dungeon crawler

noun

plural dungeon crawler

: a video game where the gameplay is primarily focused on defeating enemies while exploring a usually randomly generated labyrinthine or dungeon-like environment

A dungeon crawler is a genre of … game where a player must guide a character through increasingly difficult levels of dungeons while confronting monsters, traps, and other obstacles.

—Christopher Breen

Originally conceived to be an expansion for Daggerfall, Battlespire is a more "pure" dungeon crawler that forgoes many broader role-playing elements in favor of handing you a weapon, sending you into a dangerous pit, and allowing you to grow … your character as you work your way to safety and glory.

—Matthew Byrd

Word History

First Known Use

1989, in the meaning defined above