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Yokai Dungeon – Zelda meets Japanese folklore

A fun and furious action puzzler

Price: Free ($4/£4 to remove ads)
Version: 1.1
Size: 48.7 MB
Developer: Neutronized
Platform: iPhone / iPad

Yokai Dungeon

Yokai Dungeon, from the same developer that brought you the excellent Super Cat Tales, is a sort of action puzzler that feels like Zelda with a hefty sprinkling of Japanese folklore.

Featuring another range of fuzzy and furry characters, there’s a much more arcadey, quickfire approach to gameplay than the comparison at the top suggests.

There’s a variety of critters in Yokai Dungeon just waiting to snare you

While you make your way around top-down levels, bashing at trees and a variety of baddies between visits to shops to equip different items, each level’s procedurally-generated nature means surprises are always afoot.

Each time you enter a level a variety of blocks appear, as do a number of naughty critters hoping to take your lives. Your job is to bash into these blocks and send them flying into the bad guys to vanquish them. Once all the baddies have been slain, you can move on to the next level.

If you take too long, baddies will take notice

In the top corner, you’ll see a map – this will show you a grid of a handful of rooms you can enter next. These eventually lead to a boss level, or sometimes a store. Buying items will provide you extra regeneration time, or reduce the boss’ lives, depending on which you equip.

Equip yourself with useful items

If you lose all your lives you have to start again – or pay 100 coins, which you gain from smashing blocks and bad guys. Don’t have 100 coins? Of course, you can always pay via IAP for more. While the game is free and ad-supported, you can pay $4 to remove these ads, though IAPs still remain. However, considering the fact that each level is different after auto-generating once you enter, this isn’t too much of a pain.

Get closer to unlocking characters by arming yourself with some tasty powerups

But that does beg the question – what’s the aim of the game? On its surface it’s a simple arcade game with little in the way of an “ultimate goal” aside from unlocking extra characters that provide different skills. You can only unlock them by continuing your progression.

While it can take a while to unlock all 20 characters, the gameplay isn’t too tough and it’s an enjoyable game to pick up and play at various intervals.

You’ll meet some interesting folk in the boss rooms

The graphics are also great – bright, brash and in your face. Likewise, the music is suitably loud, all over the place, and very arcade-like. It’s a feast for the eyes and ears.

While the levels are procedurally-generated, they’re quite small and not really based on a huge pot of differentiators. In terms of longevity, we do question whether this will keep you hooked for more than a couple of weeks. But overall, Yokai Dungeon is a brilliant laugh and will certainly keep you entertained in the short term.