Jason
01-25-2011, 07:40 PM
Right, let's get this out of the way before we do anything else. Yes, this does look an awful lot like Dungeon Keeper.
However, this is most certainly not a bad thing. The Dungeon Keeper games were fantastic, and if EA aren't going to do anything with the license, then I'm pleased that Kalypso Media are going to revive the 'evil' side of strategy gaming.
For those of you who aren't familiar with one of the now-sadly defunct Bullfrog's (many) masterpieces, Dungeon Keeper and its sequel were 3D strategy games set in, strangely enough, a dungeon. The player is the eponymous 'Keeper', and is tasked with recruiting and keeping happy the various nefarious minions that find their way into to their realm in preparation for the inevitable visit of do-gooding heroes.
Amongst other things, the player can build prisons with which to imprison captive heroes, and torture chambers to... well, you can guess.
Anyway, the original games were brilliant strategy games, forcing the player to not only battle the forces of good and other rival keepers, but also the constant bickering and infighting of your various creatures, not to mention the massively dangerous but also completely psychotic Horned Reaper, who was just as likely to go to town on your creatures as the enemy's.
To be honest, if Dungeons even turned out to be little more than a 2011 remake of Dungeon Keeper, I'd probably be happy. The games are out-and-out classics.
Hopefully, the game will turn out to be more than that. To quote the game website:
Dungeons follows the mis-adventures of the foremost of all Dungeon Lords, who spends his time luring heroes into his labyrinthine creations with the promise of treasure and a good fight - only to be trapped by his ingenious devices. Once they are in his grasp, our Dungeon Lord must look after and cherish his new prisoners until they are more comfortable with their surroundings because come the "harvest", happy heroes have more precious soul energy for you to gleefully extract via twisted torture chambers!
In Dungeons, our protagonist falls victim to a devious plot hatched by his vile, nasty and thoroughly vicious ex-girlfriend and finds himself at the bottom of the underworld hierarchy and the top of the dungeon pile which in this world is about as bad as it can get. Our Lord must have his revenge, and make his way back down the dungeon levels to his rightful place - but first he must deal with his new bosses, the three despicable Dungeon Lords who stand in his way.
At his disposal are his dim-witted goblin minions who dig tunnels and build rooms to lay out his lair and trap ever stronger and braver heroes who dare to enter, not forgetting to plot his revenge against his ex-girlfriend and his new bosses who think it's great fun to bombard him with useless tasks. It goes without saying that a malicious and sneaky creature such as our Dungeon Lord has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
Revenge will be sweet indeed.
Craft your own, evil Dungeon using nearly 300 objects ranging from rusty chandeliers to bloody torture racks
Lure careless heroes into your traps and let them rot in prison cells
Defeat enemy "Boss Monsters" and become the true Dungeon Lord
Be EVIL! Sabotage your enemies' Dungeons and swarm them with your own monsters
Use 30 Types of monsters to battle a variety of increasingly challenging hero classes
Battle through 17 campaign missions or choose sandbox mode for endless dungeoneering
The guys behind the game are Kalypso Media, best known for the excellent Tropico 3: Gold, as well as the cult Patrician games. Their pedigree outside Strategy games isn't as strong, but this is a strategy game, so it's a moot point, I guess.
Anyway, the game arrives on PC on February 4th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_bpuVcBHk
However, this is most certainly not a bad thing. The Dungeon Keeper games were fantastic, and if EA aren't going to do anything with the license, then I'm pleased that Kalypso Media are going to revive the 'evil' side of strategy gaming.
For those of you who aren't familiar with one of the now-sadly defunct Bullfrog's (many) masterpieces, Dungeon Keeper and its sequel were 3D strategy games set in, strangely enough, a dungeon. The player is the eponymous 'Keeper', and is tasked with recruiting and keeping happy the various nefarious minions that find their way into to their realm in preparation for the inevitable visit of do-gooding heroes.
Amongst other things, the player can build prisons with which to imprison captive heroes, and torture chambers to... well, you can guess.
Anyway, the original games were brilliant strategy games, forcing the player to not only battle the forces of good and other rival keepers, but also the constant bickering and infighting of your various creatures, not to mention the massively dangerous but also completely psychotic Horned Reaper, who was just as likely to go to town on your creatures as the enemy's.
To be honest, if Dungeons even turned out to be little more than a 2011 remake of Dungeon Keeper, I'd probably be happy. The games are out-and-out classics.
Hopefully, the game will turn out to be more than that. To quote the game website:
Dungeons follows the mis-adventures of the foremost of all Dungeon Lords, who spends his time luring heroes into his labyrinthine creations with the promise of treasure and a good fight - only to be trapped by his ingenious devices. Once they are in his grasp, our Dungeon Lord must look after and cherish his new prisoners until they are more comfortable with their surroundings because come the "harvest", happy heroes have more precious soul energy for you to gleefully extract via twisted torture chambers!
In Dungeons, our protagonist falls victim to a devious plot hatched by his vile, nasty and thoroughly vicious ex-girlfriend and finds himself at the bottom of the underworld hierarchy and the top of the dungeon pile which in this world is about as bad as it can get. Our Lord must have his revenge, and make his way back down the dungeon levels to his rightful place - but first he must deal with his new bosses, the three despicable Dungeon Lords who stand in his way.
At his disposal are his dim-witted goblin minions who dig tunnels and build rooms to lay out his lair and trap ever stronger and braver heroes who dare to enter, not forgetting to plot his revenge against his ex-girlfriend and his new bosses who think it's great fun to bombard him with useless tasks. It goes without saying that a malicious and sneaky creature such as our Dungeon Lord has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
Revenge will be sweet indeed.
Craft your own, evil Dungeon using nearly 300 objects ranging from rusty chandeliers to bloody torture racks
Lure careless heroes into your traps and let them rot in prison cells
Defeat enemy "Boss Monsters" and become the true Dungeon Lord
Be EVIL! Sabotage your enemies' Dungeons and swarm them with your own monsters
Use 30 Types of monsters to battle a variety of increasingly challenging hero classes
Battle through 17 campaign missions or choose sandbox mode for endless dungeoneering
The guys behind the game are Kalypso Media, best known for the excellent Tropico 3: Gold, as well as the cult Patrician games. Their pedigree outside Strategy games isn't as strong, but this is a strategy game, so it's a moot point, I guess.
Anyway, the game arrives on PC on February 4th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_bpuVcBHk