Dicealot’s official summary promises a “high-stakes roguelike dice-builder where every roll is a risk, every risk is a thrill, and every thrill teeters between triumph and disaster”. Having tried the game, I think that describes it quite well.
This game goes straight to the point – what you see is what you get. You roll 6 dice, and based on how you roll, you could either re-roll individual dice up to a certain limit, or re-roll all other dice to try and get a better result.
In this game, you aren’t rolling for the highest number on the dice, but instead you are trying to roll for combos, as if you’re playing Poker. For example, rolling three of a kind, called a Albion’s Road, helps you to achieve higher damage. It can also potentially allow you to re-roll all 6 dice, letting you continue to increase your damage potential if all 6 dice are used in the attack.
Much like most roguelikes, you have shops for you to purchase upgrades that can significantly boost your attack, as well as increasing the chance to get the dice combo you wish to get. This is achieved through Quest Dice, which acts as a multiplier or buff, akin to Balatro‘s Joker. There is also another passive buff called Vassal, which provides a variety of buffs such as earning more gold per encounter victory, or providing more rerolls.
Plus, of course, you can even buy dice with unique pips to boost your chances of landing on a number you prefer, such as a dice that only has 2 different values on it instead of the usual 6.
Overall, if you have played various styles of roguelikes, none of these will be news to you. However, this game is a breath of fresh air when compared with some other roguelikes on the market that focus on high action, such as Hades 2 or UNYIELDER, as it is much slower and more methodical.
To use another 2 popular roguelikes as an example, I think the pacing of this game is somewhere between Slay the Spire and Balatro. It feels faster than Slay the Spire as there is more luck involved in this game, especially during the early phase; but slower than Balatro, where you can very quickly hit an insane run that lets you blast through the main stages.
Similar to Balatro, Dicealot’s Quest Dice multipliers can exponentially increase your attack value to crazy levels that allows you to one-shot the big boss. My one and only winning run was achieved with one such combination, using a crazy multiplier that hit so hard that I won with a single strike.
Since the game revolves around rolling dice, you could easily get an insanely lucky streak, but you can also just as easily hit a very unlucky streak and lose a perfectly good run, which never feels good. Luckily – pun intended, the game’s aesthetic is quite pleasant, which soothes some of the rage from extreme bad luck.
Verdict
Dicealot, true to its name, has a lot of dice, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s a game you get a feel for really quickly, but also provides enough depth for you to sink some good time in order to really understand the game. It’s an easy recommend for people who love roguelikes and want to try out something a little different from what most other games within this genre is offering.
The game is also quickly improving. Within my short time frame of playing it, I realised there were several updates that made the game feel just a little better to play, and it is always a good sign that the development of the game is active and that game is constantly being improved upon. If you’d like to give Dicealot a try, you can find the game on Steam.
