First-Person Dungeon Crawlers

[gleep]

List any First-Person Dungeon Crawlers, DRPGs, or Grid-Based RPGs you like or recommend, doesn't matter which console.

The first one I played was Demon Gaze for Vita, I enjoyed it, I didn't 100% it though. I was close, but the post-game final boss was just a chore to get to. I really didn't want to grind for rare weapons after I was so close to being done. But this made me start looking for more. It's easy to get into, not too complex, but it's story is kinda generic.

In total, I know of:

• Etrian Odyssey
• Wizardry
• Demon Gaze 1/2
• Serment - Contract with a Devil
• Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria
• Savior of Sapphire Wings
• Stranger of Sword City
• Mary Skelter
• Operation Abyss/Babel
• Mon-Yu: DMAGSWAA. YMBDBDGU. BS. IBTWBADWTHDTDK. (longest game name ever?)
• Class of Heroes
• Gears of Dragoon
• Unchained Blades
• Undernauts

The genre is still quite niche, probably because of the difficulty and complexity some games can have, and I have yet to see a list of every (or close to every) game in this type of genre.

 

[Iguana-0]

Phantasy Star 1 has some Dungeon Crawling stuff. That's probably why i could never beat it! LMAO

 

[DanCalibur]

I'm quite new to the genre but I'll recommend the ones I've finished so far:
Legend of Grimmrock 1 and 2. Those are the modern games that introduced me to the genre. Very accessible for beginners.
Eye of the Beholder 1,2 and 3. Very old but still great PC games. You can also install the very nice auto map tool All Seeing Eye.
Dragon Knight Series (PC-98). Just finished the first one, very primitive, simple and straightforward but quite enjoyable once you get some lvls and stop dying. Be warned it's an eroge, quite light but still...
That's all I got so far ?

 

[Karnik]

Already asked by another user. My answer is the same: Rance VI: Collapse of Zeth (Windows/Android).

 

[Bonkers225]

Demon Gaze 1 had the greatest final boss theme of all time.

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

A genre that i would like to explore more,
my recommendations are:

- Persona Q/ Persona Q 2
- The dark spire
- Etrian Odyssey

 

[pedrodfa]

Hellnight for ps1 is amazing

 

[Bakuma1997]

Shining in the Darkness is the only non mentioned already that i can recall

That and the Hackrom Arcana Seal of Rimsala

 

[Leon]

Eliminage is known for this style of gameplay.
The class of heroes games are also dungeon crawlers.
Shining in the darkness for the genesis and shining the holy ark for the saturn are well known.
The first 2 shin megami tensei games and i believe megami tensei, along with persona 1 were all dungeon crawler style of gameplay games to a extent.
You might want to keep a eye out for the dinosaur resurrection translation that geofront is working on, it's also a dungeon crawler.

 

[TamagotchiHero24's icon TamagotchiHero24 TamagotchiHero24]

So, during my playthrough of the original Phantasy Star, the first person dungeons were a highlight for me! It made me realize how much I’d love to play another game that heavily features them. While I could look it up (and get some robot’s list of what the internet deems are important games in the genre), I’d prefer to ask the forums and see what you all think! I’m open minded, so show me cool games please!

 

[Deleted member 466]

https://retrogametalk.com/repo/sega_saturn_isos/shining-the-holy-ark-usa/

 

[RustySK]

https://retrogametalk.com/repo/sega_genesis_roms/shining-in-the-darkness-usa-europe/

Off the top of my head I'd also recommend the Etrian Odyssey series on DS/3DS, the Elminage games for PSP, the original SMT games for SNES or the venerable Wizardry series if you want to play something foundational to the genre - be aware that the Wizardry games are crazy obtuse and punishing though.

If you're in the mood for something more modern, there's also Undernauts (great art), Artificial Dream in Arcadia (very authentic SMT throwback) or Labyrinth of Galleria and Labyrinth of Refrain (absurd, Disgaea-style levels of - mostly optional - complexity).

Oh and if you don't mind real-time combat, I can also recommend the Grimrock duology and the Ravenloft DnD games - Strahd's Possession and Stone Prophet.

 

[bjork]

Shining in the Darkness on Genesis
Bard's Tale, the old ones are on computers but there's a more recent remaster that's nice too
Double Dungeons on Turbo Grafx

 

[PSVitaForever]

https://retrogametalk.com/repo/vita/ray-gigant-usa/

I'm going with Vita games.
I was also going to recommend "Stranger of Sword City", but it isn't here in the repo (or I can't find it??).

Tagging @Spike if interested in uploading it: I owned it physical, the original version has alt anime graphics for the characters portraits, the "Revisited" has no choice anymore about graphics but it must have QoL improvements and I think a new class

 

[Crosser19]

Highly recommend the Wizardry games, especially the console ports and the Game Boy spin-offs that remove some of the obtuseness and streamlines a lot while keeping what makes the series appealing. Brutal games but are absolutely foundational if you love dungeon crawlers. Also if you don't mind something older on PC, the first 5 Ultima games on PC are readily available on GOG and while dungeon crawling isn't the main appeal, it is a major aspect of those first 5 games that isn't talked about as much.

The original PC-88 version of Black Onyx also has an English fan translation, even if its a little hard to track down and play. I recommend hunting down a pre-patched disk image of it instead of trying to find which version works with the patch. There is also the SG-1000 version made by the team that would go on to work on Phantasy Star I believe, too, which also has an English patch.

Wizardry, Ultima, and The Black Onyx are essentially the Rosetta Stones of dungeon crawlers and JRPGs as a whole if you're looking for a good starting point.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

https://retrogametalk.com/repo/sega_saturn_isos/baroque-japan/

Baroque (English Patched) PSX ISO – The Repo

Baroque (English Patched) PSX ISO Game ID: SLPM-86328, SLPM-86341. Languages: English Patched, Japanese. For Sony PlayStation.

retrogametalk.com

While it has more rogue-like elements in terms of combat and gameplay, I'd say it still fits the dungeon crawler niche.

King's Field (English Patched) PSX ISO – The Repo

King's Field (English Patched) PSX ISO Game ID: SLPS-00017. Languages: English Patched, Japanese. For Sony PlayStation.

retrogametalk.com

I'd also recommend the King's Field games as well for this kind of thing.

 

[DanCalibur]

Eye of the Beholder Trilogy (PC), Shin Megami Tensei 1-2 (SNES-PSX), Persona 1-2(PSX-PSP), Dragon Knight 1-2(PC-98) and the already cited Grimmrock and Shining in the Darkness and The Holy Ark are favorites of mine. We even played Shining in the Darkness a few weeks ago.
https://retrogametalk.com/threads/rgt-nostalgia-society-4-shining-in-the-darkness.14376/

 

[Tonberry]

This one is insanely cool:

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (USA) PS2 ISO – The Repo

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (USA) PS2 ISO Game ID: SLUS-20259. Languages: English. For Sony PlayStation 2.

retrogametalk.com

 

[PhaseJump]

Shining the Holy Ark is still the best one for a JRPG. Etrian Odyssey games are pretty good.

The Bard's Tale IV is more modern. It flies under everybody's radar and is actually extremely well done, especially the audio work.

 

[Bakuma1997]

I can't suggest enught The Etrian Odyssey series, an update of the Wizardry formula that removes the BS and makes the game fair for modern standars... while still being Atlus Hard

If you haven't played them, i reccomend III as starting point since is the one that i feel fairer, but if you really want to play them in order research about the "Cookie Cutter" parties, since they bring the game from "Sanity breaking" to "Hard"

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Not a full game, but there's a whole mode of them in The Misadventures Of Tron Bonne.

 

[TamagotchiHero24's icon TamagotchiHero24 TamagotchiHero24]

Shining in the Darkness on Genesis
Bard's Tale, the old ones are on computers but there's a more recent remaster that's nice too
Double Dungeons on Turbo Grafx

Seriously thank you for recommending Double Dungeons on the PCE/TG16. I’ve been playing it for the last half an hour and it’s been a FANTASTIC Dungeon Crawler to just jump in and play. Absolutely what I wanted when I made this thread. This’ll probably be the very first PCE game I put major time into!


Playing it on a Vita, btw. Perfect for playing on the bus to college!

 

[ladyerrant]

It doesn't get much love but I like Orcs and Elves for the DS: https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/game/orcs-elves/

 

[breremarer]

I started getting into FP dungeon crawlers about a year ago, and there's a lot of great suggestions in this thread, but I'll second the suggestion for "Undernauts". Its battle system is simple, for a DRPG, but something about its world and vibe just really clicked with me. The art is gorgeous, too!

If you're willing to break out grid paper, there's also the honestly pretty fantastic remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord that came out a year or two ago. It's got some nice QoL boosts without sacrificing the brutal Wizardry Crawl.

 

[aycarakuyo]

You can try pretty much everything Atlus has put out before 2010. I consider SMT: Strange Journey, SMT2 and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers to be the best ones. SMT3 also has a first-person mode that unlocks in new game+!