![]() For example, creatures such as Spiders will avoid spinning their webs in a Lair if it’s occupied by Flies. Creatures have their own requirements for joining you, but they also have their likes/dislikes that you had to take into account. This is where things start to get interesting with Dungeon Keeper. These rooms also tie in to what creatures you’ll attract to your dungeon. You also have specific areas of your dungeon that serve a specific function, such as a Hatchery for food, a Lair for creatures to rest, or a Library for spell/room research. Rather, you oversee the management of the dungeon by directing your creatures what to do, and the game’s AI would do the rest. You can create units, but you don’t directly control them. It’s this mix of the god game aspect with an RTS that makes the game so fascinating, even today. The score by Russell Shaw only added to the creepiness with its mixture of ambient sounds and foreboding chants.ĭespite its initial impressions, Dungeon Keeper is less an RTS, and more akin to Bullfrog’s other “god games” like Populous and Theme Hospital. ![]() Coupled with patter of your minions feet, if you weren’t in charge of the dungeon yourself, you’d feel a great hesitancy in stepping into it if you were one of the heroes. Nevertheless, it was still gloriously evil. While it didn’t initially take advantage of those newfangled 3D accelerator cards on release, Dungeon Keeper eventually received an update that took advantage of 3D cards that enhanced the graphics a but, but was still a mix of a 3D dungeon and 2D sprites. Your dungeon is dimly lit, and you can almost feel the dankness of its corridors. ![]() Graphically, the game expertly delves into that evil experience with its dark and foreboding graphics. There’s still a delightful glee in picking up chickens from your Hatchery and dangling them above your chosen creatures before dropping them down as a reward for a job well done. You really did feel like a villain, but in a more lighthearted manner akin to a Saturday morning cartoon, but with touches of horror that permeated throughout. Starting the game greets you with voiceovers from Richard Ridings before each level that tread ever so close to being over the top in their description of the peaceful and good land that you were aiming to corrupt, but thankfully pulled back from being truly camp. The intro cinematic where a lone hero ventures into a dungeon in search of treasure, only to meet his fate at the hands of the Horned Reaper exhibits the right balance of humour and dark fantasy horror players were hoping for. The game’s tone plays it straight, but also exhibits that off-kilter humour that many Bullfrog games had at the time. Right away, Dungeon Keeper draws you in with its presentation. You’ve also got rival dungeons that don’t take too kindly to sharing the spoils. Along with building lairs for your monsters, you’ll need to provide them with food, places to train, as well as pay them. ![]() Of course, the task itself is not so simple. As you expand your domain, you attract monsters who will join your cause, and slaughter any heroes that venture into your lair in an attempt to stop you. If you’ve never heard of Dungeon Keeper, the story is straightforward as it is simple: You are a dungeon keeper, who must literally carve out their underground domain in order to take over the peaceful and blissfully unaware land above. And 25 years later, its influence can still be seen. While the series met its demise far too soon (and was briefly resurrected as a cheap mobile game filled with microtransactions), the first game gave those who wanted to be over-the-top villain bosses some needed release. Unlike most video games at that time in 1997, this RTS bucked the trend of playing as the good guys, and had you indulge in your darker side as the boss of your own villainous lair looking to conquer a righteous kingdom (with a touch of humour, no less). That’s what we were all told in ads for Bullfrog Productions’ Dungeon Keeper.
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