It's not often us Strategy Informer dungeon dwellers talk about free-to-play mobile games. But the controversial release of EA's Dungeon Keeper Mobile has tarnished the reputation of the classic RTS series and has put sad faces on PC gamers worldwide. So turn that frown upside-down as we pay tribute to this iconic series and celebrate that past, present and future of Dungeon Keeper.
Dungeon Keeper wasn't always a glorified Facebook game. The series started life in 1997 when Dungeon Keeper was released for MS-DOS and the beloved Windows 95. The game's selling point was the ability to play as a malevolent “Dungeon Keeper” hell bent on amassing treasure, slaying heroes and conquering land. Being the “bad guy” was indeed a novelty in videogames at the time, but Dungeon Keeper's greatest appeal came from its real time blend of management, RTS combat and economic gameplay topped off with extremely satisfying dungeon building.
Even with so many simultaneously interacting layers to manipulate, Dungeon Keeper had a chaotic and peculiarly sadistic charm – never allowing players complete control. Minions, for the most part, did what they want – attacking only if they really felt like it, squabbling amongst themselves and creating spells and traps at their own pace. The game's seemingly nonchalant attitude towards players was the hallmark of developer Bullfrog's previous games such as Magic Carpet, Theme Park and Theme Hospital. In fact, Dungeon Keeper was Bullfrog's last release before company founder Peter Molyneux left to form Lionhead Studios.
Dungeon Keeper 2 came two years later and brought with it significant gameplay and visual updates. The user interface received an overhaul, new spells, creatures, traps and rooms were introduced, and numerous tweaks had been made to content brought over from the first Dungeon Keeper.
Additionally, the quality of the writing in Dungeon Keeper 2 was improved and witty jokes – spoken by the unforgettable voice of Richard Ridings – popped up during gameplay. All sprites and other 2D graphics were replaced with visually pleasing 3D models and other 3D effects – making this sequel the ultimate Dungeon Keeper experience in the eyes of most fans. Even so, players wanted more and were convinced they were going to get it.
It was no secret that Bullfrog were planning Dungeon Keeper 3 before Dungeon Keeper 2 was even released. In fact, Bullfrog even included a short teaser trailer for Dungeon Keeper 3 within Dungeon Keeper 2's main menu. However, the game's publisher, Electronic Arts, anticipated a lull in game sales proceeding the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 – a forecast which ultimately spelt doom for the Dungeon Keeper 3 project.
“At the same time – unbeknownst to us – they [EA] were negotiating with J.K. Rowling for the rights to Harry Potter, and with New Line Cinema for the rights to The Lord of the Rings,” wrote Dungeon Keeper 3 designer Ernest W. Adams for PCGTW in 2006, “Given the choice between an experimental DK3 and the absolute license-to-print-money that were Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, it wasn’t a difficult decision. Dungeon Keeper 3 was cancelled...”
And then there was nothing.
Beyond Dungeon Keeper: The Good, The Bad and the MMO
Years flew by and as they did, the two Dungeon Keeper games sunk further and further into videogame obscurity. The higher monitor resolutions and ubiquitous 3D graphics of the early 2000s left the MD-DOS based Dungeon Keeper looking antiqued. Bullfrog effectively shut down not long after the cancellation of Dungeon Keeper 3, meaning a lack of Dungeon Keeper 2 support, which in turn made the game notoriously difficult to run on Windows XP and beyond – an issue that still hasn't been fully resolved to this day.
Some fans looked to Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios for their fix of sadistic dungeon crafting. Lionhead had in fact incorporated a lot of Dungeon Keeper's more chaotic and uncontrollable elements into their 2001 release, Black & White. However, the prospect of controlling a giant, benevolent zebra across a sunny, green landscape was a far cry from the dark, dank underground corridors Dungeon Keeper fans were accustomed to.
A decade later and German developer Realmforge Studios would attempt to follow in Bullfrog's footsteps with their own dungeon management game; the appropriately titled Dungeons.
Dungeons put players in control of a single character who, through a system of convoluted menus, could dig out corridors, build rooms, summon monsters and set traps. Another alteration to the Dungeon Keeper formula was the emphasis of luring heroes into dungeons, rather than keeping them out. The further into the dungeon heroes roamed, and the more treasure they collected, the greater the amount of spiritual energy they would release upon death – energy that was required to progress through Dungeons' levels. Unfortunately, despite receiving an expansion titled The Dark Lord, Dungeons was mediocre at best and as such, was a critical and financial failure.
While this was all going on, EA were attempting to break into the East-Asian PC gaming market by handing the Dungeon Keeper brand over to Chinese MMO developer NetDragon Websoft, whose other Chinese exclusive titles include Disney Fantasy Online, Transformers Online and Heroes of Might and Magic Online. The game, originally titled Dungeon Keeper Online, was announced via press release in 2008 but quickly vanished into the ether. Reports by MMOCulture in 2010 and 2011 state that not only had the game received a name change to Dungeon Keeper World but that it was still in development and was to be localised for the West by TQ Digital Entertainment, who themselves still list the game as “Under Development”.
Needless to say that by this point Dungeon Keeper fans had all but abandoned any hope of receiving a true successor to Dungeon Keeper 2.
And then, from the rancid depths of the most putrid dungeon imaginable, came Dungeon Keeper Mobile.
Dungeon Keeper Goes Free-To-Play: But At What Cost?
If you're 25+ year old PC gamer with an iOS or Android device, then you've probably already succumbed to the free-to-play siren song of Dungeon Keeper Mobile. And as with the many unfortunate gamers before you, the excitement of playing a quirky, touch-screen revival of Dungeon Keeper quickly turned to dismay. A shameless, money-grabbing title devoid of any engaging, real-time gameplay, Dungeon Keeper Mobile was “free-to-play” at its very worst.
EA's already unwanted anti-consumer image was further dented upon player realisation that Dungeon Keeper Mobile's developer, Mythic Entertainment, implemented a feedback filtering system into the game's Android version. The filter stopped players from submitting reviews of less than five stars, asking that negative reviews instead be emailed directly to EA.
Despite launching a little over a two months ago, Dungeon Keeper Mobile has already been branded as one of the most unscrupulous revivals of a classic franchise ever, and will likely be remembered as one of the most controversial videogame industry moments of late 2013/early 2014.
But there is hope for Dungeon Keeper, it just exists under a different name: War for the Overworld.
A quick look at gameplay footage, and it's not hard to see why War for the Overworld has PC gamers drooling in anticipation – it looks like Dungeon Keeper, plays like Dungeon Keeper and sounds like Dungeon Keeper; with developer Subterranean Games even getting Richard Ridings to “reprise” his role as the game's narrator. As such, this promising indie dev effort to recreate and reinvigorate the Dungeon Keeper formula has gained attention from gamers, the gaming press and developers alike; including coverage from Strategy Informer and blessings from Peter Molyneux himself.
Although War for the Overworld is still in its beta phase – available through Steam Early Access – the game still proves the classic proverb: “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. It's only a pity that after all these years, it took a group of indie developers to make the Dungeon Keeper sequel that fans deserved – a game EA simply could not be bothered to make.
