Dungeon Renovation Simulator Preview

Dungeons are a pretty integral part of adventuring, right? They test the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and courage of heroes while holding all kinds of treasure within! But sometimes things go awry: a false step here, a misjudged jump there, or even an unsuspecting bit of green slime that turned out to be hungry, and splat, a big mess. Have you ever wondered how these dungeons stay operational and more or less clean? Well, worry no longer, as Giant Cat Games and Kodobur Games have you covered with Dungeon Renovation Simulator! Though the game proper isn’t out yet, we got to have a taste with the free-to-play demo, Dungeon Renovation Simulator: Prologue.

So, who keeps dungeons running, you ask? Well, Goblins, of course! Or, as in this case, one cursed Goblin cleaner-slash-renovator, which you play as. Your job, in all its glamour, entails cleaning up rooms in dungeons, both big, small, and gigantic. To do this, you are given two tools and a bit of magic.

Now why would there be a pelvis ther- oh. OH.

The Arcane Sucker, your main tool in this endeavour, is basically a skull on a bit of bone with two modes: mop and vacuum cleaner. In vacuum mode, your magical skull sucks up any loose items, as well as destroys some kinds of dirt, such as spiderwebs and slime. In contrast, the tool is elongated in mop mode, with another piece of bone to become a handy dandy mop handle, complete with nasty tentacles for all your cleaning needs! The tentacles do get dirty after a while, however, which leads me to the tiny bit of magic I mentioned: conjuring buckets of water. You can, with a bit of effort — i.e. holding down the left mouse button with the right tool selected — conjure up a fresh bucket of water with which to get that pesky blood and viscera off of your trusty mop! Be careful, though, as knocking the bucket over or using the same water for too long will have you re-cleaning the floors for a while.

I swear, these footprints just spawn from the ether!

Finally, you have a small, dark orb at your disposal. This mystic sphere is basically a portable black hole, which can suck up any and all items small enough to fit… and maybe some larger ones. I had a few gleeful moments of manoeuvring a table towards my trusty space-time devourer and seeing it being blinked out of existence. The dark omnomnommer of trash can be moved from certain frames, meaning you have some control over where you work and how far you need to lug those heavy barrels. The game is pretty simple from there on: you collect and get rid of trash, wash various fluids off of the walls, and tidy up any cobwebs or slimes about. Once done, you’ll have a spick and span dungeon ready for the next unlucky adventurer! Or, well, it is if you want to leave it at that.

In addition to the cleaning aspect, each level offers hidden puzzles that, while hard to find, may offer up some fun rewards, such as new levels! You may need to find bits of a shield in the level with the help of the in-game physics or figure out how to use a floating crown, for example, rewarding eagle-eyed players and encouraging exploration. In the current state of the game, there are two levels, one big and one small, to clean up without any real end state. It’s more of a proof of concept, which I think they deliver on!

Headwear fit for an adventurer!

I enjoyed my time with the demo, though, make no mistake: it’s a bit buggy! Some physics objects flew off at record speed, and my mop stretched to infinity more than once. But I personally did not encounter anything major except for one stubborn skeletal leg that refused to let go of the floor. A great game to play while listening to podcasts or to kill an hour or two on, with definite promise for future releases!

Dungeon Renovation Simulator is set to release on Steam Early Access in April 2024, so keep those mops ready and those buckets clean!