Dungeon Inn is a cozy strategy management game by indie studio Cat Society where you manage an inn at the mouth of a dungeon. Read our review of its early-access build to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.

Everything We Know About Dungeon Inn

Dungeon Inn Story Plot

You play as Sara, an ambitious young girl, who struck a deal with a dragon to open an inn next to a mysterious dungeon, one that is yet to be fully explored. Adventurers come far and wide, eager to discover the secrets and treasures that lie within. Your inn is at an optimal location, the perfect pit stop to stock up and rest before taking on their quest. And as a budding entrepreneur, you see a gleaming business opportunity. Where there are a lot of people, there are a lot of coins to be made!

Sara will manage an inn at the mouth of a dungeon with her feline friends and business partners, Bami and Butter, providing respite to brave warriors. However, there’s a catch—their customers will come either of the two rival guilds, the Seaside Guild and the Mountain Guild. With their respective cities at war with each other, their members loathe each other to the point of breaking out into full-scale fights when they meet eye-to-eye. Earn your keep and tribute to the dragon while making sure that no one catches on to your double-dealing covert operations.

Dungeon Inn Gameplay

With an interesting application of turn-based strategy, Dungeon Inn requires players to plan and strategize the way adventurers come and visit the inn. Your customers will come from two vastly different adventurer guilds who are rivals with one another—but goods and services are given to whoever has the coin for it! You must plan your turns using the skills available to you, juggling visits between members of both guilds, building your reputation with both cities, and keeping your double-dealing a secret. However, not everything will go smoothly…sometimes, guild clashes will happen, with your inn as its arena. Quickly solve these rowdy fights with the power of steel—after all, dead men tell no tales.

Each round of the game is played within five days, or one week, with four turns each. At the end of the week, your earned coin will be counted and added to the overall total. At the end of every month or four weeks, you must have earned enough coins to pay the tribute to your dragon investor. Make sure you pay your dues in time, or else…

To keep that from happening, expand and upgrade your inn, skillfully make use of your tools, and turn your cozy dungeon-side inn into the best one in the land!

Dungeon Inn Release Date

Released on November 13, 2024, Dungeon Inn is now available to be purchased in Early Access on Steam for $12.99 USD!

Digital Storefronts
Steam
$12.99

Dungeon Inn Review [Early Access]

Rated 5 Gold Stars

Turn-based management but cozy? Management and cozy don’t always go together, especially in the way that I think of management games as inherently stressful with all the…well, managing aspects. Dozens of resources to keep track of, some part of your well-oiled system failing…there’s a lot to think about. However, Dungeon Inn promises a gameplay experience that is definitely cozy and is not as unforgiving.

Dungeon Inn presents itself as a cozy strategy management game where you will manage an inn nestled perfectly at the mouth of a dungeon, luring dozens of brave warrior customers from two cities to come and stay (and for them to give you their shiny, shiny coin). However, you must make sure, to the best of your ability, that these warring factions avoid each other while also maximizing your profits. This can be done with the help of your handy dandy Wisp staff, who will deploy items like a food stand or a lucky spin wheel that can either slow down, speed up, or completely stop the customers’ movements. Your earnings will then be given to your rather terrifying dragon investor, who you have made a deal with after you tried to steal his riches. Will you risk it all for money and to achieve your monthly dragon tribute quota, or play it safe but just barely making a cut? It’s up to you how to go about it!

Lovely Cartoon Visuals And A Charming Cast

First thing’s first, the art is absolutely adorable and it definitely screams cozy. Its cartoon art style is lovely and warm, with the characters looking somewhat like paper cut-outs mixed with some type of watercolor. In all honesty, I’m not well-versed on the intricacies of art, but the visuals are reminiscent of a style found in storybooks, which I love. Additionally, the storybook-like art style adds a lovely charm to the already charming cast. Protagonist Sara is ambitious and is the brain of the team, while Butter is a happy-go-lucky feline that has his own cool ideas to spruce up the inn. Worrywart Bami seems to worry about Sara and Butter with their antics, but he means well. This crew is a joy to watch, with funny banter and a sprinkling of dark humor to boot.

The customers are also wonderful characters with their own personality and designs, the latter of which has a lot of variety. I’m a sucker for cute things, so I couldn’t help but smile after seeing the adventurer designs range from ordinary (but still cute) humans wearing frog suits and tiger masks, to tiny mushrooms with equally tiny legs, a cobra mage hopping in their snake pot, and even a walking, talking gingko leaf girl. My personal favorite one is Sweetney, an endearing little sweet potato warrior with crispy hair from the Seaside Guild.

Besides the main cast, most of the characters have an interesting personality as well, with emphasis on the Expert and Master-tier adventurers. For context, each adventurer is ranked between three types, namely Novice, Expert, and Master. Expert and Master-tier guests have their own little side stories, which can be unlocked through constant visits. There’s quite a lot of them to unlock from both guilds, each requiring five to eight visits to fully flesh out their respective stories. It’s enjoyable to see these interactions as well, making the game feel more real and lively.

Unique Turn-Based Management

Its turn-based management system is unique and fun to play with. Never would I have known that turn-based executions of actions can be played in a management simulation like this one. Its mechanics are engaging, and are well-explained throughout the immersive tutorials. Another added plus is that there is no timer involved at all, and you are free to think and plan out your turn to your heart’s content.

Despite the core gameplay loop looking simple, the levels get progressively more challenging as the customer pool changes, coupled with the extra challenges and quests you can take on every week that will help you upgrade your skill proficiencies and your inn, as well as acquire more gold coins. Random events can happen as well, depending on the facilities you have available in your establishment, each with different choices that net different rewards. These events are interesting and really make it as if you’re running a real inn, like kicking out a rowdy drunk, or to simple occurrences like recommending the best soup (or beer) to the customer.

Another plus is that if you’re not satisfied with your execution on a certain day, you can go back to that point in time with no problems! The game automatically saves your progress throughout the week, at the very beginning of each day. Should you encounter any problems or you failed a mission, you can easily reload an autosave and replan your turns for maximum rewards and successes.

However, one minimal gripe I have with the game is that there are only about four skill items to play around with and use on the map, not including the main cast’s special skills and the Wisp’s battle mode option. While there is nothing wrong about keeping the gameplay loop simple with minimal choices, it might feel a little too routine after a month or two. Hopefully, the full release will come with more items and skills to lure those budding adventures into your cozy inn! Maybe some of them could even be amusing types of items, like a falling hole trap to make them roll right into your inn without being seen, a la Looney Tunes. With the type of humor and money-making schemes that Sara has up her sleeve, perhaps this idea is right up their alley.

Short Playthrough Time—But It’s in Early Access

Unfortunately, it’s quite short—but that’s a given seeing as it’s only on Early Access. As an Early Access game, it only comes bundled with the first four months of the story with 16 stages in total, with an estimated five to eight hours of total gameplay. The developers have shared that the game will be in Early Access for “approximately a year” before releasing the full version with the full story, as well as more events, gimmicks, and objectives. And truth be told, I’m very excited for more interesting and comedic happenings to be added into the game.

A Must-Play For Cozy Enjoyers

The game is perfect for players who like casual strategy-puzzle games, made better with a cozy setting (despite the inter-faction brawls and some dark humor scattered about). With a colorful cast, intriguing story plot, engaging gameplay, and interesting events, there’s a lot to like about Dungeon Inn. I’d also like to note that even at Early Access, it’s pretty well-polished and I did not encounter any glitch during my playthrough, thus adding to an already positive gameplay experience. The future is bright for Dungeon Inn, and I will be sure to keep my eye on it as development continues.

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Dungeon Inn Product Information

Title	DUNGEON INN
Release Date	November 14, 2024 (Early Access)
Developer	Cat Society
Publisher	Spiral Up Games
Supported Platforms	PC (Steam)
Genre	Strategy, Simulation, Indie
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	RP
Official Website	Dungeon Inn Website

Charlene Sarmiento

An RPG enthusiast with a love for cozy games. Might also be addicted to gacha games too, but it's a sensitive topic for her wallet.