May 13, 2026
Dungeon drama rolls initiative
Xs of Y – roguelike that names itself every run. Written in 4kLoC
This dungeon game changes its name every time—and the comments got spicy fast
TLDR: Xs of Y is a quirky dungeon game that gives itself a new silly name every run and throws players into chaotic danger. Commenters were split between praising the idea, joking about its naming formula, and arguing over whether its art style borrowed too heavily from another beloved game.
A tiny browser game about crawling through deadly caves should have been a cute little indie flex. Instead, the comment section turned into its own mini boss fight. Xs of Y is a fantasy adventure game where every run gets a new absurd title, a new quest, and new magic symbols, meaning players are basically thrown into a fresh disaster every single time. Fans loved the chaos: one person called it a "fun project!" while others compared it to classic dungeon games they clearly still have emotional damage from.
But then came the drama. The hottest reaction wasn’t about the shape-shifting titles or the fact that you can set half the map on fire by accident—it was an accusation that the game’s visual style looked a little too familiar. One commenter bluntly asked where the credit was, saying this kind of copying gets noticed in a small community and that attribution matters. That instantly gave the thread a whiff of indie game courtroom energy.
Meanwhile, everyone else coped with jokes. One user perfectly roasted the game’s naming gimmick with "Noun of Noun," which honestly may be the most accurate review possible. Another player reported getting instantly killed and not even knowing why, which somehow only made the game sound more authentic. So yes, the game is clever, weird, and built with impressively little code—but the real entertainment is watching players bounce between nostalgia, praise, confusion, and a low-key art theft debate.
Key Points
- •The game generates a different title, quest, and rune mapping on every run.
- •Its magic system is based on Lisp concepts, with runes acting as hidden symbols and spells expressed as s-expressions.
- •The gameplay features an inverted power curve, with early survival-focused play and later high-power systemic interactions.
- •The dungeon includes enemies and hazards such as web-shooting spiders, splitting slimes, regenerating trolls, lava, fire spread, and chasms.
- •The project is described as written in about 6,900 lines of let-go, with no dependencies, 6 ms startup, and support for native and browser execution via WASM.