- 17 Dec, 2025 *
GOOD DUNGEON
RESERVOIR is a 16-page horror puzzle dungeon for Shadowdark made by Cameron Maas fo…
- 17 Dec, 2025 *
GOOD DUNGEON
RESERVOIR is a 16-page horror puzzle dungeon for Shadowdark made by Cameron Maas for the 2025 Puzzle Dungeon Jam. And wow is it good! Let’s talk about it!
What Is It About?
The dungeon is set in a series of underground stormwater reservoirs inhabited by a gang of thieves. Players enter to either help or hunt the thieves, but will soon find out there are some horrifying magical flesh monsters overtaking the reservoirs. If they choose to deal with the problem, they can solve the puzzle of how to move water through the reservoirs to fight the onslaught of the flesh that is taking over.
Let’s Talk About the Ideas!
The ideas in this dungeon are fire:
The flesh monsters running around and also covering the walls of the dungeon are disgusting in just right way and present some really interesting problems to solve as players learn their weaknesses.
The puzzle aspect is really well thought out, and you can tell Caleb has been reading up on DirectSun’s puzzle dungeon theory posts. There are clear indications of what the puzzle mechanics are, and they build on each other to the point that players should be able to figure out what to do with them.
BUT it also has a timer tying into the Shadowdark real-world clock that means players need to be careful about how much time they spend working out the mechanics. The way the the flesh will grow to overtake the dungeon over time is intense, and I can picture how my players would react as they realize what’s happening.
There are some choice items in here giving players toys to mess around in the world with. A jar that can produce one of 6 liquids at will? Great! A river spirit trapped in a tile that players can take with them? Who knows what trouble they’ll get up to with that! A gauntlet of a mummified drake head that can breath acid but also will transform you into a dragon over time? Nice! All of them are useful specifically in the context of solving the problems in this dungeon, but also would be so fun in the aftermath.
What about the Execution?
RESERVOIR is admittedly a bit rough around the edges—placeholder boxes where art will go, some information repeated that probably doesn’t need to be—but Caleb also has a nice note clarifying that it was finished in a rush for the jam deadline and that an improved version will be coming out for Zine Month in 2026. I really appreciate this, and the fact that he’s still put out everything you need to run the dungeon for free ahead of that. And, apart from those things, I think this is really well executed. He’s picked a style of information presentation and stuck with it consistently in a way that works. I also appreciate the commitment to writing this for a mechanics of a particular game and leaning into what makes that game unique. There’s some places that I feel like need more—I’m not sure how to roleplay the water spirit as is, and there should be more detail for the pipes in the lower level of the dungeon—but again, he notes that it will be expanded in its final version.
Art?
You’ve seen the cover up above, and I’m not sure I really need to say more. Wow!
The maps are also good apart from a few symbols—mostly the sluice gates actually—that are a bit difficult to pinpoint on the map.
Summary!
Apart from the gross horror aspects, which might not be for everyone, there’s not reason not to pick up this dungeon. It’s got everything you could want for a session or two of tense puzzle solving and exploration. I’m really excited to see what Caleb does with the expanded version for Zine Month next year.
This is the first in my new and improved series of reviews where I’ll be focusing each week on something that was recently released for free on Itch.io. I’ll be making a point to pay the creators for what I review, and you can help support that by chipping in a few bucks on Ko-Fi. Thanks for reading!