Dream Quest in IOS

Card

Walkthrough, Guilds, Tips on this special game

Our Site Score

91/100

Dream Quest is arguably the most influential 'ugly' game you'll ever play. Its hand-drawn, MS Paint-style graphics are a notorious barrier to entry, but once you look past the visuals, you'll find one of the deepest, most balanced roguelike deck-builders ever created. Long before Slay the Spire became a household name, Dream Quest was perfecting the loop of exploring a grid-based dungeon and carefully pruning a deck to survive brutal boss encounters.

Every class—from the Thief to the Professor—plays with a completely different mechanical identity. The way the game manages the 'Fear' mechanic and the interaction between mana and actions is brilliant. It rewards deep knowledge of enemy patterns and punishes greed with cold, clinical efficiency. It is a game designed by someone who truly understands card game theory. If you value mechanical depth and infinite replayability over graphical polish, Dream Quest is a mandatory experience that will consume hundreds of hours of your life.

Reviewed on: Fri Feb 27 2026
Dinsun Avatar

Dinsun Review

I almost didn't play this because it looks like a middle-schooler's sketchbook. That would have been a massive mistake. Dream Quest is, quite frankly, one of the most mechanically sound games on the platform. Every card choice matters, every encounter is a puzzle, and the depth of the class systems is staggering. It’s hard—brutally so—which is exactly what I want in a strategy game.

I’m a 'gameplay first' guy, but even I have to admit the art is a tough pill to swallow. It’s ugly. There’s no getting around it. But once you're three levels deep into a run with a perfect deck, you stop seeing the stick figures and start seeing the math. It’s a pure, unadulterated gaming experience that respects your time and your brain. It’s a shame most people will swipe past it because of the thumbnail.

Overall Stats

Pros & Cons

  • Incredible strategic depth
  • High replayability with varied classes
  • Rewarding difficulty curve
  • Repulsive visual presentation
  • Steep learning curve for newcomers
  • Basic sound design

Technical Report

Performance: Runs perfectly on anything. The simplicity of the graphics ensures high frame rates.

Accessibility:

    Audience Fit

    Buy if: You prioritize mechanics and strategy over everything else.

    Skip if: You cannot tolerate bad art or high difficulty.

    Similar Games:
    • Slay the Spire
    • Monster Train
    • Hearthstone

    Reviewer Context

    • Reviewer: Dinsun
    • Hardware: iPhone 15 Pro
    • Playtime: 50 hours
    • Status: Won with all basic classes

    The Game

    Available on: iPhone, iPad, iPod

    Version 1.12Sun Aug 20 2017

    This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

    Update for iOS 11.

    Minor bug fixes.


    Play cards! Kill monsters! Level Up!

    Dream Quest is a roguelike deckbuilding game inspired by the likes of Ascension, Magic: the Gathering, and Shandalar. Explore randomly generated levels as one of 13 classes in short, 30 minute, sessions. One floor might find your wizard in the crypt, another your warrior underwater, and a third, your assassin stalking a volcanic wasteland. As you progress, your characters earn achievements, each making your future runs a little easier or more interesting.

    Combat is a card game. Your abilities are a deck of cards that you develop as you gain power. For example, a thief starts with a handful of Slice cards and a Backstab, but can learn defensive moves like Dodge or powerful finishing moves like Coup de Grace. Carefully choosing which cards to add to your deck is the heart of the game: wise choices will find you slicing through monsters while poor ones will leave you tripping over your own two feet.

    Features:

    •14 different classes, with wildly different play styles

    •Over 300 cards, ranging from the defensive Kick and Armor to the devastating Meteor and Curse of Doom

    •More than 70 monsters carefully catalogued in the Bestiary as you encounter them

    •Infinite replayability – easily 50 hours to see the majority of the content

    •No In App Purchases – the price of the game is the price of the game. Everything is unlocked only by playing.

    Reviews of Version 1.0 have been fantastic! Examples include:

    "Don't be fooled by its simplistic stick-figure art – Dream Quest brings together roguelike dungeon-crawling and deckbuilding to create a truly unique challenge"

    -IGN

    "This game is really one of a kind. The mix between rogue-like and cards is really well done...Kudos to the dev for such an innovative and challenging game"

    -Mike32, TouchArcade

    "If you can get past the simplistic graphics, you're looking at a very interesting, strategic game. I've already lost a few hours to it - the kind of hours where you wonder where the time went. Outstanding game!"

    -Citronaut


    Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

    Play cards! Kill monsters! Level Up!

    Dream Quest is a roguelike deckbuilding game inspired by the likes of Ascension, Magic: the Gathering, and Shandalar. Explore randomly generated levels as one of 13 classes in short, 30 minute, sessions. One floor might find your wizard in the crypt, another your warrior underwater, and a third, your assassin stalking a volcanic wasteland. As you progress, your characters earn achievements, each making your future runs a little easier or more interesting.

    Combat is a card game. Your abilities are a deck of cards that you develop as you gain power. For example, a thief starts with a handful of Slice cards and a Backstab, but can learn defensive moves like Dodge or powerful finishing moves like Coup de Grace. Carefully choosing which cards to add to your deck is the heart of the game: wise choices will find you slicing through monsters while poor ones will leave you tripping over your own two feet.

    Features:

    •14 different classes, with wildly different play styles

    •Over 300 cards, ranging from the defensive Kick and Armor to the devastating Meteor and Curse of Doom

    •More than 70 monsters carefully catalogued in the Bestiary as you encounter them

    •Infinite replayability – easily 50 hours to see the majority of the content

    •No In App Purchases – the price of the game is the price of the game. Everything is unlocked only by playing.

    Reviews of Version 1.0 have been fantastic! Examples include:

    "Don't be fooled by its simplistic stick-figure art – Dream Quest brings together roguelike dungeon-crawling and deckbuilding to create a truly unique challenge"

    -IGN

    "This game is really one of a kind. The mix between rogue-like and cards is really well done...Kudos to the dev for such an innovative and challenging game"

    -Mike32, TouchArcade

    "If you can get past the simplistic graphics, you're looking at a very interesting, strategic game. I've already lost a few hours to it - the kind of hours where you wonder where the time went. Outstanding game!"

    -Citronaut


    Ratings & Reviews

    4.6 out of 5 with 323 Counts
    Age Rating 9+

    Screenshots

    Dream Quest screenshot 1Dream Quest screenshot 2Dream Quest screenshot 3Dream Quest screenshot 4Dream Quest screenshot 5Dream Quest screenshot 6Dream Quest screenshot 7Dream Quest screenshot 8Dream Quest screenshot 9Dream Quest screenshot 10

    Dream Quest is a roguelike deck-builder that challenges you to survive the ever-changing landscapes of your own mind. Choose from dozens of classes, each with unique cards and abilities, and battle through three floors of increasingly difficult enemies. With a permadeath system that rewards you with permanent unlocks, the game offers thousands of potential strategies. Don't let the simple graphics fool you—this is a deep tactical experience that has inspired an entire genre of mobile card games.

    Features

    1

    Dozens of unique playable classes

    2

    Over 300 cards to collect and upgrade

    3

    Procedurally generated dungeons and enemies

    4

    Permanent progression system with massive unlocks

    Tips

    Promotion Videos

    Dream Quest 10th Anniversary Developer Interview with Peter Whalen - YouTube

    Related Videos

    News on this game

    Hearthstone: Designing Journey to Un'Goro

    I caught up with Team 5 senior designers Peter Whalen and Mike Donais to dig into the design process for the set.

    IGN Nordic - Thu Jun 29 2017

    Gameplays

    Q&A

    The game was designed as a solo project focusing entirely on deep gameplay mechanics and balance rather than visual art.

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