Breaking News: Epic Dungeon Updated!

On our first installment of XBL Indieverse's Breaking News articles we'll be focusing on one of my favorite Xbox Indie games: Epic Dungeon's new updates. The new changes rolled out on March 7th, and they really do revolutionize the game completely--with awardments, a new Epic mode for hardcore players, and even a Grim Reaper to discourage EXP farming, these updates add a new level of depth to the title.

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Epic Dungeon, even before the expansive updates, was an amazing Xbox Indie that has been highly rated and favored throughout the Xbox Live community when it was released on the Winter Uprising holiday event.

The Indie Games Winter Uprising was an awesome event held on the main Xbox Live dashboard for all gamers to see, and there are many great titles released for this gaming function--big titles like Crossfire 2, the awesome RPG Cthulhu Saves the World, and of course Epic Dungeon.

Now let's get right into the core of some of Epic Dungeon's update changes:

Epic Dungeon now has Epic Difficulty!
The biggest change I'd have to say is the difficulties: there are now Easy, Normal, and Epic game modes, each of which have their own balances and attributes--easy being self explanatory, average play falling under Normal, and Epic mode is just what it sounds like--a challenging and punishing roguelike adventure.

Epic mode is considerably harder than the former modes, however, and shouldn't be played by beginning players. Gamers who are confident in their method and strategies should attempt this game mode, as it can be extremely frustrating for newbies.

Unlockable Awardments!
Another huge addition is the Awardments. There are a total of 24 Awardments amounting to a total of 250 points. These act just like achievements, and there even little quotes and symbols associated with them. Awardments offer players to experience the game in a few different ways, and it inspires gamers to play it time and time again to unlock these mini-achievements.

Platformer Bonus Stage!
There is also a unique extra game mode that players can come across as one of many Random Events found across the fifty dungeon levels. This extra mode is like a classic platformer, and players must collect as many coins as possible as the screen scrolls, the trick is to time your jumps correctly.

Eventually the platform surfaces get smaller and smaller as players progresses, making it quite difficult. Don't worry once you fall, though--your character won't die, he'll simply teleport to the previous location with the appropriate amount of Gold that was collected in the bonus stage.

(Don't) Fear the Reaper! 
As a long-time veteran of Epic Dungeon I've learned that exp farming is an incredibly advantageous strategy--not any more, however. Since the new update, players are discouraged from exp farming by a horribly strong Grim Reaper enemy that appears when players spend too much time killing monsters in a certain level.

While this has disadvantages, it is also a unique addition because it balances gameplay and makes it so gamers can't simply spend hours and hours becoming more powerful by farming gold, exp, and items. The only downside I notice with this feature is that exp farming is one of the only ways that I can see to beat Epic difficulty, and if the Reaper comes out there should be more than fifty dungeon-levels.

For more info on Epic Dungeon and the studio behind the game, Eyehook Games, visit their website.