When comparing One More Dungeon vs Pixel Dungeon, the Slant community recommends Pixel Dungeon for most people. In the question“What are the best roguelikes/roguelites on PC?” Pixel Dungeon is ranked 29th while One More Dungeon is ranked 42nd. The most important reason people chose Pixel Dungeon is:
There are multiple [mods](http://www.slant.co/topics/1961/~what-are-the-best-pixel-dungeon-mods) available that extend the gameplay or even just change it outright. This way there are many choices to the player as to how they would like the game to play.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Interesting ranged weapon play
Staves act as the ranged weapon to shoot projectiles at your foes, as well have some magical attributes like freezing, poisoning, and burning.
Staff use is limited as ammo comes in the form of various crystals (fire, ice, and acid) which can be found scattered around the maps. Some staves, such as the Ice Beam Staff, only consume ice crystals. However others, like the Mirror Staff which causes your shots to bounce off walls, requires 1 crystal of each type to use.
Some enemies are also weak to certain damage types like fire or acid, so you'll have to plan and manage your crystals appropriately if you want to do max damage with staves.
Between the sheer variety of staffs and micromanaging your crystals to use each staff to it's full potential, everything comes together into a ranged weapon system that's both interesting and functional.
Pro It gives you a fresh experience every run
The dungeons, items, and enemies are procedurally generated. This ensures the levels are truly random each and every time, with items, bosses, traps, and secret rooms scattered about in new places every run. You'll never play the same map twice.
Pro Retro art style
The simple pixel art is full of charm for those that enjoy the bloated 8 bit style, and it takes a lot of it's inspiration from games such as the original Doom and Minecraft. The blocky textures, chunky pixels, and 2D enemies are a definite nod to old school gaming. It's a visual feast for retro lovers.
Pro You can customize the gameplay with Mutators for an added challenge
Every time you kill an enemy, you earn points which can be used to purchase Mutators. These Mutators are game options that change your experience a bit, and are a great way to try something new or add an extra layer of difficulty. Some examples of Mutators include starting the game with 1 hit point, reduced view distance, extra power ups, and extra enemies. There are quite a few to choose from, and you can activate 2 at a time which means you can mix and match them to find your perfect challenge.
Pro Barebones gameplay but still quite fun for a few hours
One More Dungeon is a fairly basic first person dungeon crawler. Roaming around dungeons, picking up power ups, killing enemies, avoiding traps, and using a variety of different weapons. There's no looking up or down, so combat is pretty straightforward. Run up and hit a monster, or line up your ranged attack. Bosses have a few simple mechanics but nothing fancy. Dungeons are randomly generated so you'll never play the same one twice.
Pro A variety of mods are available, which extend the gameplay by a large margin
There are multiple mods available that extend the gameplay or even just change it outright. This way there are many choices to the player as to how they would like the game to play.
Pro Tons of replayability thanks to the randomly generated level
In true roguelike fashion, levels are randomly generated each time a new game is started. On top of this mechanic, Pixel Dungeon goes one step further by randomizing effects of all items as well, so it's impossible to tell if a dropped item will have a positive or a negative effect based on its sprite representation.
Pro Challenging and fun gameplay that lends itself well to repeat plays
Pixel Dungeon's gameplay is intuitive, allowing for it to be easy to get into. What is great though is that it's also very challenging, quickly making the experience both rewarding and addictive. Just one more game is a thought many will have before actually turning off their device.
Pro Detail-oriented design lends itself well to many gameplay elements, giving a feeling of polish and care not normally found on mobile
Small details in the art design helps to add immersion to the gameplay.
Pro A good variation in items allows the player to constantly discover new and exciting ways to tackle the game
Next to the typical selection of buffs, de-buffs, potions (that can be either consumed or thrown), weapons and armor (the latter two have to identified and can carry with them bonuses and curses), there are also less common items like random teleportation scrolls, map reveals, etc.
Pro Easily play without an internet connection as the game can be played in-full offline
Pixel Dungeon does not require an internet connection to use, making for a good game to play when there is no internet to connect to such as on flights.
Pro Beautiful pixel artwork that should offer a good bit of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with games that look similar
This looks like one of the good SNES RPGs. For someone who grew up loving those games, that's a huge plus.
Pro Being completely free and open-source means that anyone can try the game in order to see if they like it
No advertisements, no in-game store, and available for free with the source code available on GitHub.
*There is a link in the game where users can donate money to the developer. This of course does not mean you have to, but it is marked as a game with in-app-purchased because of it.
Pro Has a reasonable amount of strategical depth where the player can easily plan out their next move
The top-down, turn-based nature of the game gives the opportunity to plan out a complex series of moves. This way there is no time constraint, and the player can leisurely strategize what they would like to do next.
Pro Hold your device as you like as the game can be played in portrait or landscape
Allowing the user to switch from portrait or landscape makes for an easy way to switch playstyles (one handed, two handed) depending on what device is being used (tablet, phone) as well as what is most comfortable for the user.
Cons
Con Repetitive gameplay
The randomly generated maps are very similar to one another. In most cases, they require a bunch of backtracking due to bad layouts, meaning a lot of play time is spent walking instead of fighting. Enemies either blindly charge at you or sit at the same predetermined distance to shoot at you, without any kind of noticeable strategy behind their actions. Overall, the similar maps and predictable enemies just don't change things up enough from level to level to retain your interest for long.
Con Melee weapons feel imbalanced to play with
The melee weapons seem to hit a little off center and to the right of where you're actually aiming. You can adjust for this with a little practice, but it just doesn't feel good to control. Also, the range on most melee weapons is so low that they're almost effectively useless since you have to be practically right on top of enemies. During the early game, you'll be too weak to be up close and personal with enemies, so the sheer difficulty discourages any kind of melee play.
Con You can't look up or down
There's no Y-axis which means you can't look up and down. This greatly reduces the immersion in the environment and your only perspective is limited to a straight on, first person view.
Con There's no story
The only goal is to escape the various dungeons, and there's no kind of story to keep your attention. While this may be okay for some, those who prefer at least a basic story with their games might be disappointed.
Con Pixel Dungeon is hard
Pixel Dungeon's difficulty can be a turn off for some players as it is quite challenging. While there will be those that enjoy such difficulty, those looking for something easy may not enjoy the game.
Con Overly random
A lot of people see roguelike design as being based around randomness. It's actually a far more precise set of balances than that. A lot of roguelike developers shy way from "randomly generated content" in favor of the term "procedurally generated content." The reason for this is that a well designed roguelike is well balanced enough that if you lose or win, it's all because of the actions you took.
Pixel Dungeon has a habit of sometimes generating dungeons that are basically impossible and sometimes generating dungeons that are laughably easy.
Con Randomness cannot be turned off
Since everything in Pixel Dungeon is randomized, sometimes a player's character can get killed in ways that cannot be avoided. There is no way to escape this issue since randomization is baked in with no way to turn it off.