Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground
A dungeon-building RPG where you lure monsters away from a town.
Global A Entertainment created the role-playing game Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground for the PlayStation Portable. Taito first published it in Japan on September 28, 2006 as Chronicle of Dungeon Maker. Xseed Games then released it in the United States on June 19, 2007.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Global A Entertainment
- Publisher
- Taito (JP); Xseed Games (NA)
- Released
- September 28, 2006 (JP); June 19, 2007 (NA)
- Genre
- Role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Platforms
- PlayStation Portable
Facts from the source article.
Story
To protect a small town from monster and demon attacks, a novice dungeon maker creates a dungeon in a nearby cave to lure creatures away from the town. The hope is that monsters will settle there instead of roaming freely. The dungeon architect then ventures inside to exterminate them. As the dungeon grows, more powerful foes appear, and the ultimate goal is to attract and defeat the legendary Wandering Demon, bringing long-term peace.
Gameplay
The game is divided into days. Each day begins in town, where the player can buy and sell items, obtain quests from residents, and prepare. Then the player enters the dungeon, battles monsters that have moved in, and can expand the dungeon using construction modules. After exiting or losing all health, the player returns to town activities and rests for the night, at which point the dungeon is repopulated. Most gameplay involves completing main and side quests, which require defeating specific foes or retrieving objects from chests or defeated enemies. Quest foes appear only after the player builds appropriate rooms or enhances a level's layout. Key building blocks, especially staircases for deeper levels, are often quest rewards, forcing expansion to progress. Role-playing elements are light: there is no character appearance customization except equipment, and no experience system. Instead, statistics improve by eating a daily meal made from ingredients harvested from defeated foes. The increases depend on the recipe, with more powerful recipes yielding greater enhancements. Because the player can eat only once per day, performance gains accumulate slowly.
Reception
Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground received praise for its unique premise and concept, but reviewers noted it became repetitious over time, with slow pacing in parts. GameSpot observed that players spend large amounts of time swinging at bats while earning funds to reach deeper regions, and it can take many hours before encountering a new enemy. IGN commented favorably on the level of dungeon customization but lamented the randomness of attracting certain creatures and the lack of concrete feedback about what each dungeon component does, noting that it can be impossible to evaluate whether floor plans are working in the player's favor.
More in Taito Games of the 2000s
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