Nicktoons & The Dice Of Destiny – Review

Nickelodeon, Nicktoons & The Dice Of Destiny

Introduction

If you had told me that one of the harder-to-score games I would review in 2025 was centred around a cast of fan favourite Nickelodeon characters getting up to some high fantasy hijinks, I would have two questions for you. First, how did you get into my house? Followed quickly by asking you to leave, as you are clearly being a Goofy Goober! However, you would be right, as Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny ended up being more of a pleasant surprise than a run-of-the-(Game)mill experience I expected!

Premise

Developed by Fair Play Labs and Petit Fabrik, and published by the infamous GameMill Entertainment, Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is a light, kid-friendly isometric dungeon crawler with action/adventure elements that can be played solo or in two-player co-op. Timmy Turner wishes himself, Wanda, and Cosmo into a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired world, only for the wish to go awry, pulling a bunch of other Nickelodeon characters and their worlds into the wish. Taking on the roles of classic DnD classes like wizard, barbarian, and ranger, it is up to our heroes to collect the Dice of Destiny scattered across this magical realm to send everyone back home and put a stop to the shadowy Dungeon Master and their minions, the Flame Fatale!

It’s a well-trodden premise that serves its purpose very well, pulling all these characters from their respective series and bringing them together in a neutral environment to quest through. The dev team didn’t let this go to waste across most facets of the game’s design, from world design to character interactions, and the mixing of the Nicktoons roster with adventuring archetypes really worked for me.

Gameplay

Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny has a very simple gameplay loop; you start in a hub area called the Tangle, where you can select which Hero you want to play as, as well as buy, sell, upgrade, and dismantle weapons and armor. The Tangle is populated by other characters from the series that the heroes hail from, and more will end up there as you play through the game, some offering side quests you can undertake. A large, dark portal is at the centre of your bug area, and you enter it to choose a level to attempt.

Levels are unlocked in a linear order, with you needing to beat the previous one to unlock the next level, with over X levels spread across X regions, and a boss fight bookending each one. Levels have a light RNG element but ultimately follow similar structures, maybe incorporating the need to open doors with switches or defeat elite enemies to progress. There are side routes that may hold a chest containing loot such as weapons, armour, gold, and Chasmite, a resource used to upgrade your gear back at the Tangle, but you always have a map of the dungeon that you uncover as you explore. There are lots of enemies and traps scattered throughout each level, with a challenge totem that has you fight waves of enemies in a small arena with a randomly rolled effect to up the challenge.

When selecting a level, you have the choice of several difficulties based on your party’s combined character levels. I appreciate the effort to give players options, and immediately bumped up the difficulty, which provided a more entertaining experience. Simply put, it made it so that enemies hit hard enough that I had to make use of the dodge roll and occasionally use a healing potion.

One of the best parts of the game was trying out each of the heroes you can play as, more of which you unlock as you progress. A great deal of thought and work has gone into giving each character a skill set that not only works differently from everyone else’s but makes sense for that character. As you level up your hero (and the rest of the roster simultaneously), you unlock new abilities to equip in 4 slots, with an ultimate move unlocked last. Every one of these ultimate moves was a surprise and delight to see and use, ranging from Rugrats’ Susie summoning Reptar to stomp on her enemies, to Sandy Cheeks hulking out, muscles bulging, and three times the size!

What I found surprising was that the game also includes full character stats, and not just attack, defense, and health. Leveling up a character will raise their base stats a set amount each time, but equipping different weapons, armour, and trinkets will offer various other stat boosts, from health earned per enemy killed or a higher critical hit chance to more gold or Chasmite collected. I can’t say that the level of depth and character building is not appreciated, but it seems wasted on a game that doesn’t present enough of a challenge to warrant it.

This gets to what I think is the dissonance at the heart of Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny, which is that it wants to appeal to multiple audiences, but doesn’t commit fully to any of them. It appears like an entry-level, approachable dungeon crawler that appeals to children, yet includes a level of depth when it comes to character stats and gear that seems unnecessary. The cast is made up entirely of children’s cartoon characters, but all of them feel as though they were popular with an older generation. I understand that some may read this and just say that I am overthinking a children’s game, but to me, it feels as though the game is trying to serve one too many dungeon masters.

Visuals

Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny’s art direction is one of its strongest facets, hands down. Each of the different regions you visit is visually distinct from the other, with some inspired by the worlds of some of the heroes. Along with classic zones like a volcanic area full of lava rivers and pools of magma, you’ll run through some more unique ones like a medieval-themed Bikini Bottom or the labyrinthine dungeon-like tunnels of the New York City sewers. That same great variety is found in the enemies as well, which clearly hail from the same worlds as our brave heroes, and adds to the fantastical nature of where they are.

The whole cast of characters, which includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Timmy Turner, Leonardo, and Katara, just to name a few, have all been designed in a cute chibi style that retains each one’s individual art style. It suits the wacky world our heroes find themselves sucked into without losing their signature looks. I was a little worried when I noticed that all the characters were 2D and moved similarly to cutout animation, but after playing for a few minutes, I quickly noticed every sprite had little details that gave them more life and substance. The visor of SpongeBob’s helmet waggles as he trots along, while Timmy Turner’s wizard robe flaps in the breeze; small but effective details. The same goes for the particle effects and attack animations, which are bursting with character and feel true to each hero, like how Katara’s longer range water whip and control over water and ice spells make her a perfect caster, and translate her abilities neatly into the game world.

Audio

The game’s soundtrack is not that varied, with a couple of tracks for the levels, a boss fight theme, and a theme for the Tangle. It would have been nice to have songs more closely tied to each of the regions, and it would have worked better with the art direction. The game’s sound effects, most of which are reserved for different combat sounds and yelps from player characters when taking damage, serve their purpose.

Where the audio of Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny excels and lifts the whole experience is with the voice acting. With nearly every voice actor returning to reprise their roles, it was a joy to see and hear the cast interact with each other! Quick references to prior meet-ups, whether in other games or in their shows, and 4^th wall breaks abound! While there are very few animated cutscenes, and most dialogue is just between sprites, it really is a testament to how impactful a good voice cast and performances can be in elevating a game.

Conclusion

Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is a genuinely solid and charming isometric dungeon-crawler that makes good use of all of the Nickelodeon IPs jammed into it, bolstered by great art direction and an excellent voice cast featuring many of the original voice actors. However, the game’s attempts to appeal to multiple audiences put it at a disadvantage.

Despite struggling to multi-class, the game offers 6-8 hours of good fun for families and Nicktoons fans of all ages, and kept surprising me with the dev team’s attention to detail and clear understanding and appreciation for the IPs. Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny may not be a natural 20, but it passes the fun save check.