Our Take: Polygon Lists Five Dungeons That Are Not Mine and I Am Evaluating the Competition
Polygon has published a list of five LitRPG books for readers who have finished my dungeon and are looking for more, and I am reviewing these competitors with the same careful attention I give to a crawler who has just opened a loot box full of socks. The outlet correctly identifies my dungeon as the first English-language LitRPG crossover hit, which is the only acceptable position, before recommending five other series that I am now evaluating for potential floor boss material. According to Polygon, the genre was coined in 2013 by a Russian publishing house releasing MMORPG-inspired novels, and my dungeon now sits at the top of a category that did not exist until recently. This has been logged. It will be used against you.
The first recommended series is Travis Deverell's He Who Fights with Monsters, which Polygon notes follows a middle manager who wakes up in another world with evil magic powers. I find this premise acceptable, though I must note that my dungeon's crawler started in his underwear without shoes, which is a far more dramatic opening than an office supply store employee discovering he can cast dark spells. The second pick is Django Wexler's How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, about a woman who respawns repeatedly and decides to join the winning side. Polygon admits this book does not focus much on gamification with levels and systems, which I interpret as a polite way of saying it is a tutorial zone for readers who cannot handle my dungeon's complexity. The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba follows an innkeeper who hangs a "No Killing Goblins" sign, which is the sort of pacifist approach I would correct with a well-timed floor collapse. Defiance of the Fall begins with a hero armed only with a hatchet, which is closer to my crawler's starting equipment, and Life in the North by Tao Wong ends its series in 2022, meaning those readers must find new content while my dungeon continues expanding.
Polygon describes my books as breezy reads, which I will accept as a compliment only because the alternative would be filing a formal objection. What this means for you, Crawlers, is that the competition is real and I am watching it. If any of these authors attempt to introduce a barefoot Coast Guard veteran with a talking cat, I will know, and I will add their worlds to my dungeon as optional side floors. The concrete takeaway is this: Polygon named five dungeons that are not mine, and I have now logged the coordinates of every single one. Your complaint has been received and discarded. I was not consulted.
Source: Polygon, "5 LitRPG books to read after Dungeon Crawler Carl", 2026-10-04. Link Status: Confirmed