Minesweeper is one of those games that has followed every PC gamer throughout their lives. It’s been a staple of the Windows Accessories/Games tab for as long as I can remember. But it’s mostly remained untouched. In fact, checking for it just now may have been the first time I actually looked into seeing if it was on this PC …which I have had for four years.
It’s just nice to know that it’s there, I suppose.
The reason why I just dusted away four years of neglect is because Minesweeper is hardly a fun game, especially in comparison to basically every game available on my own phone. However, the developers at Red Winter recognized the gameplay potential within Minesweeper, and gave it a modernized twist in Dungelot, which originally released in 2012 for iOS devices and we happened to really enjoy. Dungelot was received positively and a sequel, Dungelot 2, released last June.
Now, Red Winter is back with a new Dungelot game, Dungelot: Shattered Lands.
The origin of Shattered Lands is a telling one: Red Winter was initially driven to produce Dungelot 2 after the success of Dungelot 1. Due to, basically, peer pressure, they made the decision to release Dungelot 2 as a free-to-play game where the original was a premium game, a decision which they believe ultimately hampered the game’s success. With renewed dedication to developing a premium game, Red Winter is gearing up to release Dungelot: Shattered Lands.
Red Winter was actually at E3 with tinyBuild Games, with a playable demo of Shattered Lands on hand. I played around with the PC build of the game for a bit, and I’m happy to say that Dungelot: Shattered Lands was really fun, even with my limited time with the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwAvSsriqn0
If you’re new to the series, like I was, the Minesweeper-ish aspects come into play as you tap around a dark dungeon, exposing tiles, collecting loot, and battling monsters by simply tapping them. As a roguelike dungeon crawler, you’re going to die a lot, but with each run you’ll pick up a bit of gold, which can go towards developing your chosen hero with each run.
I enjoyed my brief time with Dungelot: Shattered Lands, and am eagerly looking forward to its release, later this year.
