Ancient Dungeon VR for Windows

Conquer the dungeons in this cool VR game

Ancient Dungeon VR is a free virtual reality action video game wherein you get to explore mysterious dungeons up-close. Developed by Eric “ErThu” Thullen, this indie VR dungeon crawler features randomly-generated maps and rogue-lite gameplay mechanics. You’ll encounter various types of monsters that are often found in fantasy RPGs. However, you’re going to be using melee weapons instead of magic to fight them. This game is compatible with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift S headsets.

Feel like a proper adventurer

Ancient Dungeon VR is basically a rogue-lite adventure experienced through the thrills of virtual reality. Rogue-lites are similar to the roguelike subgenre of games wherein procedurally-generated levels are a core element. In this game, you get to explore ever-changing maps that offer different combinations of connected biomes. Within these areas, there are a lot of enemy monsters to slay, such as slimes, skeletons, wisps, and beasts. Thus, no two runs will ever feel the same.

The world here looks highly similar to Minecraft’s blocky, pixelated environments. You start in the main menu area and begin your adventure by going inside the dungeon. You get poor melee weapons at first, so you must either look around to find better ones or upgrade them with crazy abilities. Unlike Minecraft, however, your loot doesn’t automatically get picked up. You must manually grab them to equip or place them into your inventory.

What’s highly impressive here is that the object physics feels almost realistic. Items have actual weight to them and will react to your movements, whether you swing your sword at them or shoot them with arrows. Hitting objects will either break them, throw them, or produce tiny block shower effects to show the impact. Plus, the melee combat feels really satisfying as the monsters realistically react to your attacks—from the direction to the strength.

A must-have title

Overall, Ancient Dungeon VR is surprisingly well-made for an indie VR game and is a great recommendation. It feels polished and offers unique experiences every time you go down to clear the dungeons. Not to mention that you can encounter friendly NPCs who have quests for you, just like in RPGs, and there’s even a climbing mechanic available. Perhaps the only major issue with it is that most of the areas are small and confined.