Desktop Dungeons: Rewind cover
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind screenshot
Genre: Puzzle, Strategy, Adventure, Indie

Desktop Dungeons: Rewind

Patch Notes 2023-05-12:

This update's biggest changes are displaying global quests on the map screen without attaching them to dungeons, a fix for late-game rewind desyncs with selling monster trophies during a run, and getting rid of that weird blue square that was haunting the map... As well as a host of other fixes and upgrades you can see below.

Changelog 2023-05-12:

  • Tea and Jadetooth's potion both invalidate Parched.
  • Add failsafe to Kingdom progression that removes the Insurance Pamphlet after upgrading the Bank to level 2.
  • Display simulation of multiple level gains off a single kill correctly.
  • Fix issue with Halfdragons losing magic damage after hovering over Glowing Guardian's Cleansing.
  • Remove Stone Sigil's piety prediction to prevent confusion.
  • Make sure that monster trophy sales are recorded for rewinding correctly.
  • Fix bug that caused slow and resistance effects to persist in attack simulation when they shouldn't have.
  • Give Corrosion an effect count at all times.
  • Prevent mouse input softlock if animation canceling prevented a transition animation from playing.
  • Fix Assassin combat prediction applying certain effects too many times.
  • Prevent Cheeky badge being removed after every kill after the first non-cheeky kill.
  • Remove blue square from Gaan Telet tease.
  • Make sure potion shop tendrils refresh the tileset correctly, prevents phantom walls.
  • Fix Eeblis copying the player character graphic.
  • Display quests that don't have a target dungeon on the map.
  • Prevent the PQI from showing up on the map's default flag position.
  • Make sure non-dungeon quest flags are correctly aligned, don't display quest flags for quests designed to appear offscreen.
  • Prevent Goatperson from erroneously showing up as having completed quests.
  • Fix Explorer's Guild sometimes having the puzzle notifiation indicator when it doesn't have new puzzles.
  • Fix Explorer's Guild classes not appearing immediately after unlocking.

Every Dungeon and Quest... Explained in one guide!

Our amazing community has done it again!



Laberca, Rewind playtester and veteran Desktop Dungeons player, has compiled every Dungeon and Quest into one guide. Each section contains details about bosses, map mechanics, quests, and strategies to help you complete them.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2967962296

As a preview of the guide, here is Laberca's break down of Havendale Bridge:

Hard Dungeons - Havendale Bridge



Difficulty


★★★★★★ (Hard - 105%)

Enemies


Goats, goblins, bandits, and one other common enemy.

Rusalka:
Attack: 100%
Health: 100%
Corrosive (inflicts 1 stack of corrosion when it hits you, permanently increasing all damage you take by 1 - the stacks are hard to get rid of. Also leaves a corrosive pool instead of a blood pool)

Tokoloshe:
Attack: 100%
Health: 100%
50% physical resist
Cowardly
Trophy: Tokoloshe charm (small item that grants +5% magic resist)

Druid:
Attack: 80%
Health: 80%
Death protection
Magical attack

Bosses


One random common boss

Bridge Troll: (Optional level 5 miniboss, but guards the bridge. Can be bypassed by spending 20 gold or with magic)
Attack: 19
Health: 70
Fast regen
Berserks at 50%
50% resists
Trophy: Sensation stone (lockerable item that can be converted for 150 CP)

Zin Kibaru:
Attack: 78
Health: 415
Magical attack
25% magic resist
Undead
Bloodless

Gimmicks


The dungeon is divided in half by a river, guarded by the Bridge Troll. You can skip the bridge troll by paying it 20 gold.

Recommended Classes + Races


Any can work, but Berserker will utterly trivialize Zin Kibaru, Bloodmage has an easier start than most, and Monk scales well due to the charms.

Strategy


This dungeon has a forgiving difficulty modifier, but the divided map can make the early game a bit tough. For new players, you might want to consider just paying the Troll Toll of 20 gold to get past him.

If you are having a strong early game, it is definitely worth fighting the troll - he gives you 5 XP and an extra 150 CP, plus you won't have to spend 20 gold.

Alternatively, if you find WEYTWUT or PISORF, you can use that to bypass him without spending gold and save him for later, when you are a higher level! This is basically always the ideal approach if you can do it.

The monster set here is pretty varied. Rusalkas are tough for non-casters, as you don't want to get corroded. Tokoloshe's are tough but drop a charm that boosts your magic resist. Druids are very weak and super easy to kill, especially if you have some tokoloshe charms. Look for high level druids!

Zin Kibaru is usually quite easy because of the charms, so usually you want to go after him first.

Quests


Troll Toll: Defeat Havendale Bridge. (Unlocks the Labyrinth and Magma Mines)
★★★★★★
All you have to do for this quest is win. Just follow the general strategy tips! Probably the most straightforward build here is an Orc Berserker.

Unlikely Heroes: Forest Edition Win with a Halfling Wizard, Halfling Monk, and Halfling Rogue. (Rewards 500 gold)
★★★★★★★
This is part of the Unlikely Heroes quest line, which forces you to use suboptimal race+class combos.

Fortunately, none of these combos are horrible - they just aren't very good. You don't really need any special strats for these runs. The wizard especially shouldn't be tough. The monk run is harder, but monk is a good class here - just look for some damage bonuses and prep a base damage item if you can. The rogue combo is a little unfortunate because rogue isn't the best class here, but if you just focus on getting your health up with items or gods like Jehora Jeheyu, you shouldn't have much of an issue.



And that's all! Make sure to join our Discord and thank Laberca yourself if you found this guide helpful.

Complete The Set with the Desktop Dungeons Anniversary Bundle!

Hark adventurers!

Celebrate a decade of Desktop Dungeoneering with our Anniversary Bundle! Complete the set and save money on both games with this brand-new bundle!

Begin your epic journey with Desktop Dungeons, the all-time classic award-winning roguelike puzzle adventure. Master tactical spells, heal by exploring, appease ancient gods, and smack a goat or two.

Forge ahead with Desktop Dungeons: Rewind, a fresh approach to the groundbreaking title that revolutionized the world of roguelikes. Clear some dungeons, build your kingdom, die… and rewind!

Seize the opportunity to immerse yourself in the enthusiasm and devotion lovingly infused in crafting this gem of a fantastical world.

Available now on the Steam store!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32172/Complete_The_Set__Desktop_Dungeons_Anniversary_Bundle/

Adventure awaits,

QCF Design

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/NKBrHhRxwz
Follow us on Twitter: @QCFdesign

Patch Notes 2023-04-28

Updates continue! The largest things to pay attention to this patch are a fix for a bug that could cause save files to balloon in size - all data should be salvaged after an initial long load. As well as the addition of your current badge status being visible on the menu screen during a run.

Changelog 2023-04-28:

  • Fix a specific curse pathway only ever adding 1 layer of curse despite allowing more.
  • Fix quest info displaying class intro text even when there wasn't a valid class in the quest.
  • Simulate Piercing Wand effect correctly.
  • Fix extremely rare nullref in island generator.
  • Make Pactmaker pacts display Piety Log when no other god is worshipped.
  • Fix petrification graphic modifying particle effects on targets.
  • Fix short rewinds getting stuck in the forward animation state.
  • Fix rewind forward audio loop getting stuck on after finishing a rewind.
  • Prevent animation canceling from bypassing the death popups and allowing players to move as ghosts.
  • Refine animation canceling to allow certain transitional animations not to be canceled.
  • Make all sources of dodge reroll dodge prediction, if active.
  • Fix issue with temporary dodge removing permanent dodge if it went above max.
  • Prevent compression seal from interacting with items with negative weight.
  • Add badge status display to pause menu during gameplay.
  • Fix edge case where players dealing damage before death protection saved them could not gain experience from kills.
  • Fix bug that could cause save file size to balloon, auto-salvage data.

🧩 Put your problem-solving skills to the test in Steam’s Puzzle Fest!

Greetings, mighty Kingdom Administrators!

This week is Steam’s Puzzle Fest and Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is taking part! We’re extending our launch discount throughout this entire week, making it the perfect time to pick up the game if you haven’t already!

How is Desktop Dungeons: Rewind a puzzle game?



In Desktop Dungeons: Rewind, almost every single move you can make is pre-calculated for you, and you can see the outcomes for them.



How much damage will you do? How much damage will the enemy do? How much mana will it take to cast that glyph, and how much experience will you get from that kill?

This makes the entire game into one giant logic puzzle, where you just need to figure out the solution to win!

If you get stuck on any part of the game, please drop any questions in discussions, or join our Discord! Our community is excited to help new players learn how to play the game.

We’ll see you in the dungeons!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1976950/Desktop_Dungeons_Rewind/

Adventure awaits,

QCF Design

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/NKBrHhRxwz
Follow us on Twitter: @QCFdesign

Patch Notes 2023-04-23

We usually wouldn't update on a weekend, but with the game fully migrated to the new servers and fixes for some deep desyncs during Rewinding, we felt it was better to get this out sooner rather than later.

Changelog 2023-04-23:

  • Fix issue with certain speech bubbles not correctly progressing to the next loaded text line.
  • Prevent speech bubbles with different keys from being read as multiple dialogs.
  • Fix desync with default potions being added to all rewinds.
  • Prevent animation canceling from injecting events before final combat responses (no more canceling cowardly).
  • Prevent glyphs that haven't been unlocked yet appearing in runs directly after a daily.
  • Fix issue with online save system that could invalidate backups if they were beyond a certain age.
  • Fix softlock if the Adventurers Guild was upgraded to level 3 without completing the locker tutorial.

Patch notes 2022-04-21

Today has been mostly server-side work, but wanted to push a quick additional update too:

Changelog 2023-04-21:

  • Fix audio sometimes being very soft after UI sounds were played.
  • Fix item double-simulation when showing the item info immediately.
  • Prevent item info display losing conversion text after mousing over an item that cannot be converted.
  • Fix issue with error popups having unusable buttons when popping up "over" an existing popup.
  • Defensiveness against possible nulls in simulated inventory events.

Struggling to fight your way through dangerous dungeons? Read this guide!



Are the goats bleating you death? Or are the meat men mushing your under-leveled and ill-prepared adventurer? With these seven simple tips, you'll be showing them who the boss is!

Eable2, long time Desktop Dungeons player and Desktop Dungeons: Rewind playtester, has put together an amazing guide to help out anyone who is struggling. Here's a link to the full guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2964276019

While you should read the full guide, here are some snippets of the seven habits:

#1: Don't fight your equals ❌



  • Killing higher level enemies gives you bonus experience
  • Monster that are the same level as you will attack first anyways and not give bonus XP
  • If you don't punch up, you'll be too weak to fight the boss


#2: Leverage Levels 🔼



  • Levelling fully restores mana and health, it also cures poison and mana-burn
  • Levelling up during a boss fight can be incredibly potent
  • Do this by eating your snacks (see #3)


#3: Save Snacks for Later 🍿



  • You can kill low level enemies in 1 hit, we call them "popcorn"
  • Use WONAFYT to make a popcorn bowl and munch for a spike
  • Some enemies aren't good snacks


#4: Know Your Tools 🔨



  • Glyphs help immensely with killing higher level enemies
  • Class Abilities can help you find power in specific situation
  • Find items that synergise with your strategy


#5: Explore with Intention 🥽



  • Enemies also regenerate when you explore, so be careful!
  • Wasting tiles by not regenerating something is usually a bad play
  • Sneakily reveal small amounts of tiles while fighting to get kills


#6: Save Your Spikes 💪



  • Save potions for a major fight, try not to use them on curing status effects (see #2)
  • This also applies to items that give you a temporary boost
  • Save your snacks! Patience!


#7: Eyes on the Prize 🏆



  • Remember, you win by killing the boss. Don't get distracted!
  • Power up before the boss fight as much as possible by buying new things and converting what you don't need


And that's it! Again, massive thanks to Eable for putting this guide together and helping out the fresh blood. If you want to say thanks personally, join our Discord! There are multiple magnificent and seasoned Administrators who are here to help!


So... What's different in Rewind?

Hey there! So there have been a couple changes from the original Desktop Dungeons to Desktop Dungeons: Rewind. Over the years, we've become wiser goats and made some adjustments to past choices. Sorry it's a day late, but here's a list of all the design changes we've made!

Kin



Nomenclature


"There are better words in the English language, and we want to use them!"

Nomenclature: Race >>> Kin


Orc


"Orcs were by far the most dominant Kin in Desktop Dungeons, so we're taking them down a notch. They're still good, just not quite as OP."

Orc Conversion Threshold: 80 >>> 100


Dwarf


"The Dwarf conversion felt a little lacklustre because of its delayed strength, and on top of this they were a little weak. Let's fix both of those, and make them beefy earlier while scaling up to the same point."

Dwarf Conversion Bonus: +1 Max HP per level >>> 10 Max HP



Classes



Fighter


"The Fighter is the first class you unlock, and it teaches you to play the game wrong. The old Fighter encouraged you to seek out and farm low level enemies, starving you of experience late game. The new fighter encourages you to hit higher level enemies, maybe even realise you can kill them for bonus XP!"

Veteran XP bonus: +1XP per kill >>> Level difference in XP when first attacked by a higher level enemy
Instincts: Same and lower enemies revealed >>> Sense enemies 1 tile further into the fog


Transmuter


"The idea for Transmuters is awesome: cast spells to gain Conversion Points, and get a massive spike when you hit a Conversion Threshold. Except... Only a small portion of the spells are efficient, and hitting that threshold drained you mana so you can't cast spells. We've moved some of their power around to make them more fun and slightly stronger."

Spirit Sword: No longer drains mana on Conversion Threshold
Spirit Sword temporary damage: Max mana + level >>> Max mana
Inner Focus: Gives 3 Conversion Points on glyph cast >>> Gives mana cost as Conversion Points on glyph cast


Berserker


"Berserkers could use some more flavour, and now we have a new inventory system... Let's use it! Also, the Goblin Berserker showed their fashion prowess in Berserker Fashion Week, so we gave them a prize. You go, Gobzerker!"

Inventory size: 30 >>> 35
Goblin Berserker start with a Golden Spork


Chemist


"Who plays Chemist anyways?"

Potion resource restore: 10% >>> 20%
Multiple casts of Bysseps now stacks erosion



Inventory



"This is more of a convenience change and fits better with the new UI. It also gives us something to play with (see the Berserker and a new item.)"

No longer split into 5 slots, now a total of 30 size
Small items have a size of 1
Large items have a size of 5



Early Game Difficulty



"Players found that the difficulty spike when fighting the bankers was too large. We don't want people to be put off by that and so there have been a couple changes to welcome new players. Some are direct (changed early enemy strength) and some are indirect (scouting and predictive combat logs.) Overall, new players should have a better time."

Scouting


"This applies to all classes, and should give players a better sense of which direction to explore. Also the looming presence of enemies is fun."

All classes will now scout one tile into the fog, showing the presence of enemies and their levels
Enemies with Life-steal will not be revealed in this way


Rewind Insurance


"He said the name of the game. Roll the credits."

Defeating the Bankers will grant you Rewind insurance!
Once per run when die for the first time, you’ll have the option to go back to about half way through your run


Simulated Predictions


"One of the biggest changes in Rewind is simulated predictions. In combat your damage may change from being weakened or corroding your enemy. The game now does the maths for you.

Combat is now simulated, giving more accurate combat predictions that change based on status effects
God punishments, random events, and some more complicated effects are not simulated


Banker difficulty


"The numbers on this are hard to describe. Just trust us, it's easier than it was."

Dungeons leading up to and including the Bankers have been nerfed.



Dungeon Generation



"The purpose of Desktop Dungeons: Rewind was to bring fresh life into Desktop Dungeons, including better visual compatibility with wide ratio screens. Square dungeons on rectangular screens didn't feel great, so now the shape of Dungeons will adapt to your monitor (this doesn't affect difficulty!)"

Dungeons will be 25 x 16 tiles for wide aspect ratio
Dungeons will be 20 x 20 tiles for squarer aspect ratio



Goat Glade



"This used to be a part of the DLC that we didn't want to be mandatory for high level play. Now that it's part of the base game, we can make it better!"

Item Lottery: removed
Item Registry: After bringing an item to the Goat Glade three times, the goats will be able to make the item as many times as you want at prep cost.
There's no lore behind this :bleaty:





And that's all the changes we made! Well, not all of them, we also added a new item. But you'll find it eventually :bleaty: We hope these changes make the game more enjoyable!

Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay away from murderous goats! With love,

The QCF Design team ❤



Oh, and leave a review 👀👅👀

Post-launch Update

Just a quick patch to address some issues that have been reported. If you've raised something else, don't worry, we're working on it! This is just a patch to deal with the things we've fixed right now so nobody has to wait.

Changelog 2023-04-19:

  • Fix issue that could get a Kingdom stuck in a never-applied saving state.
  • Tweaked audio settings to try and alleviate quiet dungeon sounds in certain spaces.
  • Prevent empty daily leaderboard names from sneaking through.
  • Show loading notifier during initial login period if using DD.net saves.