The Eternal Die Review: A Dark Fairytale Roguelite

When Lost in Random first rolled into our hearts in 2021, it stood out as a hand-crafted Tim Burton–inspired oddity, mixing dice-driven combat and stop-motion charm. Now, Stormteller Games has reshaped that whimsical gloom into The Eternal Die, a roguelite that bolts permadeath, procedurally stitched realms, and over a hundred relics onto the original’s gothic bones. As someone enchanted by the linear story of the first game, I approached this unpredictable sequel with equal parts excitement and trepidation. Would the dice roll in its favor, or would randomness rip out the soul of its fairytale roots?

Origin Story: From Linear Cult Classic to Roguelite Evolution

Lost in Random won “Best Indie” acclaim for its tactile dice combat, quirky characters, and gothic stop-motion sets. Players praised the card-and-dice system—each roll swaying both narrative and survival—and critics lauded the handcrafted level design. Yet beneath the accolades lay a whisper: “More replay value, please.” Enter The Eternal Die, which ditches a fixed storyline in favor of procedural labyrinths, meta-upgrades, and infinite permutations. Its ambition echoes how Hades reimagined dungeon-crawling, but Stormteller infuses a darker fairytale palette—equal parts Grimm nightmare and carnival sideshow.

Gameplay Deep Dive: Dice, Decks, and Death

At its beating heart, The Eternal Die remains a dice-and-card action RPG, but Stormteller has supercharged the formula:

• Four Weapon Classes: Crossbow, Dual Blades, Gauntlet, and Staff each deliver distinct combos. Crossbow excels at crowd control; Dual Blades reward aggressive play with rapid fate-point refunds.
• Fate Points System: Attacks and dodges consume fate points, refilled through perfect parries and critical hits. This forces a tactical ebb and flow rather than button-mashing.
• Deck-Building Meets Relics: Draft three cards per run from a shifting pool. Combine them with relics—discovered in hidden chambers or purchased from cursed merchants—to create potent synergies. A “Lucky Flip” relic (+1 on dice rolls) paired with the “Chain Roll” card (automatic re-rolls on sixes) can unleash cascading overflow damage.
• Fortune—the Cursed Die: Instead of Even, you bond with Queen Aleksandra’s sentient die, Fortune. Feed it Soul Shards to unlock procs: low rolls can catapult into cinematic crits or shield you from lethal blows.
• Permadeath with Persistence: Death resets your run, but Grim Echoes (persistent currency) unlock new weapons, passive traits (e.g., “Critical Conversion”), and world modifiers like “Iron Vaults” (fewer fights, more treasure).

Combats shift from weaving around spiked vines in Thornvale Basin to trading blows with spectral knights in Obsidian Gate. Procedural traps—rotating spikes, shifting floors, dice-activated puzzles—add a platforming twist. While loot droughts can sting early players, meta-upgrades quickly smooth the learning curve, rewarding persistence much like Rogue Legacy 2’s manor expansions.

Technical Performance: Next-Gen Glow and Frame-Rate Stability

On PC (RTX 3060, i7-11700K), The Eternal Die runs at a rock-steady 144 fps at 1080p, with ray tracing set to medium. On PS5, dynamic 4K and 60 fps hold firm, dipping only to 55 fps in particle-heavy arenas. Xbox Series X posts similar results, while Switch 2 runs at 30 fps undocked (with occasional dips to 25) and 40 fps docked. Load times average 15 seconds on SSD consoles versus 40 seconds on Switch 2. Memory usage peaks at 10 GB on PC, so make sure to close background apps.

Accessibility and Options

Stormteller Games has integrated a robust suite of accessibility features:

• Fully remappable controls, including single-handed layouts
• High-contrast UI and colorblind filter (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia)
• Subtitles with customizable font size, plus dice-roll audio cues for players with visual impairments
• Toggleable difficulty modifiers (e.g., slow-motion parry windows, extended invincibility on respawn)

These options help newcomers adjust the challenge curve without gutting the roguelite tension. Many fans on the official Discord have praised the options, with one user noting, “As a colorblind player, the UI filter was a lifesaver—I never missed a relic tooltip!”

Story & Characters: A Fragmented Fairytale

The Eternal Die reframes the narrative lens from Even to Queen Aleksandra, whose kingdom shattered under a rival die’s curse. Fortune, the living die, functions as both weapon and wry sidekick. The sequel’s antagonist, Mare The Knight, was once Aleksandra’s childhood friend but twisted by the malevolent Black Lotus Die.

Storytelling is now scattershot: collectible scrolls, Siege Memories unlocked after mini-bosses, secret dialogues triggered by relic combos. One standout moment involves a hidden chamber where you replay Aleksandra’s betrayal via a stop-motion cameo—complete with voice actors Evan Kinsella (Aleksandra) and Mara Singh (Fortune). The scene’s haunting lullaby, sung in an invented die-tongue, lingers long after you roll away.

This emergent narrative style recalls Hades’s piecemeal reveals—only here, each run adds a brushstroke to a larger, darker tapestry. I spent ten runs deciphering a lore riddle etched in Obsidian Gate that, once solved, unlocked a playable flashback level set before the kingdom’s fall.

Level Design & Procedural Balance

Stormteller’s bold shift to modular “chunk”-based realms yields thousands of permutations. Each of the six realms—Thornvale Basin, Glacial Keep, Ashen Cathedral, Moonlit Carnival, Obsidian Gate, and the optional Shadow Foundry—uses handcrafted rooms pieced in random order. Puzzle chambers requiring specific dice rolls (a 4 to raise a bridge, a 6 to deactivate spikes) mix seamlessly with tactical combat arenas.

Yet it’s not perfect. A few generic cavern sections lack the set-piece grandeur of Lost in Random’s castle courtyard. Still, developer lead level designer Sofia Njoku confirms in a recent postmortem: “We tuned chunk usage so that handcrafted highlights appear at least once every 10 rooms, preserving artistry amid randomness.” That compromise keeps runs fresh without feeling soulless.

Community Reaction & Developer Insights

“The RNG gods are real, but when Fortune smiles, nothing beats the thrill of a perfect six-roll crit.” – Reddit user u/DiceDnD

Across Twitter, fans laud the relic combos. One streamer reported a run where “Lightning Vortex” paired with “Charged Gauntlet” cleared an entire boss arena in seconds. Yet some veterans lament the loss of the original’s linear narrative depth. In response, Stormteller’s creative director, Lars Holm, told us: “We wanted to trust players to write their own tales. Each die roll becomes a plot point.”

Comparisons with Fellow Roguelites

• Hades: Shares persistent narrative dots and character banter. Both titles reward repeated escapes with story deepening.
• Dead Cells: Matches its fast-paced melee flow, but adds luck management via cards and dice rolls.
• Slay the Spire: Influenced the card-draft relic loop, turning each chamber into a risk-reward decision tree.
• Rogue Legacy 2: Mirrors meta-progression through Everforge upgrades versus manor expansions.
• Children of Morta: Like CoM’s family drama, The Eternal Die weaves emotional stakes into combat, though more fragmented.

Replay Value & Meta-Loop

If you gauge replay on sheer run count, The Eternal Die eclipses Lost in Random’s 10–15-hour linear arc. Dozens of relics, world modifiers (Endless Night, Inverted Rolls, Iron Vaults), and card rarities unlock via Grim Echoes. Weekly challenges—such as “Reverse Dice Week” or “No Relic Rush”—keep veteran players engaged. Online leaderboards track speed runs, highest combo chains, and most prolific relic synergies.

Certain relics become must-haves (e.g., Die’s Redemption), but new unlocks encourage experimentation. I spent five runs chasing the elusive “Spectral Masquerade” card, and finally snagged it after clearing Glacial Keep under an hour. That moment encapsulates the “just one more” itch that great roguelites provoke.

Accessibility & Community-Driven Content

Beyond built-in options, mod support on PC has birthed community patches: high-contrast dice skins, custom difficulty presets, and even a “Reverse Polarity” mod flipping all relic effects. One modder, @DiceMage on Nexus, reports 50,000 downloads of his “Arcane Hues” palette for colorblind players. Stormteller has signaled openness to integrate popular mods into official hotfixes.

Final Verdict: Roll the Dice?

The Eternal Die is a daring reinvention, bridging dark fantasy storytelling with modern roguelite thrills. While procedural chunks sometimes dilute handcrafted wonder, the depth of relic synergies, the tension of each roll, and the drip-feed lore create a uniquely engaging loop. At $24.99 on consoles (and included in Game Pass) or $22.49 on PC/Switch 2, it’s priced competitively against larger mid-budget indies.

If you loved the first game’s gloomy aesthetics and want that world reborn as a tension-packed rogue adventure—plus some of the best Tim Burton-ian visuals in gaming—The Eternal Die delivers. Fortune favors the bold, after all. The next roll could be your masterpiece.