Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is a weird one. Nickelodeon’s characters have been in plenty of games before, whether it was platformers, brawlers, or kart racers, but this time, they have been dropped into a dungeon crawler with loot at its center. On paper, it sounds like the kind of crossover that could be playful and surprising. In practice, it feels more like a stripped-down imitation of Diablo wearing Nickelodeon’s skin. The pieces are all there, but the execution never goes deeper than surface level.
The design follows the familiar action RPG formula. You pick a character, head into dungeons, fight enemies, gather loot, and slowly unlock new abilities as you gain levels. The rhythm is close enough to Diablo that it is easy to recognize where the inspiration came from. The problem is that the system never finds the spark that makes those games addictive. Loot drops happen often, but they rarely change how you play. Upgrades come in small, nearly invisible increments. You never get that one piece of gear that suddenly makes you feel unstoppable. Instead of excitement, the loop produces a steady, flat trickle of numbers going up.
One of the more interesting touches is the way the hub town develops. Each boss you beat brings new Nicktoons into the square, and the place slowly fills out with familiar faces. Early on, this has a certain charm. Seeing Carl wandering around or various Ninja Turtles hanging near a fountain does tug on the nostalgia a little. It feels like a Saturday morning lineup gathered in one spot. That feeling fades after a while, though, because the characters bring storefronts and pretty lacklustre side quests. They stand around, maybe offer a line or two, but they never show the personality that made them memorable in the first place. The result is a hub that gets busier but not richer.
The characters you can play suffer from a similar issue. The game clearly wants you to experiment with different heroes, but the progression system makes swapping feel like a chore. I started with SpongeBob in his knight class. After trying a few others, I always drifted back to him, because every minute I spent levelling someone else left SpongeBob falling behind. It never felt worth the grind to balance them all. Instead of celebrating variety, the game pushes you toward picking a favourite and ignoring the rest, which cuts the legs out from under its own cast.
“The combat itself in Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny does work in a simple way.”
The combat itself in Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny does work in a simple way. Attacks connect, enemies go down, and you gradually unlock new moves. Every couple of levels, SpongeBob would pick up an extra swing, and there is some satisfaction in filling out his kit. Yet these new tools do not meaningfully change how you approach fights. You are still pressing the same buttons, just with slightly more flash. The lack of build flexibility or interesting synergies means there is little sense of ownership over how your character develops. It feels like walking down a path the designers already paved, not carving out your own.
Visually, Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny misses the mark. The idea of seeing these iconic characters adapted into a dungeon crawler is appealing, but they look like washed-out versions of themselves. SpongeBob’s bright yellow is muted, the Turtles lose their edge, and many designs appear dulled by the filter used to blend them into the game’s world. Instead of celebrating the bold colours and shapes that defined Nickelodeon’s cartoons, the game irons them flat. The environments have a bit more range, with dungeons that at least attempt different themes, but nothing stands out as memorable. It is serviceable art, not inspiring art.
The story leans heavily into the tone of a Saturday morning cartoon. The writing is simple, the dialogue light, and the stakes never feel very high. That suits the family-friendly approach of Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny, and at times it can be endearing in its breeziness. For me, it ended up more like background noise. There was never a moment when the writing grabbed my attention, and I rarely cared what was happening beyond the next dungeon. It does not actively get in the way, but it never becomes part of the appeal either.
If there is one audience that might find more value here, it is younger players. The systems are straightforward enough that there is almost no chance of confusion. Failure never carries real weight, and the numbers rise at a steady, reliable pace. In that sense, Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny could serve as a kind of entry point to action RPGs for kids who already love SpongeBob or the Turtles. The problem is that younger players deserve better than something this shallow. Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny settle for the easiest path at every turn.
That leaves Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny in an odd place. It is not bad enough to frustrate, but it is not strong enough to excite. Playing it feels like drifting in neutral. For a crossover with this much potential, that kind of mediocrity is its own disappointment. Seeing SpongeBob wield a sword does carry a fleeting bit of novelty, but the game never builds anything meaningful around it. Nostalgia is powerful, but it cannot carry a project on its own. The lack of character, the lack of meaningful loot, and the lack of visual energy make sure of that.
What stings most is how close it feels to being something better. A sharper art direction could have brought the characters to life. Smarter progression could have made experimenting with different heroes fun instead of punishing. More care in the writing could have captured the humour and personality that made these shows endure.
Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny end up sitting in the middle. It’s fine; it has moments that charm, and younger players may find something to enjoy in it. For older fans who grew up with these shows, it is harder to recommend. The nostalgia wears thin quickly, and what is left is a loop that is too shallow to inspire dedication. It is not a disaster, but it is forgettable, and that may be a worse fate for a crossover like this.
