Fidel Dungeon Rescue: Walkthrough Guide, Tips and Tricks

Fidel Dungeon Rescue
By: Daniel Benmergui

Puzzling roguelike Fidel Dungeon Rescue just made its way over to iOS after much success on PC and console, and I’ve been having a blast with it. I still have much to learn, since the game doesn’t really tell you anything. I’ve even started over a few times to try and do better with the new information I picked up. Each level is randomly generated, so it doesn’t make much sense to do a full step-by-step walkthrough. But I thought I would share some tips and tricks for those who don’t have the time to start over when they learn things.

iPad Controls:

– Controls are different on an iPad and iPhone. For iPad, you either tap the next tile over that you want to move to, or you can draw a path. But be careful drawing over too many tiles at once and getting yourself killed!

– You can trace your path backwards to undo moves or just tap and hold the staircase you started from undo your whole path.

– Tap the other staircase if you want to start from there instead.

– Tap on Fidel to bark.

iPhone Controls:

– Controls are different on an iPad and iPhone. On iPhone, you swipe on the right side of the screen to move in that direction. You can’t tap a tile and you can’t draw your path. The idea is that you’re holding your phone with two thumbs, so it makes more sense to swipe instead of trace.

– Use the button on the left side for easier rewinding. That button also lets you swap between the two staircases as a starting point.

– Tap on Fidel to bark.

Tips & Tricks:

– Each level of the dungeon is randomly generated, but the kinds of enemies you encounter in each should be about the same. Once you learn their weaknesses, it will be easier to defeat them if you restart.

– Fidel starts with two hearts, but it’s a little misleading, as he doesn’t die after losing them both. The two hearts actually represent three lives. He dies if he takes more damage when he has zero hearts or if he takes two damage from an enemy or trap when he only has one heart left. He can never die with two hearts.

– Dying once on a level isn’t too horrible. A little baby ghost will appear at the starting point, but it will go away once you make t to the next level. You just need to be extra careful after, because if you die again, the baby ghost will grow up and start chasing you. At that point, you have to get to the exit quickly, because if he catches you it’s game over.

– If you do die and end up back at the start of the dungeon, things may start a bit harder, but I think that’s mainly so you can earn XP faster.

– Experience Points (XP) are very important. You need them to unlock the exit on a level, first of all. Also, pay attention to the green bar, because when it fills up, you’ll level up and earn another heart. So instead of two, you’ll now have three, and so on. You get experience for killing enemies. When you step on the exit, you’ll see how much experience you got and you can rewind if you want to try and do better. You can sometimes go straight from the start to the exit without much trouble, but then you would be giving up a lot of experience and it will make things harder for you later. You want to try and maximize the amount of XP you earn, and that means finding enemy weaknesses to earn more. I’ll go into more detail about that later.

– Pick up coins! You can only hold nine at time, but they allow you to purchase bombs and health potions. A bomb costs 3 coins and a health potion costs 9 coins. You can undo those, as well, though. So experiment with them carefully, making sure you don’t accidentally kill yourself.

– A bomb explodes the tiles directly above, below, to the left and right of you. That means enemies get destroyed, but also med kits and coins. It could also cause a sleeping enemy to wake and get angry.

– Med kits replenish all your hearts. So try only to pick them up when you’re close to death so you don’t waste them.

– Bark at things. It may seem at first that Fidel’s bark is just a cute little bonus, but it actually does things. If he barks at a sleeping enemy, for instance, it might wake him. It can also turn a dangerous enemy docile. Experiment!

– You get 3 bonus XP for killing three enemies in a row without any break. Early on, you can’t really do that with only two hearts, but once you have more hearts, try to do it as often as possible.

– Spiked tiles damage you if you land on them. But you can use the lever to cause the spikes to hit enemies.

Enemies:

– Basic Spiders: These are the first enemies you meet. They’re easy to kill, but you lose a heart when you kill one. So make sure to heal.

– Spider Queen: You get extra experience for killing her!

– Red Spiders: These harm you more than basic spiders if you attack them head on. But if you kill three basic spiders first, the red spiders all go to sleep. You can then kill one of them for extra experience and all the others will wake up.

– Tiny spiders. These don’t harm you and don’t normally give you any XP, but if you’re careful to kill them in groups of three at a time, you can get 3 XP each time.

– Robots: These are stationary. You can kill them normally and lose hearts, or press three buttons to put them to sleep. When you kill a sleeping robot, it won’t damage you and you’ll get extra XP. But killing it will wake the other robots. Killing an enemy in front of a robot will also wake it up.

– Three-Headed Turtles: If you attack these guys from behind, you get 3 XP. If you attack one of their heads instead, you lose 2 hearts. You can bark at them to make them change their direction to face you!

– Soldiers: Soldiers don’t damage you if you kill them while they’re sleeping. You also get extra XP for that. But killing an enemy next to them will wake them up. Barking at them also wakes them.

– Gnome: You first need to wake the gnome either by attacking him head on or with a bomb. You then have to chase him to a spiked tile and then pull the lever to kill him with the spikes. You’ll get extra XP!

– Man-eating plant: If you destroy both of its flowers, the plant will shrivel up and you can kill it without taking damage. You’ll also get extra XP. But if you kill the flower while it’s still healthy and looking for a meal, it will cost you two hearts.

– Alien Boss: Every few moves you make, he shoots lasers directly above, below, to the right and left of him. Make sure not to get stuck in its path or you’ll take damage. There is a warning sound right before it goes off, so you shouldn’t be caught by surprise. He’ll disappear automatically when you earn enough experience in the level.

– Robot Dog: This guy mimics your moves and his wires block your path the same way your leash does. You can leave him alive or have him earn enough XP killing things so that he disappears and give you extra XP.

– Vampires: These are pretty crazy. If you attack one while you have any health, they’ll drain the remainder of it and die. But when you have no health, they go to sleep and you can kill them easily for 5 XP each. But, of course, you need to avoid med packs to do so.

– Mushrooms: Still working this out. Getting close them turns them into poison mushrooms, but at some point I managed to make one shrivel up and give me XP. But I’m not sure what did it. Attacking a poison mushroom poisons one of your hearts, though.

Dragon’s Lair Boss:

– Heart: You need to kill 23 body parts to destroy the heart and access the exit.

– Wing: Free XP! It doesn’t damage you but gives you 1 XP if you kill it. If you kill both, you’ll get rid of all the wind tiles on the board.

– Claw: You can only attack it from behind. Bark at it to make it change direction.

– Body: These have either 0, 1 or 2 spiked on them and cause that number hearts of damage but give you 1 XP. Destroying both Dragon Eyes reduces the spikes in the level by 1.

– Egg: This heals you, but when you get close, it starts to crack. If you walk around it instead of using it to heal, it will hatch into a snake! You can then kill it for 5 XP, but one of your hearts will be poisoned.

– Fire: This damages you for 2 hearts. You don’t get any XP for it. Destroy the Snout to get rid of all the fire.

– Wind: This damages you for 1 heart. Destroy both wings to get rid of all the wind.

– Eye: The don’t damage you or give you XP, but destroying both reduces the number of spikes on the body pieces.

– Snout: This doesn’t damage you, but destroying it shrinks all the fire so it does less damage.

Barking:

– Bark at candles to be able to go through them without taking damage. Bark at all the candles in an interlude level to open a portal to a secret level! So far, I accessed a chess board where the enemies were chess pieces and they attacked me using those same patterns! Defeat all the chess pieces besides the King to make the king disappear and give you extra XP.

– Chests: Bark at a chest to wake it up and see whether it’s a mimic or an actual chest of gold. If it’s a gold chest, you can take the gold without any issue. If it’s a mimic, attack it from behind to avoid taking damage and to get extra XP.

More coming soon as I discover new things to add!

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