Which of These Four Small Box Games is Right for You?

0:11 hey everybody welcome back to the dungeon dive daniel here and welcome to the main event the one everybody has been waiting for and that is the battle of the small box card games that simulate a big dungeon crawl feel we have iron helm versus rogue dungeon versus mini rogue versus unbroken which one of these four games will be crowned lord of the dungeon and which three will be thrown into the sacrificial fires of hell okay actually none of them but i do really really like all of these games some i like better than others there's definitely a scale of how i like them but i'm going to uh rank all four of these games according to five different categories and that way you can kind of decide which game is right for you and those five categories are luck versus strategy so which of these has the most luck and which has the most strategy aesthetics the art value the uh art direction which is definitely the hardest category to judge um the third category is going to be how well does it simulate the feel of a

1:41 large box dungeon crawl the fourth is going to be replay value with the um the effect of expansions being factored in to the equation and the final category is going to be the x factor or that certain something or the fun factor or the my opinion of which game i like the most from at least to most so let's get started here and the first category is going to be luck versus strategy so i'm going to put these in order of the game that has the most luck to the game that has the most strategy and to start things off we will start with the most luck and that is mini rogue mini rogue you could possibly open the box roll a d6 and choose even or odds if it's even you're going to win if it's odd you're going to lose close the box and call it a day that is mini rogue is basically uh random luck the game and i love this game but if you are looking for something that doesn't have a lot of luck you may want to look elsewhere coming up next is rogue dungeon so rogue dungeon while still having a lot of luck has a little bit more uh strategy a little more skill involved because you can work your way through the dungeon there is a little bit more of a um

3:13 kind of a resource management and how you're dealing with stats in this game so it adds just a little bit it relies a little bit less on luck than mini rogue uh coming up next i would say is iron helm so iron helm while still having some luck in how the cards are drawn uh there is quite a bit of strategy quite a bit of decision making where you can manipulate the cards you can choose the optimal card to encounter and while there is still a pressure look element i think this is a game that you uh through more and more plays you can actually get much better at as you start to know the game and as you start to know the cards and there is an element of of memorization um involved in iron helm and at the very opposite end of the spectrum from mini rogue is of course unbroken while this game does have some luck it really does rely on your skill at uh utilizing your resources and making smart decisions and so this is a game that i could definitely see uh you the more you play the better you're going to get and you are going to win more the more you play which is a mini rogue basically the more you play uh it's still going to be almost entirely up to chance uh deciding whether you're going to win or not so that was luck versus strategy the next category is going to be

4:45 aesthetics and the uh the art direction and this category is super hard for me to judge because basically there are three games here that i absolutely love the look of and i'm talking in terms of the art the component quality just how it looks on the table how the visuals make me feel while i am playing so three of these games i absolutely love and one of them needs quite a bit of work so very very hard to just to judge on this category but coming up at the bottom of the list for this category is is rogue dungeon uh rogue dungeon is not a very attractive game i mentioned before in my in my detailed look at rogue dungeon if i had the money as the dungeon dive to invest in a game to develop a game and to invest in a very strong artistic direction i would invest in this game because i think a strong artistic design overhaul could really elevate this game to a much higher status even though i already really do love it so coming up last in the aesthetics category is rogue dungeon and now it's man this is so hard guys this is basically kind of a toss-up i could award all three of these the rest of the games with a tie but i'm not going to cop out i'm going to make the tough decision and coming up next after rogue dungeon is

6:15 unbroken the only reason i'm broken isn't higher is i feel like the art in this game while incredible and everything feels so good in the game i love the way it looks on the table the art is a little more typical it's a little more kind of standard fantasy fair with like nice painting it doesn't take a chance in how it looks it just looks good and i do like games that take chances on their visuals and so that's why i am ranking this a little bit lower uh coming up next in the aesthetics quality is a mini rogue this is a game that definitely has a strong aesthetic it takes chances with his art it's bold it looks unique it's got kind of this abstract not a lot of shading really flat color look um kind of looks like um oh what's that cartoon on cartoon network the samurai one samurai jack um my mind almost completely blanked i'm glad i thought of that it kind of has a samurai jack a dexter's laboratory look a very strong kind of like that early period of uh of adult swim cartoons on the cartoon network and i just think it looks great on the table i absolutely love the way this looks but coming up tops in this category is of course jason glover's amazing art in ironhelm it is one of my favorite things about the game and it is one of my favorite

7:46 looking games i love the black and white art and you can kind of see some of the examples of just how cool the art is you guys know i love this black and white art and i love all the cross hatching and shading on there just a fantastic looking game very bold very strong with a uh just just a bold art direction and so that is iron helm taking tops in that category next up we have how well does it simulate the feel of a large box dungeon crawl so this category is about when i set up the game when i play it does you know how close does this game make me feel like i'm playing uh wartham request or something like that or uh secrets of the lost team you know how do i feel about exploring about getting lewd about uh find out finding secrets or building my character there are a number of things that i talk about when i talk about diving that i really enjoy so which one of these games makes me feel the most like i am playing a dungeon crawl uh at the bottom of this list is unbroken unbroken to me feels more like a you are managing a hero's um finances kind of you are in charge of their spreadsheet of resources it doesn't quite give me that really in-depth dungeon crawl feel even though it does simulate some of those things so coming up last in this category is

9:16 unbroken uh coming up next is mini rogue and mini rogue you're gonna you're just working through a series of nine cards you're going from like uh from left to right or from top to bottom working your way down um they're just it it feels more like there is because you're relying so much on luck and because of it it's so quick and it's so snappy it doesn't really feel like a dungeon crawl it feels kind of like you were to play a dungeon crawl game made for a mobile device and i i think that is a pretty good way to describe mini rogue in terms of of this category great game but for me it doesn't quite simulate the feel of a dungeon crawl as good as the other two even though i get it more than i do unbroken next up is iron helm and iron helm in this category is next because it does have that little dungeon card that kind of represents the dungeon it does have a different levels that you are working through and it does have those story cards and those are those plot cards and i think those plot cards and just that little rest in between um levels gives this game a feel of a journey a little bit more than these other two and finally coming up tops in this category is rogue dungeon rogue dungeon to me really does give me that feel of a big box dungeon crawl the way it's set up

10:48 the way you keep track of all of your stats the way you can get more loot and items the way you can move through the little dungeon card and you can choose in which order to encounter cards you can move back this game i think does a very good job of simulating a large box dungeon crawl so coming up tops in this category is rogue dungeon okay so the next uh the next category is going to be replay value and that is with um expansions factored into the equation because i think most of these games benefit from some expansions and so that would mean that i would place unbroken at the bottom of this list just because it doesn't have any expansions and the main factor the main replay value of unbroken is trying to get a higher score and that doesn't appeal to me a lot it's a kind of a score chasing game and i know some people really like that and it does that does kind of coincide that works well with its luck versus strategy with being a highly strategic game so people who are looking for a score chasing game who wants something that they can get better at are going to actually find a lot of replay value and unbroken but it's just not the kind of replay value that i personally am looking for coming up next on this list i would say is rogue dungeon even though it does have one expansion which has a few cards

12:19 that you can mix in with the rest of your decks of cards i think this game does need one more expansion just to add about 10 or so cards to every deck so there is more variety when you are playing it is a difficult game so you are going to want to play it multiple times to work out some strategy to to develop a a winning strategy but i've noticed that when playing it too many times in a row keeping it set up on the table for too long there does come a point when you are seeing the things um multiple times from game to game and the game can be a little long for that uh next up is iron helm so iron helm has a plethora of expansions all of these red decks here are expansions it has a huge expansion box that has recently was uh on crowd sale on game crafter so there are a lot of different cards to mix in a lot of variety in the game the game is so and sometimes you will be seeing the same things from game to game but the games are so fast that that doesn't really matter and so i do feel like this game does offer up some really good replay values kind of bang for your buck and versus time it takes to play time it takes to set up and put away versus the the variety this game packs a lot of punch for that and coming up tops in this category is

13:52 mini rogue mini rogue is super fast you can get a new game set up in a matter of seconds it takes hardly any time to get it out of the box and set up it has a few expansions already uh that you can purchase and those expansions add new cards to almost every deck because the games are so fast are so speedy even when you do see the same things uh you're playing through the games so quickly and every time i finish a game of rogue dungeon i just want to play another game this is a game that this is a game that entices me to play over and over again i love replaying mini rogue and a lot of that does have to do with how fast it is how easy it is to play and how luck based it is i just have fun playing mini rogue and replaying mini rogue okay so the final category is that x factor that certain something that special factor that fun factor and basically how much i like each game if i had the choice of playing which one of these four games which one would i play fewer times compared to which one would i want to play the most and coming up the bottom of that list is unbroken and i think that is just because of the nature of the game it's a score chasing game and it's it's more about balancing resources it's more about making tough decisions i find this to be the hardest game and the most kind of like mentally mentally taxing of these four games and so this is the game that i would want to

15:23 play the most eat or played the least even though i do really like it and coming up next in this category is iron helm um iron helm is a great game i really like it i love the way it looks i love the way it feels but there is something about it that just makes me not want to play it as much as the other two i think it could be in the fact that it doesn't quite um simulate the dungeon crawl feel as much as the one the game i'm going to choose at tops in this category and maybe also the fact that um it is sometimes sometimes when i'm playing iron helm i feel like it is just a little bit dry and i'm not quite sure why that is but it's a game when i'm looking at i'm thinking okay i really want to play this this looks awesome i love the art i set it up i play it and i have fun but i don't want to play it again and so that kind of has to do i guess with maybe it's replay value or something like that but yeah this is the the net game i would choose to play next and then coming up uh third in this category is mini rogue i absolutely love this game it is so much fun like i said before it's just it's just super fast super easy very very low effort high value to low effort so that is why i value mini rogue so much in this category and finally it is rogue dungeon uh one of my my favorite games uh both of these games

16:55 mini rogue and rogue dungeon are on my top 50. rogue dungeon is higher than mini rogue i think rogue dungeon is a fantastic game one of the best games that is on gamecrafter so mini rogue and ironhelm are both on gamecrafter uh fantastic games fantastic diy games i'm so glad that both of them exist and i'm so happy to have all four of these games in my collection but if i had to keep only one it would probably be rogue dungeon i just really hope to see a second edition of this game come out with a more focused and maybe a more modern art style with just one more little expansion to add some variety but rogue dungeon is super fun all four of these games are fun all four of these games i think can can exist simultaneously in a collection without stepping on each other's toes they are small they can fit into a cubby that would take up you know you could you could fit these in the space of like one kind of large game and you can get a ton of value out of all four of these games so let's just uh luck versus strategy uh unbroken was at one end of the spectrum with the most uh strategy while many rogue was at the other end of the spectrum with the most look aesthetics the one that i liked the look of the most the winner of that is iron helm which is fantastic art there how well does it simulate the feel of a large box dungeon crawl i gave the nod

18:25 for that category to rogue dungeon uh replay value coming up tops in replay value is mini rogue and that x factor the game that i like the most the game that i want to play the most out of all of these is rogue dungeon so hopefully this little video may uh gave you some insight into which one of these four games is right for you so you can make a smart purchasing and collecting decision all right guys hope you enjoyed this video take it easy we'll talk to you later bye