War for the Overworld

While I did enjoy War for the Overworld initially, it became tedious as the levels went on. I want to be clear that I do like a lot of what this game has to offer. The most important part of the game, building dungeons, is very satisfying. The various rooms are well-designed and varied – you might go the whole game without even really experimenting with a particular room and its occupants as the game gives you so many options. Your minions (The Chunder and their constant, irritating farting notwithstanding) all have fun designs and sounds. There are just enough ways for you to personally interact with your dungeon without being overpowered. Gradually overtaking enemy dungeons is also very satisfying. And all of this was great for me until around the halfway point through the game where I realized I was only playing the game to finish it and be done. Ultimately, most missions had the same objective – spawn, build a dungeon, and either defend your dungeon or attack the enemy’s. There were a few missions that tried to play around with the game’s mechanics to deliver a different experience, but it didn’t really work. The worst level in the game attempted a StarCraftesque hero-driven mission where you can’t build anything and must complete the objectives with a handful of units. This mission quickly reveals that this game is not suited to that style of gameplay at ALL. It was unbearably boring and time-consuming. I also felt that the game was too fast-paced. In a game that is centered around construction, it seemed like too many of the missions were imploring you to build only what was necessary, complete every objective as quickly as possible, and move on. I would have liked to spend more time in my dungeons than view them as an elaborate RTS base. Three stars feels somewhat brutal given the genuine fun I had in the first half of the game, but I can’t say it deserves 4 either.

I've never been big into strategy games, but the Dungeon Keeper games were always an exception. Especially the first game is one of my all-time favorites! When War For The Overworld hit GOG, it was everything I wanted... and more! Before, I heard a lot of mixed opinions, since the game has it's problems taking off. However as it arrived on GOG, it was extremely well developed and the recent patches and additions make it one of the best in the genre, even surpassing DK1 for me. Something I didn't think was possible. And here's why: What I always loved with with DK1 is how it allowed you to take every level how you liked. There's a lot of freedom in how you solve a situation. DK2 expanded mechanics but ultimately limited you (largely) to play a level "how it was intended". War For The Overworld gives you even more options, more mechanics, units, room types, spells, constructs, and much more! The missions are more varied and structured similar to DK2, but it retains the freedom *how* to play from DK1. The best of both worlds! On top of that, levels typically come with multiple objectives (required, optional, challenges, etc), are massive and completing is incredibly rewarding. On that note, it's only a little tradeoff, that the main campaign has only half the levels present in DK1. Quality over quantity! Nonetheless, Brightrock Games never rested, and added a ton of more content: Heart Of Gold (5 level campaign), Crucible (DK meets Tower Defense), My Pet Dungeon (Sandbox with Objectives) and last but not least, the final expansion: The Undergames, a tournament that sets four different Underlings against each other, all with their unique abilities/gameplay! Plus Multiplayer and level editor on top of that! Brightrock Games truly understands Dungeon Keeper and they put their heart and soul into this game for over 3 years now. And so, War For The Overworld is wonderful. I can fully recommend it to all fans of Dungeon Keeper and everyone who likes strategy.

Games with fully DRM-free multiplayer component are exceedingly rare. Most of the time you either have to rely on the developers' servers for matchmaking or, even if there is a DRM-free option, you're limited to LAN only. Direct connect by IP? You can forget about it in most modern games, even on GOG. Before I take any interest in a game, I make sure it's DRM-free. And WFTO is fully DRM-free, with LAN, direct connect AND Galaxy-powered server based multiplayer all available! As for the game itself, it's done very well. Its graphics are really great, soundtrack is fitting, the narrator is beyond awesome and the content is there, too. While some may look with disdain at the number of DLCs this game has, the developers used that money to enhance the game - even for those who own the base only. And so, the base game after the final update (2.0) offers a full-fledged campaign, a skirmish mode (single or multiplayer) with three game modes, a free DLC with a survival mode called the Crucible and two first maps of the purchasable My Pet Dungeon DLC. If your appetite for dungeon management is not sated by these, then you can expand your game with the aforementioned My Pet Dungeon, the Heart of Gold expansion and the recently released The Under Games expansion, each of them introducing new campaigns and dungeon themes and worker skins to be unlocked (all of them visible to everyone in multiplayer, whether they have the addons themselves or not). Oh, have I mentioned a map editor and a campaign editor to top that off? The developers' love for what they're doing is also obvious - they're active in the community and are willing to answer any questions people post, either here or on their Discord channel. War for the Overworld is definitely worth the money!

Well, this game is by no means bad, neither is it the ultimate new keepergame to play. Pros: - building dungeons the old fashioned way (shame on you Kalypso!) - pretty much keeper business - passionate developper who didn't stop after release Cons: - comparably short, finished the main game + heart of gold expansion within 12 hours - the humor stuff... maybe it just didn't age very well for me but most of the times its not charming as in the original dungeon keeper but just pretty stupid... (but he, thumbs up that they didn't go for total nonstop shannanigans on pop culture.... yes looking at you Kalypso, again!... but wait, "Mandalf the...." goddamnit why is this needed, is there anyone out there who actually laughs at stuff like this?) - performance, and that brings me to the title So many overwhelmingly positive reviews here that I would like to question them... "Will run on a potato!"? Well, you sir must have a pretty impresive potato there... All who are interested in buying, do your research first please. Performance Issues are well known, bugs are not uncummon (in fact I experienced three nearly complete different "sets" of bugs on three machines, now that should be an achievement nobody wants to aim for) and some of the game mechanics are just not very smart and leads to abusive playstyles... Still a good title for a couple of hours to dungeoneering around, but oh my... these ratings are just absurd.

First off: the core game itself is still a buggy mess that would be embarassing for an early access title, yet alone for a game that proudly displays "2.0 Update is here" on it's main menu. There is little to no feedback on what is going right / wrong in your dungeon until it's too late or you won the map (aside from the admittedly still very entertaining narrator, but this does not help you actually run your dungeon). Why is there no actual overview menu, showing what rooms need expanding, what rooms run inefficiently, what the hell your minions are actually sodding doing? I get that Dungeon Keeper was designed that way, but if you're just going to copypaste the same game while making it shittier then sod off. Also, the Multiplayer portion is an actual, literal, real life comedy routine. THe menu is literally indistiguishable from a strategy game made in the late 90's /early 2000's , all the way down to forcing you to open ports on your router just to play a spectacularly laggy online game that slows down when two minions so much as look at each other. We had multiple people hosting our games, and everytime this dumpster fire took up their entire upload bandwith (~50mbit connections). So gather round, grab your tomatoes, and everyone laugh at the freak. Stick with Dungeon Keeper, Evil Genius and other actual games!