Dungeon crawler

The dungeon crawling genre refers to games in which the exploration and progression lies on guiding a single character or a party of characters in a dungeon-like environment. The word dungeon is used with an ample definition, relating to any levels or areas acting as mazes or labyrinths, featuring multiple paths and courses. Dungeon crawlers are not defined by specific core game aspects such as movement or perspective but will feature combat where eliminating enemies is necessary. While not mandatory, dungeon crawlers generally feature an opening safe area such as a town before the player embarks on his perilous journey through the dungeon levels.

The terminology goes back to the roots of RPG Dungeon & Dragons inspired video games with 1975's pedit5, which eventually morphed into Rogue and other roguelike games. The following year Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was released, a first-person party-based dungeon crawler which are now retrospectively called blobber. Gauntlet is another important dungeon crawler, which took influence from early action RPG games. In the 90s dungeon crawler evolved with games like Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Diablo expanding the original scope but retaining the dungeon exploration elements. In the 2010s the terminology is also applied to Action roguelite games like The Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon, with mechanics that ties them to the original dungeon crawler Rogue.