Top 20 Video board game dungeon crawls all time

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0:20 Hey everybody, it's your old pal Rob. Today, we're going to compile a list and I I I've worked on this quite a bit. Um over the Sunday where I was coming up with ideas and I was talking about dungeon crawlers, but I wanted to kind of get what I thought were the best dungeon crawlers from video as well as board games. And I compiled a list and I put a top 20 of what I consider what I consider the greatest um dungeon crawls of all time video {slash} board games. So, without further ado, why don't we start? And there's a pretty good mixture here. The funny thing about it is that um a lot of these a lot of these games I think are more personal to me. You may have other ones and again, it's only my opinion, but it's something to think about and maybe you come up with your own list as well. And I would love to hear it in the comments.

1:21 At number 20 is um an absolute classic and monster and that is Shadows of Brimstone. Uh that game Oh god, a whole bunch of it sitting over there. Um it is is is an essential dungeon crawl fight. I mean, there's there's nothing nothing more about it. You are just going down and going to different realities and just pounding things whether you're Vikings or the Spanish Armada or cowboys or or space aliens and and and and just a little bit of everything and just an all-time classic and that's why it it sits at number 20. At number 19 is probably the the mother of it all, but it's so easy to make this number one. You could, but Dungeons and Dragons and I'm talking the first edition.

2:17 Um you know, imagination was needed. Paper you know, paper and and and and just you know, going on these incredible adventures and going through things and the supplements that came out and Dungeons and Dragons was such a great thing. Now, it's kind of watered-down mess, but I it deserves to be mentioned here even though I don't think it's the the foundation of what what um

2:47 [clears throat]

2:48 what I was looking for. Um uh I I would really fail to to have a list if I didn't mention it because I remember so many times, you know, looking at those supplements and looking at the dungeons and everything like that and having so much fun with all my friends that it needed to be on this list at number 19. Number 18, uh I put Skyrim. And Skyrim Yeah, you know, of course, you know, the the board game's pretty good, but nothing is more and I I'm looking at the PC console edition here. Open world um creating is I mean, it's great RPG. Um the dungeons were always a lot of fun in it. And I I just I wanted to add something more from the modern era and when I really thought about it, this one just popped in my head every single time. And it's Skyrim and and and you know, you know, um The Elder Scrolls. Um what a wonderful RPG dungeon crawl um experience it was and you know, it was it it was always fun because you could do just about anything, you know, where a lot of dungeon crawls restrict you to certain things.

4:08 I really felt this one needed to be on the list at number 18. At number 17 is um this is the series. Um there was Fantasies and Fantasies II. Um this was for the old uh Atari I mean, Atari a Commodore 64, the Amiga. Uh I I believe it was on the Apple II. Um the old the old box games, the SSI games and stuff like this. This one was one of the first ones I completed on on a computer by myself. Um and I had such a blast playing this. The dungeons, the gods, and then when you when you won the game, you became gods yourself, so you can go through the whole thing and just thrash everything.

4:59 Uh getting your fireballs up which was the most important probably spell that you can have and level it up to a point when you hit something, you just obliterated it. Um

5:11 [clears throat]

5:12 it became where the barbarian became second. You know, kind of okay, we'll just hold them off and and you know, take some points off. Let's let's throw some magic at it. But it was a lot of fun and a great experience and and Fantasies is one of my all-time favorites at number 17. At number 16, I you know, I I just don't think you can make this list without Diablo. And I'm talking the entire series. You know, the original one where where you know, it was one of the first online um dungeon crawls and you're going through and people come down and they can attack you. They pretend to be your friend and help you out and then if you got something, they they turn on you and you know, uh always looking over your shoulder, all the different bosses.

6:03 Um this this this was a very special game and and remains to be one even today and um even though I don't play it as much and I don't feel it is you know, in the vein of that traditional uh type of uh I got a wizard, I got a I got a barbarian, I got a thief type of um dungeon crawls. Uh this one is an all-time classic and at number 16 PC console edition of Diablo. At number 15 uh I put Eye of the Beholder. Eye of the Beholder took um one of one of the one of the games um that is later on this list and took the formula and really did a great job with it and added the uh you know, the Dungeons and Dragons world into it and it was such a fun adventure.

7:05 Um uh just a real blast, great story. Um hours and hours playing that. The second one was just as good and um you know, the PC the PC and even even the you know, the the I believe it was the Super Nintendo was a lot a lot of fun and you got a lot of play time out of it. I thought this was a a great game and really captured uh what it is the dungeon crawl. At number 14 uh I don't think any list would be complete unless we had the the board game version of Fantasy Flight's Descent and I do mean the first edition. You can add the second edition which was good. The third edition was garbage and that's why they discontinued it uh just recently and it's sad and it's horrible, but I mean, that's life.

8:02 But Descent was just a blast and um it it was one of those board games where you just you know, you know, you you you got the expansions or you got the booklet and and you played for hours and hours and hours with your friends and um visually with the miniatures and everything, it's just a fantastic fantastic experience. At number 14

8:27 [clears throat and snorts]

8:29 At number 13 Four Against Darkness. Um I put this in with paper {slash} board games. Um um but but nothing says dungeon crawl than getting your four companions and all the wonderful expansions to it. If you have not checked this out, you need to go to uh um RPG Drive DriveThruRPG. Uh download the just the regular book and you're off and and running. All you need is a pencil, some graph paper, and and some dice and let the magic begin. A tremendous tremendous tremendous game. Um and and and a lot a lot of fun with tons of different supplements giving you different stories and different adventures to go on and just a lot of fun.

9:26 At number 12 I have Dungeon Quest. I mean, pretty much says it all. Uh the board game was originally uh created by Games Workshop. Uh it was in the bookshelf format. Uh there were a couple expansions for it which were just absolutely glorious. Um um and then and then it moved over to Fantasy Flight I want to say and they did a nice job with it. They tried the rock, paper, scissors things. I always liked the dice chucking part of it. Probably one of the hardest games that you will ever ever play. You will die a lot. A story where you're just taking your hero, trying to get to the dragon's treasure without waking him up or the sun coming up because when the sun comes up, he just inflames the entire dungeon and anything in there dies.

10:19 A test of speed, will, intelligence, fighting, trying to collect as much as you can and get out and see what your best score could ever be. Just a great dungeon crawl. At number 12, Dungeon Quest. At number 11, one of the all-time greats, but I think it fell off with with some of the later works by by this guy, but Ultima. The the first five Ultimas are considered some of the greatest and even though Ultima Online was a an MMO that that they tried to create this incredible world. It was ultimately a failure in a lot of ways.

11:08 But the original Ultimas and how it took a twist and turn going through the dungeons and then becoming this space fantasy thing and you know, just doing a lot of different things. I remember a lot of Friday nights sitting there trying to figure out where we can find the gate to get where we can find the key to get the gate open so we can cross over and um just a game that has a lot of memories and and is one of the all-time classic PC um It was been on the Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, um and in many other systems. Um let's not mention C64 as well as Apple and the Amiga. Ultima, just a all-time classic.

12:00 Now finally, we head into our top 10. And what top 10 would not be anything without the board game Hero Quest. For me, Hero Quest, um a barren princess princeless dungeon crawl, but at the heart, probably one of the best dungeon crawls of all time. Just a lot of fun, easy for anybody to get into. I remember a lot of snowy snowy weekends and going, well, we can't do anything. We can't go anywhere. Well, we'll just you know, go down the street and play Hero Quest and we'd start in the morning and before dinner and uh you know, great Saturday and what more can you ask but plenty of tales and stories to tell.

12:51 At number nine, um this one this one takes dungeon crawling and just sandboxes it and does a wonderful wonderful job. Dungeon Universalis. If you have not picked this up for your board game collection, um you're making a huge mistake. This is a game that is is whatever you want to make it to be. Um And just probably one of the better dungeon crawls out there today. It holds up. It's very strong and it's brilliant and there continues to it continues to evolve and become better and better with each incarnation. So I definitely, if you want to try to go find it, I'm telling you if you love dungeon crawls, you're going to love Dungeon Universalis.

13:45 Just be warned, little bit of a learning curve, but once you get this down, there's no turning back. At number eight, one of my favorites, D100 Dungeon. Um Martin Knight, the brilliant guy that he is, you know, created this this one-player adventure and with all the other supplements and things with it, it just creates this entire lifestyle and you know, you become very invested in your character as you go through these dungeons, which you never know what you're going to face or what you need to you know, what's going to happen. Um a tremendous tremendous book. Again, just like Four Against Dungeon, you know, you need the book, go to DriveThruRPG, get yourself some dice, some graph paper, and a good old pencil and you're off and running with D100.

14:46 At number seven is one of my all-time favorites. And it's down to seven because there are just things that I just feel that are better and um it's not so much they're they're better, um but this game wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for Little Monk today or else this just would have been a a game forgotten in the past. And that's Warhammer Quest, a descendant of Hero Quest. Um I think this is a wonderful wonderful game that continues to grow and continues to be great. Could be a lot of could be antiquated to a lot of people, but for me, it's number seven. There's just a couple things on this list that I just really feel are are better. Um

15:34 [clears throat]

15:34 and you know, whether it's computer or board game wise. Um but it is up there. It is a classic. It's set in the Warhammer universe, which it may not be for you, but that's okay. It's still a fantastic game and you can never be disappointed in this. And you know, get a hold of my man Little Monk on YouTube or through his email and you know, get some files, print it, play it. You'll see what I'm talking about. At number six, the series continues to live on today and is being redone. And I'm I'm still enjoying it today.

16:20 And that's Wizardry. Wizardry is the all one of the ultimate dungeon crawls because it's all about the dungeons. And it is incredibly hard. You're going to die a lot. You're going to need to go back to town a lot. You may only go 10 ft farther in in the dungeon and then you get beat up and then you've got to go work your way all the way back to the surface, heal, recover, and it is a grind just like any dungeon should be. And just a tremendous historic experience. Played on the C64. You can get it on a lot of emulators. It's on the PlayStation and Xbox. If you really want to enjoy it, it's been remastered and the very first one, I think the proving grounds is the first one.

17:13 I always get them mixed up. But um try it out and see what we're talking about and it's a wonderful wonderful experience. And now our top five. And what top five would be anything without Bard's Tale. Bard's Tale, the all three of them were masterpieces back in the day. Sitting there with your graph paper while somebody and it's a computer game that is just historic. They came out with another one, a remake. I don't even count that. I look at the original three, which you can download on the Xbox 360 or Xbox One, whatever it is. Shows how antiquated I am. But you can experience them the way they originally were with a couple nuances and and improvements that make it even better and I think it's something that you will really really enjoy. And Bard's Tale is right there for me as one of my all-time favorites from my younger days.

18:22 At number four, I'd be remiss if this was not on our list and I've got to go League of Dungeoneers. League of Dungeoneers um is is a fantastic board game. If you have a chance to get it, beautifully done with you could do miniatures, but the standees are gorgeous. There's so much to this and so much life to it. It is one of the greatest board game dungeon crawls of all time. It really sits there as as something that you know, when I talk about the top three, it's League of Dungeoneers, Warhammer Quest, and Dungeon Universalis and then everything after it is below that as far as true to life dungeon crawls.

19:15 Really just you can do anything with this system. Um beautifully done, beautifully created. One guy created all this, too, which is amazing. What a wonderful wonderful job. League of Dungeoneers at number four. Number three, boy, I wanted to put this higher, but but uh one of my favorite games and I think this game here really spawned a different era for video games as far as dungeon crawls are concerned and that is Dungeon Master. There was Dungeon Master 1, Dungeon Master 2. Um just going through there, picking your heroes, having to feed your guys, and a you know, looking through the eyes of your characters, beautifully illustrated for its day. You can play it on the Amiga. You can find it on the Super Nintendo if you have an emulator.

20:17 Give this a go. This is one of the ultimate dungeon crawls with a wonderful twist. Um get out your get out your graph paper, get out your pencil. You're going to be creating a lot of maps trying to go through this. And um just old school dungeon crawling at its very best and simplified, easy to learn, easy to get you know, to start off with. And really deserves to be here at number three. And number two, I kind of fought with put even putting this on the list, but how could I not? It's probably one of the greatest dungeon crawlers of all time. And while it has more of a kitty feel to it sometimes, this just lives on. Every time you go to convention, you see somebody dressed up as as these characters. And that is Legend of Zelda.

21:14 The original one on so many different platforms and things and now on the Switch 2, the Breath of the Wild, which is a little different, but still going into those dungeons to retrieve equipment that you're going to need and beat bosses. This really just sets a stage that is unlike anything else. Uh and and really enhanced role-playing dungeon crawls in the late '80s and into the '90s and even now. Um Legend of Zelda holds up today. And people are playing it, speed running it, whatever they can do. It is a historic historic game that that is just a fantastic dungeon crawl.

22:05 And finally, at number one, I really thought because anything on this list could have been number one. But I'd be remiss to say there are some great runner-ups here that I left off the list because of certain reasons. Baldur's Gate because it was more of an open world thing than a dungeon crawl. I felt it could easily been on this list, but I think the game that I'm going to be talking about or the games I'm going to be talking about kind of falls into the same line because it's the next iteration of it. Pericles we could have put on there. Um there were just so many great dungeon crawls out there. I left Medarra off which I felt was a Japanese role-playing game.

22:54 But a great little crawler there. Um you know, I could I I could have picked about a thousand things, but these were the ones that I picked off the top of my head. I may have missed some things, maybe not, but there was one thing for sure that at number one I went with the SSI Gold Box games. And that is the official Dungeons and Dragons games like Pool of Radiance and things like that. It was an incredible series, very detailed dungeon crawls, fantastic fantastic graphics and everything for the the time of that it came out. You can find this on the Nintendo, you can find some of it on the Super Nintendo, the C64, the Amigas, and you know, in computers all over the place. It's been remastered, you can find it on Steam now. And you need to take the time to play this because this is a true to form dungeon crawl using you know, advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I think that's why I put Dungeons and Dragons so low because I just felt that a lot of the computer stuff such as Eye of the Beholder, the Gold Box games, and some other things really tap into Dungeons and Dragons. But um these Gold Box games were some of the best, ate up a lot of my lifetime,

24:27 [clears throat]

24:27 and it's just unbelievable fun and still playable today. Just go over to Steam, look it up. They have collections of them. And you'll be able to play them today. And they play on the modern computer and they play very very well. A couple little upgrades here and there, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Um that it's just old school dungeon crawling and role-playing the way it should be. Uh so at number one, the Gold Box games by SSI, Pool of Radiance, Knights of Ren or whatever or it was or Krynn, excuse me. And just so many other fantastic titles that will give you a lifetime of playing and enjoyment. So there you go, my top 20 greatest uh video game board game dungeon crawls of all time.

25:24 Uh do you agree with me? Maybe not. Maybe there's some things I missed. I would love to see what you think in the comments as always. And until next time, my dear friends. It's your old pal Rod. We'll see you soon, everybody.