Shattered Pixel Dungeon
reviews and complaints

I’ve played the original on multiple devices and I had the opportunity to play the beta of this hame before it came out officially. I have to say that the updates to this game over the previous versions and the original game are so much better. It’s still a difficult game, so if you’re looking for the challenge that the first game presented, you’ll find it here. The addition of secondary inventory’s and having the items sorted is welcomed over the normal pile of stuff you usually find in other games like this. There are still some bugs here and there, but nothing game-breaking as far as I have found.

I’ve played regular old PD for a long time and have always wanted more from it. I eventually found out that PD can be played on pc, but I was disappointed because I didn’t have a pc to play it on. I found out from a quick internet search that shattered PD was the best option for a more fun and interesting PD. I’m so glad Evan decided to put shattered PD on mobile because I’ve never been able to play it as I don’t have a pc. This game is seriously fun, and I’ve only been playing it for like 20 mins. I haven’t found any gripes yet about the game, but I will be sure to leave another review if I do. Thanks Evan!

- Henry

This game has fulfilled my need for punishing dungeon crawling. It’s like a pixelated Dark Souls, with witty dialogue that harkens back to my favorite RPGs. As a person that will spend years learning a game, replaying it hundreds of times, I had no idea what I was getting into, and when I finally looked up Shattered gameplay after losing hundreds of times in the first level, the game unfolded like a flower unfurled with the stinger of a bee.

There is more than levels to the depth to this game, with alchemy being much deeper than you first notice, and by the time you figure it out, there are more and more layers of the game to perfect.

I don’t know the history of PD too much, with the first one being made by another guy seemingly and this one coming out some time afterwards, but let me tell you once thing I know for sure : People complaining that this game is too hard have obviously never played the original.

This new one is still fairly difficult, requiring smart usage of your resources to get far, but it is far less unfair than the original. You can get far in this game with just your smarts and making good decisions, where late game was only promised in the original if you were incredibly lucky.

Literally superior to the original game in every way I can think of.

I love the original pixel dungeon, and have played multiple different versions people have put out from the open source. I last played shattered PD years ago and thought it was great, but I am in awe of how much they’ve done with the game to present… like wow. The amount of improvement since I’ve played it is incredible. From level design and class mechanics, to the expansion of item usage and ability upgrades. There’s so much to do, and I have barely scratched the surface so far. It’s exciting discovering what they’ve put in, and I find something new every playthrough The game was already amazing… this is next level. Take note developers… this is how you do it.

Wow, the developer has soooo many thoughtful UI innovations that offer the complexity I crave in a deep roguelike, with a *cleanmobile UI.
Like extra contextual shortcuts placed only when necessary. Proper, consistent popups. Innovative new inventory system that offers the space needed for a deep roguelike, with balance & simplicity required for mobile. I have died a little more often than I would like, though not nearly as frustrating as NetHack. New systems and discoveries are introduced in a fun way, which I love. I can’t say enough for the thoughtfulness of this devs UI design. Definitely worth the price of admission, even for a stingy economist like me.

So this is gonna be a wild one, I’ve been playing shattered pixel dungeon since it’s first iteration of a mod of vanilla pixel dungeon as an android only game, I was even an emerald donator for the borders lol, kid you not for I think like 8 years. I’ve taken breaks from the only because of switching to IOS. I just learned this came out on iOS about 5minutes from writing this review and I’ve already bought it. This game is perfect, very difficult at every stage of knowledge of the game, one mistake will end your run and it’s glorious. It’s not hard to learn at all either, it’s a very skill based game, nothing is p2w and I’ve been in love with it since day one. Over 300 wins and I’m hoping to hit a new record on this phone.

I love this game, it has a great premise and has amazing mechanics that make it the best mobile roguelite I’ve ever played.

That being said my critique is on the length of each run. I think the runs go on for a bit too long and it’s not satisfying to have to come back to a game so many times to finish one. It also makes it feel really bad when you lose a run to a mistake, as it takes a very long time to get back to where you were. For a game that rewards patience and resource management, you get really punished for rushing to try to finish a game faster.

With the consistent updates on the game, I think a long term goal of slowly making the game faster would be amazing and solve my sole complaint about the game. Thank you so much.

This is the best roguelike I’ve ever played however the sound doesn’t work at all on my ipad or iphone. This happens with the original PD as well but has never happened with any other game or app. It’s still a great game but not being able to hear anything is a real bummer.

Edit: I’m a dummy. My phone was indeed in silent mode. I totally forgot there was a little switch on the side. Anyway thank you for all the amazing work you’ve put into building upon PD. And thank you for finally updating the music lol. My dream list for new features would be a new game + mode or an endless dungeon mode.

I find that although the talent system and armor upgrade mechanics are great, the game is almost over by the time I’m using them. Still a 5 star game.

I don’t think I’ve had fun with an RPG like this since Baten Kaitos on the GameCube. Not only that, it’s the first procedurally generated RPG that has really challenged me. I probably died 20 times before I got past floor 5.

This is definitely a game where you really need to think, and carefully plan your routes and pay attention. Otherwise you could fall prey to a certain container or get ambushed. A little bit of luck too, but it’s still great fun.

Advice to those starting: Don’t sleep on the Warrior as his shield buff gives him really great survivability. And if you can get a sigil that blocks damage he becomes a massive tank.

If you haven’t played this game. Play it. It’s honestly better than some $60 dollar games out there, and that’s saying something.

It’s an amazing game! I’ve been playing it for a long time now, and it never gets old. I helped Beta test it, and I pre-ordered it a week ago! It’s level of depth, complexity, and beautiful retro pixel art make you want to wander the dungeons forever! Tons of weapons, monsters, magic and more, each level will always be different. As a long time D&D Dungeon Master, I enjoy this game daily. It’s turn-based action lets you pause whenever. Always new content and bug fixes, means that you can count on never getting a stale experience. However, it can feel highly discouraging after reaching high levels, with tons of epic gear and items, only to die, and start back in the sewers with little but a water skin and a knife. Keep in mind that is what gives this game its replay ability! Thanks! Have a good one and stay safe.

I’ve been a huge fan of pixel dungeon and have played most of the available iterations on the play store. I’ve probably played thousands of attempts and only won a handful.

Shattered pixel dungeon is the most thought out and balanced version of the game I’ve ever played. The addition of the skill tree and more complex alchemy allow for compelling replay-ability. The developer removed the dominance of the “chance” factor by allowing the user to customize characters and utilize resources in completely new ways. Pulling that off while maintaining the randomness of potions scrolls and maps is impressive.

I’ve seen this game evolve and this iteration seems like the natural conclusion. Don’t play shattered pixel dungeon as your introduction to this game or you will be disappointed and dissatisfied by the other versions.

I started with regular Pixel dungeon probably around [protected] (give or take, it’s been a long time), and I’ve been playing Shattered Pixel Dungeon probably since about 2015 (also give or take). This is the only game I’ve consistently played since my first download. I’ve been more than happy to be a patron, and the creator of this modified pixel dungeon is seriously dedicated to adding new content and regularly balancing gameplay elements. It’s been a wild ride with all the updates and changes I’ve experienced, and I genuinely believe this game has perfected the roguelike formula. At least, perfected it for game meant to be played on a touch screen phone.

If you haven’t tried this game, you seriously should! There’s a learning curve and it can be a little frustrating at first, but once you start getting good, it’s hard to put down.

For those of you who even know what Nethack is, this is a pretty good modernization of that game. While, in my opinion, nothing will ever trump the original Nethack, this does come close to that feeling. Randomized potions, scrolls, wands, dungeon levels. Replayability is the best part of this game.

What absolutely baffles me though, is the lack of an option to have a D-pad. In a game where every single move can matter, and one wrong move can lead to you taking a hit that will kill you. Navigating through narrow corridors can be painstaking when you accidentally tap somewhere you didn’t mean to go, and end up circling around somewhere. Or end up moving in a fight when you meant to attack, an take a hit without giving one, putting you behind in the fight. I will most definitely change this to a five star game, which it can be, if this gets changed. Having the option to enable a D-pad for single movement at a time, while holding the direction to keep going, I feel should be essential to a game like this

I loved games like this as a teenager. Rogue, Angband, all the clones. And this is a faithful one. So props for that. But it’s just too hard. You die too easily. And I’m older now. I know it isn’t necessary to lose all progress. And it’s not rewarding to lose all progress either. Yeah it’s fine to have a learning curve. But there’s just no point in not being able to save at least occasionally if you are going to create a game with purposeful balance issues and a reliance on randomness. So five stars for making a good clone. One star for making a game that ticks you off and you put down after a few days and never pick up again. The price point doesn’t even frustrate me. I’m willing to pay. I want something rewarding of hard effort. Not something that just frustrates me. So let’s average it out at 3 stars. If you are a hardcore fan of something that will frustrate most people beyond belief then this game is definitely for you. I know there’s a few out there. Dwindling every minute. “Here lies me, killed by frustration. Or a rat. Again. Holding a bunch of unidentified cursed potions, scrolls and items. Again. RIP”.

Normally I don’t care for dungeon crawlers with this style of “fighting” but the difficulty definitely makes up for it for me personally. The fact of finding items at random both magically beneficial or hindering is great cause you never know what your up against for yourself, and the secret rooms are fun to try discover. Even the fact that potions and scrolls change every gameplay so you don’t know what does what 2 gameplays in a row until after you use it really keeps with the gamble of how your game is going to go, and that makes it even more interesting for me! I would give this a 5 star rating but unfortunately there is one thing that kept pissing me off, especially in early gameplay and that is the accuracy mechanics. I understand you need to make it more difficult in the sense of a low level character having a hard time to kill things, but when I literally am hitting “dodged” 50 times in a row to the point of me using all my items to survive and still dyeing is infuriating, even when I am using the “surprise” mechanic. Like this “missing the target” is even worse than Morrowind was when you first started a character and were trying to kill rats. Other than that the game is pretty solid though!

These days, it seems like almost every single game in the App Store claims to be a roguelike. In truth, there are very few real roguelikes available. There are some that offer one or two roguelike features, but precious few deliver the full package. Even fewer do it well. This is one of the best so far. Turn based gameplay, procedurally generated levels, permadeath, a good variety of enemies, items with unknown properties that must be discovered, this game contains all of the hallmarks of a full-featured roguelike wrapped in an easy to use, intuitive touch interface.
And it’s also fun. Pay no attention to the people complaining that it’s too hard. It’s a roguelike, they’re supposed to be hard. Play this game, and you will die. A lot. And then you will have to restart from the beginning. A lot. And every time, you will learn something that might help you make it a bit farther next time. Or maybe not. But eventually you will get all the way to the end. And probably die. If that doesn’t appeal to you, maybe roguelikes aren’t your thing. That’s ok, there are plenty of easier games for iOS. Maybe Cookie Clicker would be a better fit. Or maybe one of the hundreds of JRPGs, twin-stick shooters, action platformers, MOBAs, Diablo clones, card battlers, tower defenses, and match 3 games out there that all claim to be roguelikes may be what you’re looking for. That’s cool, no judgement here.
But if you, like me, enjoy a true roguelike game, this one might be right up your alley. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not nearly as deep or complex as NetHack. Not even close. But it scratches the same itch while having controls much better suited to a mobile device, without sacrificing the core gameplay elements that define the genre. And did I mention it’s fun? Highly recommended.

Please fix. Thanks.

Be warned you can not save your progress in this game.

I spent money for the same loop of items over and over and over and over it’s so bad

Insanely difficult. Now difficulty settings. If you screw up once or just unlucky, you lose all progress and start over.

I love this game but the controller is weird using joystick like a mouse is there a way to make highlighted selection like most games?

30 seconds into game ran into unkillable enemy that dodged every attack and followed doggedly so escape was impossible extremely disappointing

Didn’t used to be. Updates have made it impossible to get anywhere. New items are cool, but too difficult now to play the game, let alone enjoy it.

Yea I used to play this when I had an android and was hesitant to purchase it on iOS because it was free on google and the main thing I liked over the original was the save feature which seems to have been removed. If you were looking for that like I was save your money

Half the game is begging your character not to miss. The last area enemies easily shred through your health in 2-3 hits and armor means nothing. Had the best run, fully optimized, and died immediately cause one enemy can take away half your health in one shot. Not worth then money, the game is just too unfair. Not being able to do anything as enemies just destroy you’re health bar is the most frustrating thing, especially after all the hard work you went through just to lose cause you’re attacked by 3 overpowered enemies at once.

I’ve been playing Pixel Dungeon now for about a decade. In this version I’ve played 110 games without a win. I’m fairly sure I difficulty option prior to the start of the game may help at least ease in and figure things better or something.

I commonly occur mobs around vital items, monsters spawning exactly where I need to go and serious lack of available weapons, armor and upgrades when most definitely needed. On top of that I’m basically living around the alchemy pot and still getting slammed.

Please, if I reach 150-200 games without a single victory I’m out.