Look out, world, as one studio starts haemorrhaging developers and designers, another will rise up to take the top spot. Granted, this isn’t a tragic story from the future; it’s more an action-packed story or introduction to Amplitude Studios. Now, you’re probably wondering why that first sentence sounded like such an absolute stab at another studio… Well, that’s because it might be. Amplitude Studios was founded in 2011 by former Ubisoft employees Romain de Waubert de Genlis and Mathieu Girard in Paris. Love isn’t quite in the air, but maybe an ‘Endless’ saga or two and a few genre mashups.

Amplitude Studios started making their mark with Endless Space in 2012; this beautifully built space explorer and turn-based strategy captivated gamers with its refreshing mechanics and unique designs. However, the show must go on, and they came back with yet another hit in the form of Endless Legend in 2014. Once again, it was a brilliant turn-based strategy that indicated a longstanding trend for Amplitude Studios. Naturally, they had to release a sequel for Endless Space in 2017, and eventually, there was a break from the trend when they released HUMANKIND in 2021. Little did we know that they would come back with another Endless adventure with their latest release, ENDLESS Dungeon, on 19 October.

ENDLESS Dungeon isn’t just a dungeon crawler, a tower defence, an RPG, or a mere roguelite… It is quite literally all these things combined into one and expertly decorated with a few fun twists in the bow on top. ENDLESS Dungeon starts you off with a cutscene that’ll get you warmed up for what’s to come, with a ship and two crew members that look like your everyday heroes at the helm and a lone janitor working in the background, this is important for later. Things go pretty smoothly in their warp bubble until all hell breaks loose as something starts pulling them from it, only to end up in front of what looks to be a space station. However, their bad day only gets worse as they are forcibly pulled into the station, causing a major crash that kills both of the supposed heroes.

Now, you’ve probably already forgotten about the janitor, the unsung nobody who’s always forgotten, and in this case – The only survivor. He might not be the hero of anybody’s tale, but heroes can come from any circumstance if you give them a weapon to fight with. With a mop in one hand and a gun in the other, you’ll have to learn how to fight, build defenses, and get to know your future teammates, starting with Zed, who will also name the new meat Sweeper. Luckily, the tutorial for ENDLESS Dungeon is pretty straightforward and will show you the basics of survival. The rest is easy enough to figure out, but you’ll still get handy tooltips at first if you ever get lost.

Right from the start, ENDLESS Dungeon will throw you into the thick of it by making it clear that you’ll need to protect the Crystal Bot. It’s basically your lifeline, and if that gets destroyed, you suffer the same fate and get sent back to the Bar. Now, there’s a lot more to it than just keeping the Crystal Bot alive, and you’ll need resources and defences because you and your teammates alone won’t cut it. This is where things take an interesting turn, you are essentially in a dungeon of sorts but it comes with a twist, you’ll need to open doors to progress and those doors are also tied to the resources you get.

Now for the first part in this whole escapade as for how doors and resources come together because there’s a bit of a risk vs reward situation involved too. First off, you’ll have 3 resource types – Science, Industry, and Food. Starting out on a floor, you’ll have a base gain rate of +4 for each resource, and opening doors will give you that many of each resource, you can increase the rate by building resource generators as you find slots for them but generators and defences come at the cost of Industry. However, generators also come with a catch – Your first generator for a specific resource type will cost 10 Industry and will give you an extra +4 for that type, but the cost will also go up. So, building a second generator for the Industry will cost 20 Industry. Simple, right?

The same also applies to other resource types, but you’ll likely only ever have a severe shortage of Industry and occasionally Science too. Though all in all, which resources you favour over others is also really dependent on your playstyle and party composition in Endless Dungeon. However, bad compositions can also make Endless Dungeon seem more like an ‘Endless Grind’. You’ll need to experiment and see what works for you then run with it.

With resource generation and the generators in mind, you’ll likely wonder where the defences and other resource types come in. Once again, the Crystal Bot is your lifeline and you need that to stay in one piece if you want your run to progress… This is where cannons, turrets, guns, buffs, and of course, the unholy myriad of enemies come into the picture. Exploring the dungeon and opening doors will open up more sections of the dungeon while also giving you resources, but you’ll also run the risk of opening a room with enemy spawners.

Lucky for you, there are Turret Slots all over the place and you’ll need some strategy with your placements to make it work in your favour. Granted, this is easier said than done because ENDLESS Dungeon would be a little monotonous if the enemies you encounter don’t have strengths and weaknesses. So, aside from strategic placements for your turrets, you’ll also need to plan for the various damage types to maximise how effective your turrets are. Sadly, you start a run with the sometimes reliable, Straight Shooter Turret. It’s cheap, does neutral damage, and it works when you have nothing else available at the time.

The Straight Shooter will only get you so far and you will have to mix it up, now you’ll get to spend Science to get different elemental turrets. However, you can’t just spend Science and start placing your new turrets, that wouldn’t even come close to the spirit of ENDLESS Dungeon. Unlocking new turrets will require you to find a Research Terminal in one of the rooms ahead of you, and when you’ve finally picked your next turret for research, you’ll have to deal with an endless wave of enemies until it’s done. Again, risk vs reward, you’ll need to be sure you want it before starting the research and you’ll have to be prepared.

Now that you’ve got turrets and resources done and dusted, you’ll probably also find the Merchant and Health Station in ENDLESS Dungeon. You can’t expect to fight alongside your turrets and not die… Food is the last main resource you’ll be dealing with but it’s just as important; Health Stations charge Food for Health Packs which you can use to heal up your team and you’re going to need them. Then we have the Merchant, this strange character mostly deals in guns and buffs, and a little extra firepower is always a welcome sight in ENDLESS Dungeon.

There is one last thing to keep in mind with each floor as you battle your way to the core, you’ll need to prepare for the worst. Random occurrences like blackouts where the whole floor loses power (your turrets included) and you’ll have to switch the power on again, dark rooms, corrupted steles, and much more. All these are meant to add some extra challenge to your run but can also end your run if you’re not ready for it. Luckily, corrupted steles and dark rooms can be turned off or powered up respectively using Dust, the oh-so-rare currency that also drives the hidden parts of ENDLESS Dungeon's story.

With so much going on, it’ll feel like you can’t possibly need more firepower, but you can never have enough and that’s why even the heroes have weapons and abilities that take ENDLESS Dungeon from a casual game to an epic shooter. Starting out in ENDLESS Dungeon, you’ll only have options between Sweeper, Zed, and Bunker. However, don’t take this odd trio for granted, they complement each other quite well, even more so if you can unlock the third slot for solo play.

Sadly, the game will limit you to two character slots at first and you are definitely going to notice that in solo play. The heroes you get to play in ENDLESS Dungeon each bring a unique flare to a run, with some being more aimed toward support, toughness, and attack. However, they all also come with a nifty Active and Ultimate Ability, alongside a Passive Ability. It’s a good idea to check out the full details on each hero as you unlock them, you never know where you might take the plunge and switch for someone better.

Solo play aside, as fun as it is, having an actual person watch your back and face off against the hordes is likely the biggest highlight for ENDLESS Dungeon. Gloriously chaotic co-op, solo is fun up to a point but you can’t quite strategize when you can only tell your bot teammate to ‘follow’ or ‘stay’. Grab a friend or two, pick up a gun, and really get into the dark depths of ENDLESS Dungeon, you’d be surprised at how far you can stretch your resources if you have to place fewer turrets simply because you have an extra gun on the far side of the floor.

To save the best for last, upgrades people, so many upgrades. Literal mountains of upgrades… Every hero has their own set of upgrades and even the guns can be upgraded, and even though guns are randomly dropped from chests or have to be bought, you never know what you’ll get but it might be that one gun you juiced up that’ll carry you until the end. However, nothing in life is ever free and those upgrades come at a cost and with some requirements. Heroes will sometimes start with one slot for an upgrade and you’ll need to complete their quests to unlock more, guns will always have two upgrades that only come at a cost. As for the dreaded cost, chips, are not as easy to come by but you can get them randomly from destroying boxes, opening chests, and even finishing quests.

Now, don’t go thinking that ENDLESS Dungeon doesn’t have some other form of story to explore. For those who thrive on game lore, look no further because there is a lot to find and unlock. Mementos are your best bet for getting the biggest pieces of lore, but completing floors and areas can also give you more insight as to what you’re fighting against and how the station fell into its current state. You just need to go out and look for the missing pieces.

ENDLESS Dungeon doesn’t leave anything to chance on the visual side of life, it relies heavily on pastel-based colours that contrast well but also blend together to give the visual a very smooth appearance. This is a nice touch and adds a lot of detail to things like the myriad of monsters you’ll be fighting against, though you’ll see a different art style used in cinematics that makes it feel like an old-school comic that’ll remind you of your childhood. What really sets ENDLESS Dungeon apart from its counterparts is that each new floor and level is unique with different designs and biomes, this already shows just how much thought went into the creation of this release and it’s definitely not something that was cooked up overnight.

From a different point of view, ENDLESS Dungeon also brings a ton of sound engineering to the mix with great background music and even better sound effects. The game does have great visuals, but it’s what you can hear that brings it all together and really makes the world stand out. However, aside from the epic sound effects, there is some voice acting… This requires a bit more explanation – The little voice acting there is actually good and gives each hero a lot more substance, but it also feels like there could be more witty banter between the heroes.

Overall, ENDLESS Dungeonn is one of those very rare roguelites that bring so much to the table and just can’t help but bury itself into your brain with the next challenge that needs to be faced off against. With a rich story and a massive lore base to hunt down, you might find yourself sharpening your skills and strategies just to reach the end and see how it all goes down. However, if that’s not your cup of tea, the challenge itself is still more than enough to appeal to suck in just about anybody.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed