10 Best Video Games Like Dungeon Crawler Carl

I’m so hyped for Book 8: A Parade of Horribles coming out on May 12, 2026! Dungeon Crawler Carl is seriously blowing up right now. It’s not just Matt Dinniman’s awesome books anymore – Carl and Princess Donut are also in a webtoon and getting their own show on Peacock! And the DCC RPG from Renegade Game Studios is incredible – the Backerkit campaign has already raised around $10 million! It just proves how many fans this series has. But honestly, I was really hoping for a Dungeon Crawler Carl video game, and we haven’t heard anything about one, so I guess I’ll have to find something else to fill that gaming void.

Carl and his sarcastic cat, Princess Donut, are stuck in a bizarre, alien-run reality show where they must fight strange monsters and please demanding overlords, all while trying to escape. This struggle slowly changes Carl as a person. While the stories borrow heavily from video games and role-playing games, it’s surprisingly hard to find similar books unless you focus on shared features like game-like rules or dungeon exploration. So, instead of looking for a perfect match, we’ll focus on games that capture specific elements of the series, rather than everything all at once.

Games like Diablo 4, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Fallout 4 are all great role-playing games that could appeal to fans of DCC, each offering something unique. However, I don’t want to suggest a game just because it has similar RPG or loot elements – that feels too obvious. Plus, most DCC fans are already familiar with popular series like The Elder Scrolls and Diablo.

Showgunners & DCC Are Both About Surviving A Reality Show Dystopian Nightmare

The Game Show

Although the strategic battles aren’t as fast-paced as the original novels, Showgunner shares a similar spirit to Dungeon Crawler Carl in most other respects. Players control Scarlett as she competes in a deadly game show called “Homicidal All-Stars,” fighting through challenges and trying to trick both enemies and the show’s director. This director plays a role similar to the System AI from DCC (but without the foot fixation!), actively trying to trip Scarlett up with unfair obstacles, all to boost the show’s ratings.

As a big fan, I’ve noticed something really interesting about the characters and gameplay in Showgunner. It feels like both Carl and Scarlett are treated more like brands you have to build up than actual people – Carl needs to get popular to attract patrons, and Scarlett has to connect with fans to boost her Fame and unlock sponsorships. And the combat? It’s a lot like XCOM! You really have to think strategically, use the environment to your advantage, and find powerful combinations, which totally fits Carl’s whole calculated way of handling every situation.

MadWorld Offers Stylish, Vicious Spectacle For The Masses

Stylized Ultraviolence

The series Dungeon Crawler Carl consistently delivers a wild and unpredictable energy, mirroring the chaotic nature of the World Dungeon broadcast and its erratic AI. The AI sometimes creates incredibly bizarre scenarios, like a brutal, over-the-top death game similar to MadWorld, where excessive violence is actually rewarded. And it’s not just a hypothetical – Carl frequently receives rewards in the dungeon for particularly inventive and gruesome kills, which is exactly the core idea behind MadWorld.

The Wii game MadWorld is set in a dangerous city called Varrigan City, which serves as the arena for a brutal game show called DeathWatch. Contestants fight each other for prize money and fame. Most participants are ordinary people forced to compete or risk being killed by professional fighters. Varrigan City is essentially a lawless and chaotic place, and the game even features sponsors, popular contestants, and challenging boss battles, similar to those found in DCC.

The commentators for MadWorld could easily become announcers for DCC, given their consistently negative and often offensive style.

Here are some other games that share similar fast-paced, competitive elements: Apex Legends, The Finals, Rollerdrome, Dicey Dungeons, Smash TV, and DeathSprint 66.

Caves of Qud & Dungeon Crawler Carl Love Breaking The Rules

The System RPG

At first glance, Caves of Qud might not appeal to fans of fast-paced Dungeon Crawler Carl or those looking for Die Hard-style action. It’s not a game about brute force. Instead, it rewards players who learn and exploit the dungeon’s systems. Caves of Qud is a truly simulated RPG; it doesn’t just give you tools, it provides a complex sandbox of chemistry and physics. The key to winning isn’t finding the best weapon, but discovering item and mutation combinations that let you essentially break the game.

The games share more than just a similar style. Like the World Dungeon, Caves of Qud has a wonderfully strange and unique world. Both games also feature permadeath, meaning your choices have real, lasting consequences – just like the risks faced by adventurers in the World Dungeon. And if you choose to play as a mutated human in Caves of Qud, the changes to your character can be as odd and disturbing as Carl and Donut’s experience choosing their races.

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone Has You Fight To The Death For The Amusement Of Robots

A Spiritual Match to Dungeon Crawler Carl

Like Dungeon Crawler Carl, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone puts you in a fight for survival, but with robots instead of aliens. These robots have captured humans and forced them to battle each other in a robot-controlled arena. Each player controls a human mind inside a robot body. The game features witty commentary and tasks you with surviving a series of challenges with different characters to prevent the robots from fully invading Earth and enslaving humanity.

Unlike Dungeon Crawler Carl, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone focuses on direct, 3D combat rather than exploring dungeons, leaving less room for strategic thinking. While it doesn’t have the same exploratory elements, Clone Drone does offer upgrades as you progress, similar to DCC. Beyond the shared concept, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is simply a very enjoyable game.

DeathSprint 66 & DCC Understand The Power Of Hype

A Televised Bloodsport With A Fame System

While Dungeon Crawler Carl isn’t a game about outright violence, it definitely has a dark and intense feel. DeathSprint 66 takes place in a futuristic world where a television network broadcasts incredibly dangerous races. These races are so brutal that viewers are obsessed with watching. Competitors race through extremely difficult courses filled with lethal traps that destroy the disposable clone bodies used as racers. Luckily for the participants, they have an unlimited supply of these clones, giving them essentially endless lives.

Bloodsport events need sponsors, and the game DeathSprint 66 highlights this reality. Players gain popularity by performing impressive and brutal stunts, which then attracts sponsors. This is the core gameplay loop for characters like Carl and Donut as they try to survive. While the online multiplayer isn’t very active anymore, DeathSprint 66 still offers playable offline content, including tournaments.

The Binding of Isaac Has A Dungeon Even Worse Than DCC

Floor-By-Floor Survival & Body Horror

At first, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a fun and goofy story, but it quickly takes a turn towards more serious and disturbing themes. As Carl explores deeper into the World Dungeon, his actions begin to haunt him, both emotionally and physically transforming him in the process.

Like the classic game World Dungeon, The Binding of Isaac has players going deeper and deeper into increasingly disturbing and twisted levels. There’s no way out, creating a sense that you’re doomed to continue. The game often uses unsettling imagery related to the body, especially through the player’s transformations when they find new items—and these changes aren’t usually pleasant. Even when you succeed in a room, the rewards can actually make the game more difficult, reflecting the unpredictable and harsh nature of the game’s artificial intelligence.

Just like Carl’s knack for unexpectedly combining items, Isaac thrives on powerful builds created through item combinations that seem almost like exploits.

Want another reason Isaac is perfect for DCC readers? You can transform into a powerful cat!

Borderlands 2 Is Drowning In Corpo Satire & Loot

Corporate-Sponsored Loot

If you enjoy Dungeon Crawler Carl, Borderlands is a similar game, but focuses on shooting and collecting lots of loot instead of dungeon crawling.

Borderlands 2 features a compelling villain, Handsome Jack, who constantly mocks the player with sarcastic comments, initially treating their quest like a game. The game’s world is dominated by powerful corporations that brand everything, including all the loot you find. These entities see human life as insignificant, simply reducing people to numbers. The game’s famous slogan, ‘a gazillion guns,’ highlights how satisfying it is to collect loot, giving players a rush of excitement with every rare find. In fact, the Vault Hunters aren’t so different from the creatures called Crawlers – many are driven by the desire for wealth and glory, even if it means risking their lives.

Cyberpunk 2077’s V And Johnny Are Gaming’s Carl And Donut

A Character-Driven RPG With The Same Central Conflict As DCC

The relationship between Carl and Donut is a highlight of the books and really defines what makes Dungeon Crawler Carl special. While heroes often have unusual companions, very few games combine that with elements like those found in DCC. Cyberpunk 2077 comes pretty close, though.

V and Johnny function similarly to Carl and Donut in the game, though their connection is much more tense. V is haunted by Johnny, a famous and rebellious figure who constantly criticizes everything V does. Like Donut, Johnny believes he’s the most important person around, and his influence dramatically alters V’s life.

As a huge fan of both, I’ve been thinking about how Night City from Cyberpunk and the World Dungeon feel surprisingly alike. It’s not that people are physically trapped in Night City, but it’s incredibly hard to break free from the system, you know? And watching V change throughout the game, getting more and more cyberware…it’s like they’re slowly losing parts of themselves, becoming less human. It really reminds me of Carl’s transformations – both characters are altered, piece by piece, as they progress. It’s a really interesting parallel!

Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 challenges players to decide whether V will choose a long, secure life or a short, memorable one filled with daring acts. Similarly, Carl is driven to increasingly extreme and famous deeds, rushing towards his own demise as he fights against the established order.

Noita Lets You Think Like Carl

The Power Of Destruction In Your Hands

This might seem a little unusual, but consider this: when Carl encounters a truly difficult challenge, he cleverly uses his surroundings to create risky, unconventional solutions – solutions that could easily backfire. His abilities center around explosions and destruction using alchemy, and the physics-driven gameplay of Noita feels very similar.

In Noita, players use wands to cast spells that interact with the environment – things like setting wood on fire or dissolving objects with acid. Everything in the game is physically simulated, meaning every single pixel can be used or destroyed. This gives players incredible power, but it also means a small mistake can create a chain reaction that leads to their demise, and the more powerful you become, the more dangerous those mistakes can be.

Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness Has An Even Worse World Dungeon

Welcome To The Abyss. There Is No Escape

Both Made in Abyss and Dungeon Crawler Carl share striking similarities. Each series follows characters venturing into deep, layered dungeons that feel like separate worlds, and the environments become increasingly dangerous as they descend. They also start with an adventurous tone that gradually transforms into something much darker and more frightening.

Even though the original manga and anime are the best ways to experience the story, Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is a solid adaptation, considering its budget. Beyond simply retelling the main storyline, the game lets you play as a new Delver, taking on quests to explore the depths of the Abyss with a mysterious companion named Tiare. This mode focuses on surviving the Abyss’s dangers, which are plentiful, and overcoming a curse that prevents you from easily returning to the surface.

2026-05-10 20:41