Games Like DA_RL

DA_RL is a traditional roguelike dungeon crawler. You pick a class and descend into a procedurally generated dungeon where you'll fight monsters, find loot, and try not to die.

Pick a Class, Play Differently

DA_RL has five classes, each with their own stat spread and a unique ability that changes how you approach every floor.

The Gods Are Watching

There are five gods in DA_RL and each one has an opinion about what you're doing down there. You gain favor by killing the kinds of enemies they like, interacting with their shrines, and generally playing in a way that aligns with their values. Build up enough favor and they start helping you. Let it drop too far and they start punishing you.

Each god also has a rival. Worshipping at a rival god's shrine costs you favor. Pick one and commit to it, or don't worship anyone and go it alone.

Spells, Scrolls, Wands, and More

DA_RL features a lot of items and lots of item interactions. Potions can heal you, poison you, make you invisible, put you to sleep, or cause you to hallucinate and see things that aren't there. Scrolls do everything from revealing the map, to teleporting you across the dungeon, to summoning an ally, to just killing you if you read the wrong one. Wands give you a limited-use version of spells like Fireball or Drain Life.

Then there are spell books. Find one, read it, and that spell is yours permanently. The full spell list has basics like Magic Missile and Frost Bolt to more crazy stuff like Meteor Swarm, Death Ray, and Void Sphere. You need mana to cast them and many have cooldowns, so managing your resources matters.

Weapons and armor can also be enchanted. A sword of flaming adds fire damage, a ring of regeneration heals you passively, and armor of protection bumps your defense. But some items are cursed. A cursed item might glue itself to your hand so you can't unequip it, drain your stats, or keep you perpetually confused. The remove curse scroll exists for a reason.

A Dungeon Full of Things That Want You Dead

The monster roster is large and they all want to kill you. Bats, dragons, goblins, undead, elementals, giants, demons, mythical creatures, and more. Each enemy family has multiple tiers that show up at different depth ranges, so the enemies you face on floor 5 are not the same ones you're dealing with on floor 25. A regular Bat gives way to a Cave Bat, then a Shadow Bat, then a Vampire Bat, and eventually a Demon Bat. That pattern repeats across every family. The deeper you go the stronger the enemies become.

Enemy behavior varies too. Most enemies chase you down, but some fight at range, and some can be charmed into fighting for you temporarily. Status effects apply to enemies the same way they apply to you. Freeze one in place, set it on fire, poison it, or confuse it into wandering in the wrong direction. Most of the time though, it just comes down to whether you can kill it before it kills you.

The Dungeon Itself

Each dungeon floor is procedurally generated, so no two runs are the same. The deeper you go, the better the loot pool gets and the nastier the encounters become. There is no end to the dungeon, so try and get as far down as you can.

Some rooms are pitch black. Without a light source your vision drops to a handful of tiles, and whatever is in that room with you already knows you're there. Watch where you step too, because traps are hidden throughout the dungeon. Some you can dodge, some you can save against, and some just drop you straight to the next floor. Walls aren't always what they look like either. Some of them are secret doors. Searching finds them, and high Intelligence characters start to sense when something is nearby.

On top of combat, you need to manage hunger. Stay in the dungeon too long without eating and you will start taking damage from starvation.

Key Features