Understatement: There is a lot going on as Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl begins. Carl, a Coast Guard vet, is caught outside, in the dead of winter, in his underwear when every man-made structure on Earth collapses. He and the only survivor nearby, a talking cat named Princess Donut, are forced to descend into their rebuilt planet, which is now an 18-level dungeon for a corporate alien race’s reality show — Dungeon Crawler World.
As Carl and Donut make their way down through the dungeon, floor by floor, they have to figure out how to survive, fight, and strategize on the fly. Each floor is different. Each brings new nightmares. But each DCC floor has one thing in common: It’s really, really, really hard not to slam the book shut and wish you could play that level, too (perhaps without the life-or-death stakes – or the denizens rooting for you to fail). We can’t take over your planet and drop you into a dungeon crawler, but we can recommend these games that feel like each currently-published Dungeon Crawler Carl book. Try them out, and before you know it, you might be getting a snarky achievement or risqué reward, courtesy of the dungeon AI.
[Ed. note: This article contains minor spoilers for the main level theme of the first eight Dungeon Crawler Carl books.]
Where in Dungeon Crawler Carl? Floors 1-2 – The tutorial levels
In Lethal Company, a co-op survival horror game, you and the rest of your disposable crew are stuck scavenging scrap on abandoned moons to boost profits for a corporation totally indifferent to your death. You don’t even get a name! Your name is “Employee!” Both here and in Dungeon Crawler Carl, characters face the possibility of grotesque suffering due to small mistakes, environments that don’t remotely feel logical, and the need to crack jokes to mask absolute panic. The vibe here is that an onboarding and a culling are one and the same. You’ll make it, or you won’t. Your company won’t blink an eye.
Where in Dungeon Crawler Carl? Floor 3 – The Over City
Where to play: PS5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X
After the tutorial levels in DCC comes The Over City, an instantly overwhelming ruined metropolis that feels a bit fantasy-Vegas-meets-undead-circus. Everywhere you look, there are side quests, complaining NPCs, and helpful taverns or shops to spend your cash in. Sounds like Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3, no? Act 3, in which you finally reach the city of Baldur’s Gate, is famously very, very overwhelming. There’s too much to do, and navigating your way through the chaos can be stressful – but that’s part of what makes the city feel alive. Also, since Carl and Donut get their class and race change on this floor, what a fabulous opportunity to go all in on a game with a strong character creation system.
Where in Dungeon Crawler Carl? Floor 4 – The Iron Tangle
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook begins with a blurb noting that readers are not expected to keep track of the book’s complex subway system. That’s Carl and Donut’s job, not ours. But it’s impossible not to try, sometimes, as you’re dropped into an up-is-down, down-is-up puzzle with monster-laden cars and maps that lie to you.
Antichamber, an exploration maze game, feels like you’re stepping into an MC Escher drawing. There are hallways that wrap around each other. There are spaces that reconfigure every time you visit. There’s a gun that can manipulate, create, or destroy matter. Best of luck with that.
Where in Dungeon Crawler Carl? Floor 5 – Hump Town and biome-themed bubbles
DCC’s Hump Town is a small desert settlement surrounded by sealed bubbles organized into land, sea, air, and subterranean quadrants. To find the staircase to the next level, the crawlers have to defeat their biome-themed quadrant in a conquer-the-castle kind of challenge. This to me had shades of the most recent 3D The Legend of Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, in which Link has to clear dungeon-adjacent puzzles in watery, volcanic, tomb-like, and wintry vortex environments before heading to Hyrule Castle. This isn’t a 100% match, though: Only one of these experiences features a razor-toothed feral goose boss named Denise. See if you can guess which it is.
Where in Dungeon Crawler Carl? Floor 6 – The Hunting Grounds
Where to play: PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X