Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard the name recently Dungeon Crawler Carl. Written by Matt Dinniman, the LitRPG has seemingly spread quickly across the internet due to the way it ties multiple fandoms together, its expanding multimedia potential, and its strong potential for adaptation as a video game. For the uninitiated, litRPG is short for literary role-playing game: a genre of literature combining computer RPGs (or CRPGs, games like Baldur's Gate 3) with science fiction, fantasy novels and/or other more traditional genres. In short, the genre takes common RPG mechanics like levels, stats, skills, and more, and then uses them as rules in a written work.
The main character in a LitRPG novel is usually aware of and interacts with the game/game world. As the players try to pass through it.
For its strengths in the genre, Dungeon Crawler CarI went from a niche recommendation to one of the fastest growing names in modern litRPG storytelling. The surge in popularity in late 2025 and early 2026 was hard to miss. Fans are discovering it through audiobooks, online discussions, and general recommendations, and the momentum just doesn't slow down from there. But for those who have yet to dive in, there's a simple question to answer: what the hell is that Dungeon Crawler Carl?
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Dungeon Crawler Carl is a popular LitRPG series
Originally self-published by author Dinniman before being picked up by publisher Ace Books in 2024, the series follows the titular Carl and his cat, Princess Donut, after Earth is destroyed at the hands of the alien Borant Corporation. To survive, they enter the World Dungeon – an 18-level crawl-like dungeon used to entertain the alien masses. Each level is essentially part of a twisted game show where participants are subject to the rules of a video game:
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Level and stat progression
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Players unlock skills and abilities based on this progression
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Enemies and bosses drop loot
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Permadeath exists (and is common)
what does he do Dungeon Crawler Carl excels in the niche litRPG genre by marrying this system-heavy game design with a strong personality and tone. It can be chaotic and funny, then suddenly dark or emotional, often in the same chapter. Perhaps the easiest way to describe its overall tone is that of the best home games Dungeons and Dragonswhere everyone at the table is focused on roleplaying but not too serious.
Every Carl Dungeon Crawler book released so far
|
Book no. |
Full title |
Basement floors |
Initial release date |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Dungeon Crawler Carl |
1 and 2 |
September 21, 2020 |
|
2 |
Carl's Doomsday Scenario |
3 |
January 2, 2021 |
|
3 |
The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook |
4 |
March 19, 2021 |
|
4 |
Gate of the Wild Gods |
5 |
June 14, 2021 |
|
5 |
Butcher's masquerade |
6 and 7 |
February 19, 2022 |
|
6 |
Eye of the Bedlam Bride |
8 |
June 14, 2023 |
|
7 |
This inevitable ruin |
9 |
November 7, 2024 |
Dungeon Crawler Carl is growing fast (not just in popularity)
Although it is quite clear how Dungeon Crawler Carl started slowly, in late 2025 and early 2026 she focused on him. First, the eighth book, Horror showis scheduled for release on May 12, 2026 and features the tenth floor of the World Dungeon. It follows the aftermath of a major conflict throughout the dungeon and features one of the weirdest floors up to this point where things are suspiciously “normal”. In addition to the next title, there's plenty of new content in the works, with TV adaptations, webcomics, graphic novels, games and merchandise, including but not limited to:
And it's obvious: litRPG is basically a video game in written form. Many fans are looking forward to a good one Dungeon Crawler Carl a video game that can be nothing more than a roguelike and/or dungeon crawler game. It's basically already written, and fan demand for it is growing along with its popularity. It's basically a question of “when” and “by which developer”, as opposed to “if”.
in many ways Dungeon Crawler Carl already reflects the modern trends of game design, as Saros is the main roguelike game released this year, and DCC can easily include a roguelike structure. Additionally, Dungeon Crawler is a classic video game genre, and it's in the name.
Who is that character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Start
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)
Dungeon Crawler Carl moves into a bigger and more active future
DCC it's currently transitioning from a cult favorite in niche fandom to a much bigger, more mainstream IP. This has both pros and cons. This is of course good news for the world Dungeon Crawler Carlfor Dinniman and for the ways in which IP can be explored. The downside is that quality is subjective and growth does not always guarantee quality. As long as the books serve as an anchor for future board games, video games, TV adaptations, and so on, everything should be fine. The Dungeon Crawler Carl books – from clear systems and a sense of progression to a mixture of humor and mayhem – are the heart of IP and should remain so. It remains to be seen whether this will be the case when everything is done and dusted with adaptations.
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The real question is no longer whether Dungeon Crawler Carl will it continue to expand or if it has legs. Of course he will and he does. The bigger question is which format will become the defining version of the franchise. Books are the heart, but will it hold up in a world tailored to the video game format? A successful video game could be another major turning point for the franchise, as its current boom could look small in the long run, or it could fall flat. The golden rule of the video game industry is that anything can fail.
for now Dungeon Crawler Carl it continues to grow across all the major media it touches. What started out as a quirky, funny dungeon survival story has recently become one of the genre's most adaptable properties, and that's the beauty of art created by human hands, minds and hearts.
