Daniel (@dungeondive) reviews Treasure by Torchlight, a light solo dungeon crawler from Dr. Trash Games on The Game Crafter (a review copy). You play one of three charming animal adventurers — Veronica Vole, Millie Mole or Axel Axolotl — building randomly generated dungeons from interlocking puzzle-piece tiles, fighting tiered monsters, grabbing treasure, levelling up via slotted modular character boards, and shopping between quests, all while a dwindling torch threatens to leave you fighting in the dark. Defeated foes can be banked as XP or spent to recharge special abilities — a currency choice Daniel particularly likes — and a series of escalating quests builds toward an 18-HP warlord boss.
He finds genuine charm and a solid foundation here: quick play, cute characters, a well-written rulebook. But his main reservation is cost — at $65 the over-produced components (laser-etched puzzle tiles, an elaborate screwed-together modular board) push the price past what he can recommend; at around $40 it’d be a light buy. He’d also love more variety: extra bosses to shuffle, an NPC-escort side quest, and especially a tweaked, more puzzle-like tile-placement rule that forbids running off the grid. A warm look at a promising prototype he’d encourage the designer to refine and reprice.
Daniel argues Treasure by Torchlight would shine if it dropped its pricey deluxe components for something cheaper and simpler. Do you prefer a small crawl produced lavishly, or stripped down so it costs half as much?