Epic Dungeon is the best "Roguelike" to grace a console to date.
The Best "Roguelike" to grace a console: Endless play for the strong of heart (and quick of button-pushing)
Decent Variety of Play: 4 Classes to choose from, character leveling, shops, etc.
High Action: More of an action dungeon crawl than high-strategy play
Good sense of Discovery: special encounters that force the player to choose, scrolls need identification, roguelike fog in effect
Easy to Get Into: unlike Desktop Dungeons, this game isn't insanely hard and is totally playable for newcomers
Great Value: for 80 MS points, you've got a ton of game
Still mostly a retread: Doesn't experiment with the formula too much, just does it well
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Epic Dungeon, the first of XBIG's Indie Games Winter Uprising, has stormed the indie channel in a big way. A week after it's release, it's #4 in overall downloads, and #6 in overall rating - not too shabby!
Created by Eyehook, also responsible for ColorBox released in March 2010, Epic Dungeon opens the roguelike mini-genre up to a much wider audience, but does it in a way that retains the joy of endless play as you descend level by level ad infinitum. Whereas previous incarnations of roguelikes on the console (namely, Dungeon Adventure) maintained the minimalist approach to visuals, Epic Dungeon uses a colorful and light palette to spruce up their dungeon crawl, which gives the game a much needed visual lift. But don't be fooled; Epic Dungeon isn't simply a casual-gamer's haven. Rather, its a great example of broadening a genre's scope to make is more appealing to all kinds of players.
For those unfamiliar with roguelikes, the concept is simple: continue from level to level down into the dungeon and last as far as you can go. While traditional roguelikes (Dwarf Fortress, Desktop Dungeons) often use incredibly difficulty to force the player to think highly-strategically, Epic Dungeon is more of a traditional action crawl that emphasizes flying into the fray over long plotting. It keep the game moving forward, and since games take much longer (before you die) it also includes a much needed Save option, something not all games of this kind include. But that's not the only thing that's new (again).
A great example is the (no longer common) implementation of needing to identify scrolls you pick up from loot, question marks randomly placed which trigger an encounter that can benefit or hinder you (along with a fun brief story that requires you to choose A or B), all of which keeps the play from being a simple slog. Additionally, from the beginning you choose from 4 character classes, and as you level your character have the opportunity to level (rather modest) skill trees and stats. None of this is really new, per se, but they're options not often seen in the genre and work really well.
Of course, aside from some tweaking, there's not a lot that's really new to be found here. What you do get is a well-crafted dungeon crawl that' does a bunch right and is therefore a fantastic value at 80 MS points. With that said, Epic Dungeon won't change your world or stick with you. It's not weighty nor is it inventive. But for what it is, it's the best roguelike available on any console to date.
9/10