuses. So if you want appropriate advantages, you have to change these garments.

Technical performance: The game ran in our test on both switch and Xbox Series X and S without bugs and crashes. Even in hectic dungeon battles, the frame rate remained stable.

Dating with draft

Although the dungeons are a welcome supplement to the rather click-enforced dating SIM, they serve too much sharing to increase the emotional level of our weapons. We can do that by fighting with you and find safe places within the Dunjs (about an ice stand or massage area) where we can hand over crafted or purchased gifts.

If the affection of the arms person has reached a new one of the six six increase levels, we can go with her outside the dungeons to a date. They are very well set to parts, but we have to read a large part of the conversations.

Here is one of the greatest strengths of the game, because the characters are all charming and interesting, so we wanted to drive the relationships with the characters in the test itself, in which we were not interested in a romance. This is not a problem, because the relationships in Boyfriend Dungeon can be both romantic and Platonic nature. Polyamoria and asexuality are not a problem.

The Sense Rowan, for example, we just helped to process the death of grandmother Alice. We did not fail to fail. In our test, the chosen answers have only influenced whether our relationship was friendly or romantic nature. This makes Boyfriend Dungeon for a relaxed gaming experience, because we did not have to bend about to please a certain character. At the same time we were missing here (compared to more demanding dating sims such as Monster Prom or Dream Daddy) also the success of the success of being able to unlock a romance with the right actions.

By the way, with the cat Pocket, of course, there is no romance, yet his story offers for cat lovers one of the best ends in the game (of course we spoils here.)

A mix that works

With six to ten hours of playtime (depending on whether we want to maximize the affection of all weapons or just follow the story), Boyfriend Dungeon is a pretty entertaining experience. The Rogue Lite elements ensure the necessary action in the textile dating SIM, while the latter ensures motivation through the story. Despite the unusual mixture, the game creates astonishingly well to link his various elements. However, that also means that Boyfriend Dungeon is not suitable for those who are interested in one of the genres.

Where the game as Rogue-like is more of average, it shines as a dating sim all the more and ensures anticipation, whenever we come back from a Dunj and a date wait for us.