PPG Game Of The Year 2024 - 26 - Dungeon Diving

These first person dungeon crawlers serve a very specific niche, in being the types of games that have you progress down (or up!) level after level of dungeon, clearing floors, finding loot, upgrading your abilities and gear and sometimes, doing it all again when you die. There's a more mechanical focus on the genre, though that definitely doesn't preclude some oftentimes wild stories, as you are about to see.

Path of the Abyss (EA)
3D Grid Dungeon Crawler
A beautiful monochrome pen drawing art style meets a first person real time with pause dungeon crawler. Not fully translated into English, but still more than playable.

Dragon Ruins
Approachable Dungeon Crawling
"A dungeon crawling microgame for tired people" is a great literary hook. A low fidelity, low impact dungeon crawler that still contains some excellent artwork.

Cryptmaster
Typing Based Dungeon Crawler
A lot of the fun with this one is in the interactions with the eponymous Cryptmaster and the humor that comes with getting, let's say, creative with the typing interactions of this dungeon crawler.

Throne Requiem
Heavy Mechanical Focus
A dungeon crawler all about party customization and making the most of every tool you have in your toolbox. 42 different classes to choose from for your adventuring party of 6. Oppressive and bleak.

Dungeons of Blood and Dream
Psychedelic Blood Wizard
A dungeon delver with a disturbing look and squeamish feel, almost akin to Cruelty Squad without going quite as far. Roguelike elements, procedural dungeons and knowledge based progression are all found here.

And The Best Dungeon Crawler Of 2024 Is…

Liminal Void
Singular Vibe Horror
I'm not even sure how to describe the visual style of this one. Thrashing LSD? Not sure. The idea of expanding your spell arsenal based on the enemies you kill and death hurtling you further into the game rather than punishing you is an interesting one. Kind of run based in that there are multiple characters with multiple endings, not quite roguelike but almost.