Dungeons of Dreadmoor 1
Image: D.W. Electronics

Dungeons of Dreadmoor (no, not that one) is a game I found by complete chance when trawling the deep, deep sea of Steam, with its cover art and general style catching my eye immediately. It goes 'full retro' and apes the look and the feel of an Atari 2600 or Mattel Intellivision title, and is accompanied by amazing chiptune-style sound design.

Dungeons of Dreadmoor isn't a sprawling open world; it doesn't have countless items to manage, and it doesn't have a lot of the modern pleasures we take for granted in gaming – but it's still amazingly enjoyable to sit down and play. All of this is by design, of course, with the developer stating that they "didn't want to add modern elements", instead wanting it to play as accurately to the older hardware as possible.

They also stated that, 20 years ago, they "had a dream where I played this game and had a great time", leading them to make the graphics you see in the first part of the game. The developer says they wanted the game to be "as true to the 16-bit gameplay" as possible.

This makes Dungeons of Dreadmoor simple but smooth; it's not graphically impressive, but possesses a certain charm that wouldn't be there if it were built for modern hardware with modern graphics.

The gameplay is pretty self-explanatory; it's a dungeon crawler, seeing you exploring various rooms to find keys and progress to the next level through a gate to inevitably end up at the fearsome Velthemor the Dragon. It really feels like a game that could have been released on that hardware years ago.

Dungeons of Dreadmoor also has three difficulty modes, each of which adjusts the size of the dungeon itself, and 4 different dungeon biomes that lead you to the monstrous final fight with Velthemor the Dragon.

This action-adventure feels like a love letter to retro games, specifically the early '80s, and the developers' passion and commitment to making it as accurate as possible is evident.

I highly recommend checking this out if you like retro games, and at only £1.79 full price on Steam, there's little reason not to give it a go – I just wonder what the developers of Dungeons of Dredmor think of that title...