Pro - Its Dungeon Keeper all over again!

Con - Its Dungeon Keeper all over again...


Now, don't get me wrong, I love the original Dungeon Keepers. Love the humour, the creatures and minions. And when I learned about this game, I was thrilled! A new dungeon keeper?! Awesome! And when I first started playing, I was happy as the nostalgia washed over me...

The thing is, this isn't 'Dungeon Keeper 3.0'. Its not even 'Dungeon Keeper 2.5'. Its 'What if we remade Dungeon Keeper 2 with new graphics and new names/creatures so we don't get sued'.
This, in itself, IS NOT A BAD THING. But if you played DK2 to death, as i did, then you will notice that it tries to be more of the same, and it doesn't always succeed.


I do heartily recommend this game, as it was fun whilst it kept my attention (almost 9 hours). But it did only feel like I was only adding to the hundreds of hours I'd already put into DK1 + 2 - and as such, It was just more of the same for me. At the end of the day, it replicates the originals so well/much, that I may as well be playing the originals - something I haven't had the urge to do in 15 years. Yes, there are new mechanics added, but its like saying that adding a 'go faster stripe' to a car changes the car; It doesn't.


Conclusion
- If you've never played the originals, and think you might enjoy this, give it a go.
- If you tried playing the originals, enjoyed it but the outdated graphics ruined it for ya, give this a go.
- If you played the originals when they came out, loved them, and want more, give this a go.
- If, however, you played the originals and want something MORE than an almost 20 year old game with a fresh lick of paint (however awesome it was) - might wanna give this a miss.

TL;DR - One of your minions wants to get off Mr. Bones Wild Ride.

10/10 would not get on.


I could not recommend this game in its' previous release state. However, now I actually can. After its' 1.1 patch, the majority of what this game was missing in its release verison has finally been added.

War for the Overworld, as a game, is...dungeon keeper 3. There really isn't another way to describe it. If Peter Molyneaux and the Bullfrog team were still around today, I feel the game we would have gotten would not be too far off from this. Are there flaws in this game? Obviously. Every game has flaws. But as far as managing to capture the feel of dungeon keeper and make an all-round fun game, this kickstarter title succeeds where higher-budget games such as the Dungeons series failed. With EA making no attempt to actually capitalize on a once great series, and in fact ruining it for a new generation by slamming a free to play business model that shames the series GREATLY (even paying off reviewers EA style couldn't keep dungeon keeper mobile's critic rating up high enough to appear worthwhile), it's nice to see we still have fans of the old game out there who want to see it made new.

Am I rambling a lot on what Dungeon Keeper was? Yep. For those of you unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, this is a game where you manage a...well, dungeon, from the perspective of an evil overlord. Throughout the campaign, rather than being the hero who explores and brings death to dungeons, you build the dungeon and fight back against the good. You can accomplish this through the use of powerful minions as well as various traps and such that your enemy won't (hopefully) see coming, and of course a little bit of god power for good measure (*zap*). You have minimal control over your minions, so this isn't exactly an RTS and it sure as all hell is NOT an actions per minute game - in fact, trying to go all MLG clicky-clicky on this game would likely just hinder you more than anything else. Your control consists of picking minions or imps up and throwing them where you want them to be and...well, hoping they do what you want. You can lay down rally flags to get everyone's attention to a specific spot, but if you try to keep them out for too long you'll end up with a bunch of unhappy minions telling the flag to piss off and going to bed. You also have to keep them regularly paid with gold, which handily is also the resource you use for literally everything else. Fail in this aspect, and minions will just pack up shop and leave to go elsewhere.

Map design is what made Dungeon Keeper and, as a result, War for the Overworld, extremely unique. There is not a lot of map when you actually get in - it's just a bunch of dirt, some impenetrable rocks, water, lava, maybe a chasm, and gold in the dirt. Oh, and your central dungeon core. Don't lose that...seriously. You have to dig out your own map, tile by tile, and lay down rooms in areas to correspond with what you want and your minions' needs - a lair to sleep, a slaughterpen to eat, a tavern to provide money for you and make people happy, a barracks to train, etc...and of course the arena where you can have minions fight to the death for no reason outside of entertainment. It appears to entertain the other minions to watch their brethren get slaughtered too...and of course, the other benefit to building your own map is deciding when and where to dig to place down traps and such, and if you happen to sight enemy traps...you can dig around them.

By now you may think this is a twisted, evil game where everything is gruesome and terrible. And you'd be right and wrong. While you do play as evil, this is a very lighthearted game as the original dungeon keeper games were. Featuring awesome voice narration from the original DK's narrator, you'll find yourself often having a lot of fun just from hearing some of the things minions have to say, or the random (but amusing) pop culture references made by the narrator.

And when you're done with the campaign, you'll find it is still very fun to play in skirmish or multiplayer modes. In these modes, you and up to 3 other AI or players will duke it out, each building their own dungeons and attacking one another for no reason other than ♥♥♥♥ you, my ground. Unlike the original dungeon keeper, War for the Overworld actually does a decent job of working properly in skirmish and multiplayer. While it was possible in Dungeon Keeper 2 to do the same, the game just didn't quite feel the same as it was very campaign-oriented. WFTO implements some new systems that help the game to work properly in either situation. There is also sandbox mode where you just build in a big, empty map free of gold or mana issues, and survival mode which is...honestly still being worked on and I have very little experience in it, but it's self explanatory.

Overall, this game is easily worth your $30. Hell, go the extra $10 and get the $40 version just for the soundtrack if nothing else - the soundtrack is pure evil and outstanding and it fits PERFECTLY with a game of this theme. This kickstarted game more than deserves your money (after a rocky launch).

GET DIS GAME

So usually Steam reviews give a pretty accurate picture, but this is a time where where every single one of the negative reviews is... well, wrong.

The ones calling it boring must have never played a DK game, and were clearly expecting something very different, like a Warcraft clone or a Sim-game. It's not even close to boring - it's ridiculously fun.

The ones complaining about the single-player campaign, again, clearly never played DK2. It's constructed in a very similar way. All of the rooms, spells and nuances are unlocked to you gradually in a way that doesn't overwhelm and each stage is carefully crafted to showcase the new features whilst also getting you to utilise the total of all the things that came before. It's classic DK campaigning and it's done really well here.

The ones saying "it's a downgrade from DK2" are just plain smoking crack. This is pure distilled Dungeon Keeper, and the total number of spells, construct rituals, sanctum rituals and potions far exceeds what DK2 offered. There's some very minor streamlining in a few specific areas - places where it makes sense, and nothing you will miss. The guard-post has been changed from a completely and utterly useless room into an essential part of every dungeon. In DK2 the guard-post was actually worse at it's job than a 3x3 training room, as both could do the same thing (keep minions battle-ready at a specific location) but the training room would allow them to earn some extra EXP in between invasions whilst the guard-post just had them walk in circles. Here the guard-post is a room that buffs the traps and contructs in an area around it, making it a regular part of your defences. The only "streamlining" of the game I can possibly see ever disappointing anyone is the reduced number of traps. Some of the more esoteric and "memey" traps from DK are gone, reduced to the most synergistic and functional. You have the blade-trap, the cannon, and a new trap that severely debuffs enemies in a line (gargoyle statue). These 3 traps are perfectly designed to work in synergy with each other when placed intelligently, and you will frequently be using all 3 of them (alongside the new guard-post room). If you were the type of person who liked to build Indiana-Jones-style labyrinthine gauntlets in My Pet Dungeon, you may be sad to see things like the boulder-trap missing from the line-up, but what is here is ALWAYS useful. There are no useless rooms or minions here. New additions like the Necromancer, Alchemy Lab and the Beast Den more than make up for the tiny amount of memey fluff that was cut.

In conclusion, I ummed-and-erred about getting this game over several days, and once I made the plunge my doubts IMMEDIATELY dissipated, and I'm kind of mad at myself for waiting. If you have ANY fond memories of playing DK or DK2 you MUST play this game, I honestly can't see how you could ever be disappointed going in with expectation of a DK game. The hours played at time of review (15), are all from the day I bought the game, and I'm writing this right before jumping back into it.

When the game first came to steam back in may 2013, there were only 3 different rooms to build, the ui buttons didn't work, mouse-wheel scrolling was broken, the ai was terrible, and there were no sound effects.

As of early December, there are 8 rooms, the ui is fixed, scrolling feels normal, the ai is better, and the sound effects are great. -Not to mention they went back and remodeled a character because of negitive fan feedback. It's good to see this game taking shape.

As for the gameplay? Well, Peter Molyneux declared it the spiritual successor to the Dungeon Keeper franchise, so there's that. It's a basic sandbox dungeon stratagy game that requires you to build an underground lair, collect resources, train minions, and defeat your enemy. Along the way you can build traps and defenses for your dungeon, cast various spells, and spend xp on 3 different skill trees.

EA killed Bullfrog 12 years ago, so go spend $20 and pick up a copy you cheap bastards.

This is the dungeon keeper clone that we've been waiting for!
War for the Overworld is an attempt at creating a modern Dungeon Keeper. For those who are not familiar with Dungeon Keeper, it was a game released in 1997, where you played an evil dungeon overlord. You would build a dungeon with different rooms that attracted different creature types, and you would use those to fight the heroes of the land and rival dungeons. Controls were indirect, you could not give orders to individual creatures, but you could pick them up and move them about, and you could use other means to make your creatures go where you wanted them to go, but unlike a regular RTS, you could not give direct orders. You could also not recruit specific creatures, but instead creatures would be drawn to your dungeon based on what was in it. War for the Overworld does not change any of this. At its core, it's basically Dungeon Keeper with a fresh coat of paint.
Several attempts have been made in the past to make a "modern Dungeon Keeper", but most of them have, quite frankly, not been very good. As this game is so similar to Dungeon Keeper, there will be a lot of comparisons between the two.

Graphics & Sound
The graphics in War for the Overworld is actually quite good for an indie game. The models are detailed enough, and the textures are also relatively detailed. It won't rival the latest AAA games, but as long as you don't expect that, it won't disappoint. The game also has a very cohesive art style, nothing looks out of place, despite the different creatures looking radically different from each other. One thing I would complain about is the game being a bit too dark. It's not a major issue, and a dungeon should be dark, but some more light would have made the game look more pleasing.
The sound felt a bit weak. Nothing had much impact, and you don't get enough feedback from the sound to really feel like you're doing things. It's nothing game breaking, but it is one of the areas in which the game could stand to be improved.

Story
The story in this game is nothing to write home about. You're awoken and told about the emperor of the land, and that you should go and kill him. There's a bit more to it, but that's basically all you need to know. The story is basically just an excuse for "go kill good guys".
Where Dungeon Keeper 1 played up the contrast between the good guys and the bad guys (that is, you and your creatures) for comedic effect, War for the Overworld plays it more straight, similar to how Dungeon Keeper 2 did it. Which one is better is a matter of taste, but I preferred Dungeon Keeper 1. The game is not devoid of humor, but it's not as much of it as in DK1.

Gameplay
As mentioned above, War for the Overworld plays very similar to Dungeon Keeper. Build your dungeon, attract the creatures you want, and then attack. Everything feels a bit faster in War for the Overworld than it did in Dungeon Keeper. Your creatures level up faster in the training room, claiming land feels faster and so on. I would say that this is an improvement. Unlike Dungeon Keeper, where you had to research the "Call to Arms" spell in order to attract your creatures to a certain point on the map, you have access to a similar thing right from the get-go in War for the Overworld.
Going into enemy territory is a bit more dangerous than you might expect. You can't pick up creatures that are not on your territory, so if one is in danger, you'll have to use magic to save it, and hope that it is able to make it out of there on its own. And the game encourages you to use your magic liberally. You have a separate mana pool, and it is refilled quite fast, so using spells in combat is almost a must.
Creatures are also handled differently than in Dungeon Keeper. Now you have two broad categories that can basically be seen as intelligent creatures and animals. Intelligent creatures will be this games counterparts to goblins, warlocks, trolls and so on, while animals will be things like giant spiders and other more animal-like beings. Intelligent creatures requires regular pay, can work in different rooms, and can use your training room. Animals will wander about, and the only rooms they can use is the portal that attracts them (you need to build this one, while the portal that attracts intelligent creatures is already on the map), an arena (this is how you level them up outside of combat, but they are damaged in the process) and the room they get their food from.
If the game has one flaw, it is its difficulty, or lack thereof. While Dungeon Keeper was not a hard game, the only way you would realistically lose in that game was if you ran out of gold, War for the Overworld is even easier, giving you plenty of gold to spend, and far less to spend it on (training creatures, for an example, is free). Gold is used to build new rooms, and when it's payday (at which point all your intelligent creatures will go to the nearest treasury and take some money). Not once during the campaign did it feel like I was running short on cash.

Final thoughts
War for the Overworld is a really good game. It sticks really close to the Dungeon Keeper formula, but does a few things to speed up the gameplay. Is it better than Dungeon Keeper? Well, that's a matter of taste. I would have an easier time recommending this game, but due to nostalgia, I still think I like Dungeon Keeper a bit more. But anyone who wants to play a game like Dungeon Keeper, or who want an interesting take on the RTS genre should check it out. Just beware that the game still has some bugs (nothing game breaking, but they were common enough to be annoying).

8/10

The Nostalgia is strong here. For anyone who played and enjoyed the Dungeon Keeper franchise there is a lot here to enjoy.
Building your dungeon is still fun and engaging, working out what rooms attract what creatures is also fun.

The Graphics are sharp and clear, if a little dark in places, the sound is excellent and the controls are easy to learn, wether you've played this type of game before or not.

However there are a few downers:
The Levels themselves, while fine, often do not allow you to build the dungeon of your dreams due to the restraints of the terrain around you (impenitrable rock) or that you can mine a few squares before you suddenly go into a new area which is really strangely shaped, so, if like me you enjoy creating sprawling dungeons you're out of luck.

Also Combat feels lackluster, there is something missing, and often it comes down to sheer numbersd and creature levels to succeed.

Finally, there are the creatures themselves. While some of them are quite interesting and engaging (the Chunder for example) a lot of them seem to be poor imitations of their Dungeon Keeper parents and don't, at least for me, feel as engaging or fun as they should do.

Overall it is an excellent attempt at a Dungeon Keeper type of game, let down only marginally by clunky combat and level design.

Patch 1.1 and later saved this game.

If you shelved it like me before the recent updates, you should give it another try. Pls.

Performance is now great.
The game feels more responsive and polished.
The AI feels well balanced on a medium setting.
Love the new 4 player maps, and cannot wait to see more (hopefully we get even larger ones).
Want to see more dungeon skins and ability to change skin in options menu, not the pre game lobby.
The UI and menus are now great.

Before the update(s):
I found myself unable to enjoy any maps, including story mode.
I was put off by the overall clunkyness.
The menus were terrible and the UI felt horrid.
There was just an unpolished late alpha/beta feel.
All of that was highly disappointing when spending a small premium (£29.99) for the Underlord Edition (£22.99 is the base price).
I had indefinitely shelved the game.

THANK YOU to the devs for their massive effort in not ditching this game in its horrendous 1.0 state, and working extremely hard on polish and bugs, it's now excellent.
Whilst previously telling friends to stay well away, I now happily recommend it.

I can now sit back with a coffee and enjoy zapping and splatting enemy minions who try to reclaim my dungeon.

Devs have released several more patches since 1.1.

This is my first Steam review, so i'll try to make it a good one; it might be a bit longwinded (TL;DR is at the bottom), but i'd like to make it as thorough as possible becouse the game and it's devs deserve as much.
First off, my PC specs so you'll know what i play it on:

• Windows 7 64 bit
• Intel Core i5 4570 @3.20 GHz
• AMD Radeon R7 200 Series, 2GB RAM
• 8GB RAM

I've played Dungeon Keeper 1 + The deeper dungeons & Dungeon Keeper 2 on multiple occasions & systems over the years.
Being a fan of both originals, i was quite sad when EA first purchased the franchise and then made their intentions clear by releasing that mobile DK game... My hopes for the franchises' rebirth were only raised when i found out about a team of independant DK enthusiasts trying to make a true spiritual successor to the original games.
I've followed the games' progress through it's kickstarter campaign and it's first appearance on Steam, but i didn't put any money in to it until it's official release.

As i'm sure some will already know, the initial release of WftO was a rocky one; as the developers explained[wftogame.com], the game had to be either rushed out with bugs so they got enough funds to polish it later or scrapped altogether, which i'm sure no DK enthusiast would like to see.
I decided to purchase the Underlord edition anyway despite of the existing bugs, mostly becouse i had good faith in the devs; i guessed they wouldn't abandon their game after all the trouble they went through to make it in the first place; as it turned out in the following months, my faith was deserved.

I've now replayed the basic campaign twice and the Heart of Gold campaign once; by my second replay at patch 1.2 most of the bugs present at launch were fixed; by then also the performance had been improved notably.
By purchasing the Underlord edition at the games' release, i got the expansion for free (which is awesome btw); now having the full WftO expirience, here's my personal list of pro's & possible con's (if they bother you, that is).

PRO'S

• Imho the closest thing to a spiritual successor to the original Dungeon Keeper series you can find on the gaming market today, including the look & sound of the game (i'll get to the »feel« a bit later)
  
  
• the devs went out of their way to secure Richard Ridings (the original DK narrator) for the narrration of WftO and it definitely payed off – with audio being a large part of what made the DK games so good, just hearing his ramblings again gave me a lovely throwback to the good old days
  
  
• the developers started out as a small team of DK enthusiasts with a dream; they've shown their dedication and love for the game throughout it's inception as well as through the rough parts; they didn't abandon it while it was at it's lowest point but worked hard to bring it to it's current good state
  
  
• the artstyle & graphics are ofcourse more colorful and advanced than in DK, but that doesn't detriment to the games' general atmosphere; if you'll zoom in or even take a look in first person – another welcome throwback from DK – you'll find many nice details around your dungeon.
  
  
• the gameplay is largely – although not exactly – similar to DK; you dig out your dungeon, train your minions and do battle in basicly the same manner as you did in DK 1 & 2; ofcourse the devs also had to try and bring some improvements and »fresh wind« in to the genre, where the games' Sin system and some new map & campaign mechanics come in to play (more on that a bit later)
  
  
• useful gameplay & UI improvements, some of which had to be implemented becouse of certain new map & campaign mechanics; stuff like the gamespeed slider, the Impasse command and the »Peace army« option
  
  
• integrated map editor and workshop support – you can make your own dungeon creations, share them and battle over them with other players

POSSIBLE CON'S

• Many of the initial complaints were in regard to some of the original campaigns' parts being too »rushy« for a DK successor; indeed there are some missions during which you have to do certain stuff quickly, otherwise the enemy will win. But in the devs' defence, in the meantime most of those maps have been rebalanced and they also included the previously mentioned gamespeed slider, with which you can always slow your game down in case stuff should happen too quickly. Also, due to popular demand, the 4 new missions in the HoG campaign are much more akin to the original DK »explore & expand« playstyle.
  
  
• Becouse of copyrights, WftO isn't an exact DK clone/successor; for instance, you won't find Horny, Bile Demons or the Casino in the game anymore, although all of those have their approximate counterparts in WftO. Some of them understandably behave a bit differently here, which may turn off some DK purists, but if you're willing to overlook certain details or are new to the genre, you should have no problem with the differences.
  
  
• In combination with both points above, the overall gameplay feeling is mostly similar to DK but also distinctly different in certain areas and missions, which may again turn off some DK purists; if you have no problem with having some »fresh wind« in the genre or you haven't played the original Dungeon Keeper, you should be in the green.
  
  
• Although Ridings is the undisputed main star in the voice acting area, there are certain parts of the game, where the voice-acting is a bit underwhelming; the other voice-actors probably did their best to do a proper job, but there's still a chance you'll get the occasional cringe if you're succeptible to such things.
  
  
• There are still some bugs, crashes and performance issues present in the game. As usually, some people expirience one thing and others a different thing based on their PC; playing the HoG campaign (1.4) on the PC i specified in the beginning, i've encountered one notable bug and two crashes, but the vanilla campaign functioned flawlessly for me even back in version 1.2. Based on my expirience from the launch up to now, i'd say that the devs are devoted enough to guarantee most of the current HoG bugs gone in the near future, but you might encounter a problem even so (send a report[brightrockgames.userecho.com], they definitely read them)

That's about it; if you've made it so far, thanks for reading and i hope i could help you with my review.

TL;DR - if you're a fan of the Dungeon Keeper series or you're new to the dungeon sim genre, i can recommend playing War for the Overworld. Although it is somewhat different to the DK series in certain parts, the overal playstyle, sound and look all borrow heavily on it, making it probably the closest thing to a DK3 on the current gaming market. The overall performance was stable on my rig; there are some issues and bugs present, but based on my past expirience the devs work dilligently on fixing them.

War for the Overworld was a bug-ridden mess when it was first released, but I give enormous credit to the young, inexperienced development team that they stuck with it and did the hard work to fix their game even though the world had already written it off.

Today War for the Overworld is incomparable to what it was immediately after release. As the devs have cleared the bugs out of the way and continued to polish the game underneath, a real gem has emerged with it’s own style.

After giving up on War for the Overworld immediately after release, I went back a few months ago and had a blast, completeing the whole campaign. So far I’ve been loving the additions in this new Hearts of Gold expansion too.

I encourage anyone who was turned off by the initial mess to give War for the Overworld another shot. It’s now a wonderful game in and of itself, but more than that the devs should be congratulated and rewarded for never giving up on their vision.

>be me
>wakes up at 2 am
>can't sleep anymore
>decides to play war for the overworld for a goof
>after the main menu shows, game narrator goes "it's past your bedtime, underlord"

10/10