Dungeon Keeper™ 2

My first time meeting the Mistress unit was something else - I thought the torture chamber was meant solely for squeezing information out of captured enemies, until I saw a Mistress on one of the devices, letting out erotic yells of pain; I grabbed her and dropped her off of it, only to saw her jump back on. Wonderful. The game is a an incredibly charming evil dungeon lord simulator. In my experience, it runs really well and controls are incredibly smooth, making the game feel very much playable and not at all archaic in the current year (save for the visuals, which are still chalkful of charm, mind you). You mine out sections of caverns and place rooms for your creatures to habitate, feed, train, gamble (or torture themselves) in, etc. There are also spells you can research that help you vastly and construct defensive contraptions (not a huge fan of these, I find myself only laying down doors for aesthetic purposes). There's a campaign and a skirmish mode, if that matters. Tip - spells can only be cast on terrain you've claimed and bridges, so it's useful to lure your opponents out and hit them with the thunderbolt spell to stun them, then drop your creatures around them for an easy kill. Additionally, the soundtrack is phenomenal. One of the games I feel I'm always in the mood for - when on sale for 1.39€, like right now, there's no reason not to get it.

Port is fine. Work's fluid and it looks quite nice too (on a laptop). But the game is just boring. Controls are clunky at best and ridiculous at worst.

I bought the physical version of this game a long time ago. Still have the box and all. I never got into it back then, but couldn't remember why. Seeing the overwhelmingly positive feedback on DK 1 and 2, I thought "hey, why don't I pick these up and give them another go..." I have to admit, I'm having a very difficult time seeing all the wooha about them. Played several levels in to each, and neither made me want to keep going. There was nothing pulling me in. The gameplay is nothing remarkable, the controls are clunky, especially for all the zooming around the map you have to do. I don't know. Maybe these are the kinds of games that was remarkable when first released, and remembered most fondly by those who played them back then. Whatever magic they must have held then seems to have faded over time.

Fix it!

A classic of before my time, Dungeon Keeper 2 still holds up. It is a great game. Timeless. But I want to write this review about this game for another reason. In fact, I should be honest, this will not be a review. Rather, this will be a reminder of the importance that people who write, create, and talk about games actually have. WTF is this you may ask. Exactly, WTF is, is exactly what I’m talking about. John Bain, aka TotalBiscuit (see also: The CynicalBrit, TotalHalibut, or TB), created one of the earliest examples of the impact a creator can have for the video games industry using modern social media as the catalyst. He was a reviewer. Nothing flashy. But he cared, he advocated for more indie game representation and showed that within his work. He showed his viewership he could be trusted, time and time again. He was honest. He exposed a lot of people to games that, at least for me, have impacted my life in positive ways. Some of these games have made me rethink about what I like in games, others making me think about what it is I want in life. And of course, the spectrum is broader than that, not every game needed to be impactful, some just needed to be fun. And many were. Because of this, I get to thank John Bain for exposing me to Dungeon keeper 2. I want to thank him for showing me so many great works of art and having helped give a much younger me the mental tools to scope out what it is I like in them. I may be just some guy, but that’s perhaps what I appreciate most. There are a lot of some guys out there who I’m sure feel the same. So,on behalf of all the some guys out there; Thank you, John Bain. -A