➤ Dungeons 2, review 🎮

Dungeon Keeper has been Dungeon Keeper since 1997 and, apart from official follow-up, no title manages to scratch its fame and, above all, to reach its quality. Perhaps only Evil Genius by Demis Hassabis managed to dent it, but otherwise the dungeons of evil are full of the corpses of those who tried in vain to attack the castle by crashing into the walls. The title of Peter Molyneux's Bullfrog lived on such delicate and perfect balances that any attempt to modify them only produced disasters, as evidenced by the recently released mobile version, which we define as shameful to be kind. Dungeons, released more than four years ago, was one of the most accredited "new Dungeon Keeper". Unfortunately, the desire to make it suitable for everyone forced the developers to make a series of big compromises that partially undermined the result.

In our opinion it was still a discreet and enjoyable title, but certainly not at the level of the source of inspiration. Dungeons 2 restarts from Dungeons, but tries to follow a different path in order to gain its autonomy within the genre. The basic concept is always the same: in the role of an evil lord you have to accumulate power by developing large underground labyrinths from which to draw sustenance. Dungeons are regularly attacked by heroes of good who want to conquer them to raid their treasures and kill us, so they must be defended by placing traps and creating an army of nefarious creatures that shove their newly polished armor down their throats. In addition to the management part, an RTS section has been included in Dungeons 2, which is actually closely linked to the other. Basic the minions of the dark lord of the underworld can, indeed, must go to the surface to carry out various missions. For example, they may have to destroy an outpost of good, or get the favors of a race to increase their ranks. There is no shortage of pitched battles against particularly powerful heroes and RPG-like sequences with objects to find and characters to talk to.

We dug deep into Dungeons 2 - let's see what we found in our review

The Alternative

A valid and recent alternative to Dungeons 2 is a title for now available only in Steam Early Access. It's called Dwelvers and offers more hardcore gameplay, with more troop control in the dungeon, but without the RTS side of the Kalypso title. That said, always consider the possibility of recovering the titles already mentioned in the article, namely the two Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius, still the best of the genre today.

Fight and dig

One of the biggest criticisms that have been leveled at Dungeons 2 is the relative simplicity of the two sections it is divided into. Realmforge is accused of oversimplifying the RTS part and automating the troops in the dungeon too much. We are not surprised by the criticisms, which actually originate from reality data, but we consider them misleading. A title must be observed in its entirety, not in its individual parts. Let's explain better: the single elements, once examined, must be included in an overall picture and see how they relate to the others. This is a golden rule that should always apply when reviewing a video game. So the question to ask is not so much whether the RTS and management parts of Dungeons 2 work individually, but whether they work once they are put together.

Given the dynamics of the game, it is likely that a general increase in complexity would have entailed many problems in refining the balance. Some compromise choices appear much more natural when you observe them in action, rather than using them for improper comparisons. The typical Dungeons 2 game requires you to pay attention to many elements at the same time. In the dungeon, you have to dig building areas, build rooms, recruit workers and troops, research new rooms, spells, traps and so on. In short, there are many tasks to be carried out using a dedicated interface, centered on the hand of the evil lord, which allows you to perform a whole series of actions in a natural and dynamic way (once you have the right confidence). The interface of the RTS section changes and becomes much more canonical, in order to simplify the movement of the deployed troops. Let's tell a typical situation: while digging a tunnel, our servants broke into a room full of giant spiders, at the same time the dungeon came under the attack of a large handful of heroes, which the traps placed at the entrance slowed down but not stopped. . On the surface, meanwhile, we have arrived in the vicinity of an enemy camp that we must attack. In short, the situation is complex and we must run for cover. Imagine having to do it with a system that requires direct intervention on all fronts. It would be chaos. Like this, the much reviled automatization of the troops in the dungeon, in such a situation, more frequent than it seems, appears as a godsend that fluidizes the game, preventing the action from becoming heavy. Same goes for the relative simplicity of the RTS part. It is true that fights do not require the use of who knows what tactic to be won, but one thinks that spending too much time working out one's moves on the surface would make life in the underground difficult, which in the meantime would lie forgotten.

Let's give ourselves a shake

On the other hand it is true that Dungeons 2 is an overall easy title. The continuous suggestions of the still amusing narrator, translated and dubbed really well in Spanish, combined with the simplifications mentioned above, make the life of the player simple, who often has to limit himself to doing what he is told. The situation improves a bit in the advanced missions, but the moments in which there is the risk of being defeated in a sensational way are rare.

Once the dungeon is properly launched and enough traps have been set, you never lose control of the situation and the dangers are always manageable. Nothing to do with the very difficult advanced levels of Dungeon Keeper, in short, but this is probably not even what you wanted for Dungeons 2. The single player campaign ends in 15-20 hours, but the multiplayer side and the possibility of indulge in fun standalone skirmishes that add playtime. Another flaw to report is the overall uselessness of the spells. There are more than twenty in total to research, but there are only a couple of really useful ones. Especially the offensive ones come in handy on very few occasions, while the spell of recalling the warrior units in a single point is vital to speed up the gathering of the army. From a technical point of view, the title of Realforge does a decent job and nothing more. Stylistically we are faced with the classic cartoonish fantasy with saturated colors and very marked caricatural features. In short, it is something already seen that follows a very precise trail of titles, starting from Dungeon Keeper, passing through World of Warcraft and various MOBAs. The exact same can be said for the soundtrack, a disengaged accompaniment that never stands out for creativity or originality, although it is not despicable.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Intel Core i7 -4770 processor
16 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
Windows 8.1 operating system

Minimum requirements

Operating system: Windows Vista (SP2) 32bit
Processore: AMD o Intel, 3GHz Dual-Core o 2.6 GHz Quad-Core
Scheda video: Intel HD4400, NVIDIA GeForce GT 440/GT 650M, AMD Radeon HD 7750/R5 255M
RAM: 3 GB
DirectX: 9.0c
Disk space: 5 GB

Recommended Requirements

Operating System: Windows 7 x64 (SP1)
Processore: AMD Quad-Core @ 3.8 GHz o Intel Quad-Core @ 3.2 GHz
Scheda video: AMD Radeon R7 265 o NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
RAM: 4 GB

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam Price 44,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (7)

7.4

Your vote

Dungeons 2 is not the heir that Dungeon Keeper fans have been waiting for, but it is still a good title that will not fail to thrill them thanks to an excellent campaign for solo players, in which the management side and the RTS side are well blended. For the rest we reiterate what is written in the article, namely that something more could be done to increase the level of challenge and that some aspects, such as spells, are quite useless.