{"id":75324,"date":"2026-08-10T06:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75324"},"modified":"2026-08-10T06:30:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T22:30:45","slug":"the-best-games-like-dungeon-crawler-carl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75324","title":{"rendered":"The Best Games Like Dungeon Crawler Carl"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Understatement: There is a lot <\/em>going on as Matt Dinniman\u2019s Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/em> <\/em>begins. <\/em>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\u2019s reality show \u2014 Dungeon Crawler World.<\/p>\n

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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<\/em> floor has one thing in common: It\u2019s really, really, really<\/em> hard not to slam the book shut and wish you could play that level, too (perhaps without the life-or-death stakes \u2013 or the denizens rooting for you to fail). We can\u2019t 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 <\/em>book. Try them out, and before you know it, you might be getting a snarky achievement or risqu\u00e9 reward, courtesy of the dungeon AI.<\/p>\n

[Ed. note:<\/strong> This article contains minor spoilers for the main level theme of the first eight Dungeon Crawler Carl books.]<\/p>\n

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\n Book 1, Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/em>: Lethal Company<\/em>
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\"An\n <\/picture>Image: Zeekerss<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floors 1-2 \u2013 The tutorial levels<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>Windows PC<\/p>\n

In Lethal Company<\/em>, 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\u2019t even get a name! Your name is \u201cEmployee!\u201d Both here and in Dungeon Crawler Carl, <\/em>characters face the possibility of grotesque suffering due to small mistakes, environments that don\u2019t 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\u2019ll make it, or you won\u2019t. Your company won\u2019t blink an eye.<\/p>\n

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\n Book 2, Carl\u2019s Doomsday Scenario<\/em>: Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em>\u2019s Act 3
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\"Image\n <\/picture>Image: Larian Studios<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 3 \u2013 The Over City<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>PS5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X<\/p>\n

After the tutorial levels in DCC<\/em> 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\u2019s Gate 3<\/em>, no? Act 3, in which you finally reach the city of Baldur\u2019s Gate, is famously very, very overwhelming. There\u2019s too much to do, and navigating your way through the chaos can be stressful \u2013 but that\u2019s part of what makes the city feel alive. Also, since Carl and Donut get their class and race change on this floor, what<\/em> a fabulous opportunity to go all in on a game with a strong character creation system.<\/p>\n

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\n Book 3, The Dungeon Anarchist\u2019s Cookbook<\/em>: Antichamber<\/em>
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\n \"Antichamber\n <\/picture>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 4 \u2013 The Iron Tangle<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>Windows PC<\/p>\n

The Dungeon Anarchist\u2019s Cookbook<\/em> begins with a blurb noting that readers are not expected to keep track of the book\u2019s complex subway system. That\u2019s Carl and Donut\u2019s job, not ours. But it\u2019s impossible not to try, sometimes, as you\u2019re dropped into an up-is-down, down-is-up puzzle with monster-laden cars and maps that lie to you.<\/p>\n

Antichamber<\/em>, an exploration maze game, feels like you\u2019re stepping into an MC Escher drawing. There are hallways that wrap around each other. There are spaces that reconfigure every time you visit. There\u2019s a gun that can manipulate, create, or destroy matter.<\/em> Best of luck with that. <\/em><\/p>\n

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\n Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods<\/em>: Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>
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\"Link\n <\/picture>Image: Nintendo via Nintendo Today<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 5 \u2013 Hump Town and biome-themed bubbles<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>Switch<\/p>\n

DCC<\/em>\u2019s 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<\/em> game, Tears of the Kingdom<\/em>, 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\u2019t a 100% match, though: Only one<\/em> of these experiences features a razor-toothed feral goose boss named Denise. See if you can guess which it is.<\/p>\n

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\n Book 5, The Butcher\u2019s Masquerade<\/em>: Predator<\/em>: Hunting Grounds<\/em>
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\"character\n <\/picture>Image: Illfonic\/Sony Interactive Entertainment<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 6 \u2013 The Hunting Grounds<\/p>\n

Where to play:<\/strong> PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox Series X<\/p>\n

The Butcher\u2019s Masquerade<\/em>, book 5 in the series, is a Jurassic Park<\/em> x Battle Royale<\/em> nightmare. In it, Carl and Donut find themselves in a vast jungle world where wealthy aliens have paid for the privilege to hunt and kill the crawlers for sport! What fun! Predator: Hunting Grounds <\/em>maps cleanly to this premise. It\u2019s an online multiplayer game where your fireteam of elite soldiers is trying<\/em> to complete somewhat routine military tasks in a dangerous jungle setting. Inconveniently for you, there\u2019s an alien Predator on the map, too, whose job is to hunt and kill you. (And that alien has a plasma cannon.) Will the Predator get a trophy for eliminating you, or will your squad escape the jungle? Will Carl and Donut survive the Hunting Grounds and make it to the next floor? We now know what happens to Carl and Donut, but the other question is still up in the air.<\/p>\n

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\n Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride<\/em>: Inscryption<\/em>
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Allow your cage wolf to get defeated<\/figcaption>Image: Daniel Mullins Games\/Devolver Digital via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floors 7-8 \u2013 a fairytale maze (that we skip, unfortunately!) and Ghosts of Earth<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X<\/p>\n

Donut and Carl get to skip Floor 7 (Prepotente, an Italian Boer goat crawler, destroyed it) so straight to Floor 8 they go. The World Dungeon\u2019s Floor 8 is a recreation of Havana, Cuba, but there\u2019s a twist: The streets are familiar, but this version of Havana\u2019s people are memory ghosts. Here, the crawlers are hunting monsters to build into battle cards. It\u2019s very Pok\u00e9mon<\/em>,<\/em> but the psychological horror and card-game theming reminds me more of Inscryption \u2013 <\/em>a roguelike deckbuilder with shifting art styles, sinister NPCs, and escape room elements. Having to sacrifice the weak on your board (e.g., squirrels) to play your more powerful cards in Inscryption<\/em> hits the same often-bleak, often-brutal chords struck in DCC<\/em>\u2026where it\u2019s every man (and his cat) for himself.<\/p>\n

As a bonus, if you\u2019re looking for that doomed fairytale feel from the skipped floor, try Slay the Princess<\/em>. <\/em>Its repeated-death, no-outsmarting-the-maze themes are admittedly tragic, but it\u2019s a gorgeous experience.<\/p>\n

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\n Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin<\/em>: Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord<\/em>
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\"Mount\n <\/picture>Image: Taleworlds<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 9 \u2013 Faction Wars<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X<\/p>\n

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord <\/em>is a medieval sandbox game where you\u2019ll be directing an army on a grand scale. When you boot up the game, you\u2019re nobody. But that\u2019ll change after you trade goods, recruit peasants, and work your way up to commanding hundreds of troops through real-time sieges and battles. If you like the logistics of fantasy warfare (think: budgets and resource management), this is your game.<\/p>\n

And, for better or worse, it\u2019s similar to the one the DCC<\/em> crawlers are forced into. In this series, Carl constantly has to manage his smattering of weird inventory items, companions, allies, and sponsors. His life depends on it. On this floor, in a funnel-shaped galactic battlefield surrounding the capital city of Larracos, Carl and Donut lead their own Princess Posse to hopeful victory alongside an NPC army they\u2019ve assembled. (Read The Inevitable Ruin<\/em> to see how they do.)<\/p>\n

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\n Book 8, A Parade of Horribles<\/em>: Distance<\/em>
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\"distance-racing-game-checkpoint\"\n <\/picture>Image: Refract Studios<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Where in <\/strong>Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong> Floor 10 \u2013 a death-race gauntlet<\/p>\n

Where to play: <\/strong>PS4, PS5, Windows PC<\/p>\n

Scenario: You\u2019re at the starting line for a vehicular death-race from point A to point B. You can trick out your car, you can employ defensive driving tactics if you want, but you\u2019ve got to stay on the track, no matter what that track does to you. Oh, and definitely<\/em> don\u2019t come in last. (That\u2019s where the \u201cdeath\u201d in \u201cdeath-race\u201d comes in.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a valid description of the main predicament Carl finds himself in on Floor 10 \u2013 and also what you\u2019ll find if you play Distance<\/em>, <\/em>a 2012 <\/em>driving sci-fi horror game. The tracks are Escher-inspired, your car can sometimes fly, you need to dodge casual sawblades and lasers, and it\u2019s set to the most oppressive techno beat you can think of. (With house permadeath rules and your own soundtrack, you could probably have a similar experience with Mario Kart<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Distance, <\/em>however, comes with a simmering, slowly-unfolding horror story in the background that suffuses you with dread as<\/em> you\u2019re driving for your life, which makes it a must-play for A Parade of Horribles<\/em> readers.<\/p>\n

While each game we\u2019ve mentioned here may feel like a specific Dungeon Crawler Carl <\/em>floor, we can\u2019t leave this without a few honorable mentions for games that feel like the series as a whole. Borderlands<\/em>, The Outer Worlds<\/em>, and Enter the Gungeon<\/em> have similar \u201ccorporations grinning while you grind and die for their KPIs\u201d themes, along with the idea that your environment can be absurd, hilarious, and likely to kill you all at the same time.<\/p>\n