As Theel wrote in his "Best Games of the Year so far" roundup, Maladum is a fantasy adaption of Core Space, a 2019 cyberpunk dungeon crawler by Battle Systems that garnered some acclaim for its intricate tactile elements and tension-filled play. That original system was updated with a fantasy veneer for last year's release of Maladum, in what Theel described as "one of the most inspiring and creative dungeon crawlers to hit the market in the past decade." Tabletop gamers seemed to agree, with Maladum's 2023 Kickstarter raising nearly $1 million and fulfilling to backers earlier this year.
So, what is dungeon crawling? It's a style of play born out of old school RPGs like D&D, where the goal is to explore the depths of, you guessed it, a dungeon. In whatever form they take, dungeon crawlers ask players solve puzzles, fight monsters in tactical combat, and seek out treasure, while completing heroic missions along the way.
What makes Maladum distinct from games in its class like Heroquest or Descent is its unconventional method of tackling these genre staples. "Unlike most dungeon crawlers, the game mimics the structure of extraction shooters like Call of Duty's DMZ mode or Escape From Tarkov," wrote Theel in his review on Player Elimination. "Your primary objective is to get in and get out."
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