How Hard is Undungeon?

When delving into the reviews of Undungeon, I noticed that there was a complaint that was pretty common: the game is too hard. Although I already were a Tips & Tricks piece that might make it easier for players, I thought I might make an article assisting everyone that doesn't own the game yet and wants to know just how hard it is.

Undungeon's Gameplay

Undungeon plays from a top-down perspective, and oftentimes players will be swarmed with tons of enemies that attack them at the same time. Although this might not sound like too much of a problem, the game punishes the player heavily whenever they take damage, with a system that increases the damage of the enemy that hit you for each time they do, up to a total of five buffs. This can be tough to deal with when there are enemies that have things such as shotguns that allow them to quickly amass damage buffs.

There are complaints about the enemies feeling like damage sponges, which can be true for some of the enemies in the game; given that Undungeon's main gameplay loop involves fighting at almost every turn, this might be a turn-off for players.

The healing system in the game also feels a bit limiting. The Herald doesn't heal aside from using items, but these items need to be bought for the most part and, worst of all, you must put the healing item down and hit it to use it; do this too late, and the enemies can take it from you.

How hard is Undungeon?

Honestly, I struggle to see the difficulty that some players are complaining about, and I think it's mostly centred around their lack of adaptability.

Although some enemies can feel like damage sponges early, once I had played only a couple of hours in the game I was dishing out some pretty aggressive damage, oftentimes killing enemies in just four or five hits; the secret is all in the build and adaptability.

If you play carefully and adapt to the situations as they unravel, the game should be easy enough. Fight ranged enemies with ranged attacks, definitely don't charge enemies that wield shotguns headfirst because of the stacking damage buff, and if they do land a hit on you, wait it out by dodging until their damage buff turns into a shield and use a knife to pop it.

Aside from that, there is a system implemented that allows you to slot organs that not only give you buffs in battle but also allow you to die several times; the game feels almost forgiving with this in mind, especially when considering the fact that there are several organs implemented in the game with the intention of breaking, one of which returns all of the players HP as damage to the enemy that broke the shield and another that fully heals the player every time an organ breaks.

Overall, Undungeon doesn't feel nearly as difficult as many players make it out to be, and I think it should be manageable for anyone that is willing to adapt as the combat unravels, rather than trying to brute force their way through one playstyle.