Dungeon Defenders 1 vs. Awakened

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

So, I've made a couple attempts to get into DD2 since purchasing it back in Early Access, and I think I'd love it if I did (APRG + tower defence), but find it a bit overwhelming. Usually, when I have that experience, I find it good to play earlier games in the series. Both DD1 and Awakened are on sale, and I see that the former has much better reviews. However, the latter has GeForce Now support, so I can play it on my work laptop. Which one is worth playing first?

[dizzydiana]

both games have advantages and disadvantages but the core gameplay is pretty much the same with both. DD1 has way more overall content, so for pure content DD1 wins. For a little more detail I will summarise the rest of the differences.

DD1

More maps. confusing progression path, gear makes heroes tailored to one out of 2 abilities or building, female versions of heroes faster movement speed than males. special events held by the community often with special items usually powerful, members of the community ended up taking over the development of the gave after the devs moved on so changed allot over time. The steam workshop has allot of nice maps, etc. There are differences between open (offline only available here) and ranked with DD1 eg cannot use mods in open mode, open progress cannot be brought to ranked but you can transfer ranked to open. there is now an inbuilt emulator to allow playing 4p split screen at once. otherwise its one hero at a time with a main forge to switch them out during building phases. stats can roll with negative or positive numbers, resistances are broken to elemental and generic maxing out at 90%. the summoner hero is pretty broken as he gets his own building unit (MU) allowance which can be used as well as the regular DU (defence Units), towers can be placed in one area (stacking) where u can place 8 or more towers in the same spot and much of the game has been balanced around both of these mechanics. Loot on the ground has to be picked up and in multiplayer matches any player can pick it up so can lead to issues. There is also a rework of the whole game done by mainly one community member with some of his friends helping available in the Betas Tab and separate from the regular game.

DDA

Hero deck similar to DD2 where u pick 6 heroes from the start and level and gear them together. Split screen has just been added but only 2 player atm. Progression more obvious but it is allot quicker to get to end game than in DD1. Hybrid heroes where gear stats are split to allow any hero to dps or build also stats have been simplified eg one ability stat to cover both abilities. survivals have endless modes where you can push until the build ultimately breaks, Even though many of the defences are the same as DD1 a few of them have had the DU cost rebalanced. All loot is instanced meaning only you can pick up the loot displayed on your screen. Like DD2 you can set up auto loot which can pick up items for you direct to your inventory. One more difficulty than DD1, no workshop available. Rifted mode unique to DDA has less enemeies but higher hp and gear (fusion) drops specifailly to deal with it on this mode. all fusion defences and weapons do double damage to rifted enemies. One more difficulty than DD1, no workshop available. Armor has stats only for defences and with fusion one complete set only allows for one defence to have fusion damage. There is a way to have one defence always fusion, but it does lead to having a hero for almost every defence you use. DDA doesnt have ranked so any progress between offline and online is the same as long as u have access to the cloud. They are also bringing in cross saves so if you intend to buy it on another platform you can take your existing pc save to those - Switch. PS4/5 and XBox 1 / XBox S/X

Which to play first is difficult as even with the similarities there are differences as I pointed out. It mostly depends on what you like most. I played them in order of release and I find it difficult to pick one clear winner I much prefer the QOL in DDA, but I do miss the huge amount of content in DD1. Honestly which one I'd buy first is which ever is on sale at the time, but if you intend on using a steam deck then you dont have much choice as DD1 doesnt work there only DDA.

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by dizzydiana:

-snip-

If Awakened has more polish but DD1 has more content, that actually pushes me towards Awakened. I was specifically looking for LESS content, due to being overwhelmed by the amount of content in DD2 as a result of years of feature creep. Yes, I know it sounds insane to want less out of games, but lately I've realized I'm more immersed in games with a "less is more" design philosophy that expect you to work within the tools your given.

[dizzydiana]

All good just glad I was able to help you decide I love both games even with their annoyances my ideal would be a mixing of them both lol. Enjoy DDA :)

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by dizzydiana:

All good just glad I was able to help you decide I love both games even with their annoyances my ideal would be a mixing of them both lol. Enjoy DDA :)

I notice that there's no complete bundle for Awakened, only DD1. Should I get just the base game, or is there any DLC you would consider "essential" (i.e. adds new heroes, towers, or maps rather than just skins).

[dizzydiana]

All of the DLC for DDA are PURE cosmetics, all heroes maps etc are in the base game already. So only if you like the skin otherwise no need to buy any of them. With DD1 only ever buy the complete edition.

[Dark Sun Gwyndolin]

Originally posted by dizzydiana:

All of the DLC for DDA are PURE cosmetics, all heroes maps etc are in the base game already. So only if you like the skin otherwise no need to buy any of them. With DD1 only ever buy the complete edition.

Understood. In that case, DDA and DD1 are around the same price in CAD, so I'll get DDA for the GeForce Now support.