When comparing XCOM: Enemy Unknown vs Dungeons of Dredmor, the Slant community recommends XCOM: Enemy Unknown for most people. In the question“What are the best Perma Death games on Steam?” XCOM: Enemy Unknown is ranked 9th while Dungeons of Dredmor is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose XCOM: Enemy Unknown is:
There are quite a few add-ons available for XCOM, including the Enemy Within expansion pack.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Assortment of add-on content available
There are quite a few add-ons available for XCOM, including the Enemy Within expansion pack.
Pro Effective resource management mechanics
Resource management feels like a juggling act, in the best way possible. Users have to make hard decisions on what options to give priority to, as they all will effect gameplay in some manner.
Pro Death is permanent
Death is very permanent in XCOM, meaning if a player looses a high level player mid game that they may have a pretty tough time advancing past that point.
Pro Combines punishing roguelike game mechanics with silly and satirical humor
The core mechanics of Dungeons of Dredmor are roguelike, but added on top of that is a silly humor that creates and endearing atmosphere.
Pro Several community mods were bundled as a free official expansion pack
In a testament to the quality of the Dungeons of Dredmor modding community, one official expansion pack consists almost entirely of user-created content. It was released for free, since they're not total capitalist jerks.
Pro Skill-based class system improves replay value
A character has seven selected skills, which effectively define that character's class: they have access to every skill selected, and no others. The base game contains dozens of skills, with many more available through both mods and official expansions.
Pro Configurable difficulty accommodates both casual and hardcore play
In addition to basic difficulty adjustment, the player can choose whether death is permanent (in classic roguelike style) or merely resets the current level. There is also a mode called "No Time to Grind" where experience points are increased from all sources, but in compensation, levels are smaller.
Cons
Con Proper choices not obvious until after the fact
Choices that effect the game are not obvious when they are happening and once realized is too late.
Con Minor interface issues
The interface feels very unintuitive with aspects such as having to change the default action feeling overly complicated and unecissary.