Play Slice & Dice

Slice & Dice
by Oliver Garland
Released: Mar 20
Free ($8.99 to unlock full game)

Roguelikes are particularly natural fits on mobile due to their replayability and run-based nature, but seeing as so many are seemingly releasing all the time, it takes one that is truly special to stand out as exceptional to highlight here. Slice & Dice very much falls into this category, as its dice-based dungeon-crawling is designed with a fun-first mentality, excellent user-friendly design choices, and a combat system that is both intuitive and surprisingly deep.

Why you should play it

If you enjoyed the previous selection of Dicey Dungeons, this is like an evolved version of that game, and the decisions it makes to impart its own flavor on dice combat are super smart, extremely varied, and include the one thing I wish Dicey Dungeons had: an undo button. What it may lack in visual charm, it more than makes up for with sheer volume, with modes aplenty and enough systemic combos such that every run feels fresh. It also plays perfectly in both portrait and landscape mode.

Why you might not play it

It’s very easy to get genre fatigue from roguelikes these days, though if there is a game that can reinvigorate some enthusiasm for run-based titles, this one is near the top of that list. The nice thing about this release is its free-to-start model, which gives you enough to play with to decide whether this game is for you or not without spending any money.

_{Small Screen is an independent curation experiment by Campbell Bird, who has been covering mobile games since 2013. To learn more about Campbell, try following him on Mastodon. Small Screen's mission is to bring only the very best games on the App Store to your inbox. If you like Small Screen and wish to support Campbell, consider buying him a coffee or sharing Small Screen with a friend.}