Fix-a-Bug, an indie developer from Italy, released the satirical fantasy RPG The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles on Steam last week. Looking back on the development process in a post-launch interview with Game*Spark, the game’s creator Paolo Nicoletti says the most memorable moment for him was undoubtedly the “Shitty Dungeon” incident.
Back in August this year, The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles got its first demo, along with a Japanese-language Steam store page. At the time, the game did not yet have a professional-level localization, so its title ended up being mistranslated to “Kuso Dungeon” (jp: クソダンジョン), which directly translates to “Crap Dungeon” or “Shitty Dungeon.” Once Japanese gamers noticed the hilariously named Western game pop up on their Steam feeds, it didn’t take long for it to go viral on X, and subsequently get picked up by media.
“Everyone was laughing their heads off, and I was too, honestly,” Nicoletti comments. “It was a completely unintentional accident, but it ended up bringing the game lots of attention.” While the Japanese version of The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicle was swiftly updated with the correct title, the “shitty” incident led to the game’s Wishlists skyrocketing. Nicoletti calls it “truly, accidental marketing at its finest.”
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicle is doing well in terms of critical reception too. The dungeon crawler sits at a Mostly Positive rating on Steam, with reviewers praising the self-aware humor, artwork and solid core gameplay loop. The game’s creator says feedback so far has been “incredible,” and his team is working on balancing and quality improvements in response to issues players have pointed out.
The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicle is out now for PC (Steam).
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