"They will cancel their subscription and your investors will have your head": This management sim about making the perfect MMO is so detailed it lets you play your own game

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Let's Build a Dungeon sounds brutal, but fun

Let's Build a Dungeon
(Image credit: Springloaded)

Let's Build a Zoo developer Springloaded is back with another chaotic management sim, this time in the form of Let's Build a Dungeon – a game that lets players build a game… that they can then play... within the game.

Springloaded unleashed some seriously whacky features in Let's Build a Zoo with its genetic mixing and matching system, but Let's Build a Dungeon sounds even wilder somehow. In the upcoming management sim, players are tasked with building a successful MMORPG from the ground up. This includes hiring designers, programmers, and testers, along with creating the virtual game's fantastical setting and maintaining its active players.

It's so involved, in fact, that Let's Build a Dungeon allows players to hop into the MMO they create and actually experience it as though it was a real standalone game – talk about taking immersion seriously. That doesn't mean Springloaded's new title is easy, however. As described on the game's Steam page, things can get challenging quite quickly. If an MMO's active users dwindle, "they will cancel their subscription and your investors will have your head."

In true management sim fashion, then, the game balances its fun with the strategic approach players have to take to ensure their business' success – and judging by the number of fans interested in Let's Build a Dungeon, it's a formula that works. According to a recent post from Springloaded, the soon-to-be genre gem has already made its way onto more than 100,000 people's Steam wishlists (mine being one of them, of course).

That's an impressive milestone to hit, and Springloaded says it's celebrating by hosting a live Twitch stream on March 13, "where we'll share the latest build" of the game. "Things may go very wrong but we guess that's part of the fun," admits the dev, further solidifying just how silly management sim shenanigans can get. Let's Build a Dungeon doesn't have a release date yet, though, but its free demo is available to play now.

Here are some other upcoming indie games for even more to look forward to.

Anna Koselke
Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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