Dungeon Keeper is one of my all time favorites, and this game was a true homage of love. It played pretty much exactly the same so it was very easy to jump right into the game, though many mechanics were streamlined, upgraded or added. I liked the majority of changes though the sheer amount of depth available was a bit overwhelming. I often stuck to tried and tested methods rather than experiment with everything the game had to offer, and made it through the campaign while only having to restart a couple of levels. The game provided a lot of information about what each thing did, which was a nice quality of life upgrade, though I also had to be on the ball with taking advantage of most mechanics in order to win because this game was hard. No more walling off a huge area with plenty of resources to spend hours safety training up my minions before any fighting. The enemies in this game easily broke through fortified walls, and attacked early, frequently and in large numbers. Some of the levels were brutal, but this also made them more engaging. The game seemed to be designed with a huge arsenal of tools, and probably with pvp in mind.
After beating the campaign I read guides on steam to better understand the game. The following was my overall strategy and opinions while playing with new understandings sprinkled in. I liked how the dungeon core stored some gold and gave 5 workers for free. I made 5 additional workers right away and maintained that amount for every game. I loved how spells only cost mana instead of gold and how each worker past 5 lowered max mana; much better than the increasing gold costs in DK and actually put a lot of strategic tradeoff into deciding how many workers to have. I did not know that imps could be dropped into the core to get rid of them so I could technically make a much larger work force in the beginning and scale them back when mana was needed for other things. I also never bothered to slap them because I did not realise they automatically healed, though I do not like this level of active micromanagement. I prefer to sit back and watch rather than clicking all the time. I switched the speed between 50% to max depending on how hectic things were, but sometimes even 50% was too fast for my liking. Sometimes I wanted the ability to pause and issue commands at my leisure. In old DK I always built a tiny room with a locked door to put imps in so they would not be stupid and get killed. The impasse flag here greatly lessened the need to keep a tight leash on them though I still think having a place to safely lock up workers was a good idea.
The vault and lair were the only rooms that functioned at less than 3x3 and in irregular shape so I slapped them down wherever nothing else could fit. Places like corridors, in between other rooms, and along edges with unusable terrain. I usually built massive open concept dungeons in DK and did more of the same here despite the clear information that rooms performed better when surrounded by fortified walls. I did like this mechanic since massive cavernous dungeons looked ugly and made little sense, but I did not worry much about it. Some rooms shared a large cavern with other rooms, others had partial walls, while others were completely enclosed. In particular I figured the food pen and foundry were more important to have walls. It was impossible to tell at a glance how much lair I needed, especially with little lairs spread all over the place. It was easy to tell when I needed more vault though it was best to balance capacity with total payday cost, unless infinite gold shrines were available since gold could be left on the ground wherever. I built a 3x5 tavern near the food pen with room to expand it lengthwise if possible. I don't recall ever having complaints about lack of food. I built a 3x3 archive to get research going but did not always bother to expand it. Each thingy could hold 1 artifact so if I wanted to hold multiple artifacts ready to use for opportune times then I expanded the archive as necessary. This attracted cultists, which were good ranged offense/debuffing/healer units. They also worked in the sanctuary, which I liked to build at 3x3 as soon as I had a ritual worth using; specifically avarice, which converted my mana into gold. That was an excellent investment when no combat was happening, but greatly lost effectiveness if gold shrines were present. Another good ritual was the one that instantly fortified all walls, thus freeing up workers. I didn't use the other rituals much. Uprising was good for a temporary wraith army but only if there were plenty of corpses. I occasionally used it when I got the warning that my crypt was full. I built the crypt a little later since corpses were generally not created in the early game. It was good to get some necromancers a head start on training though as they were an excellent ranged dps unit with meatshield ghouls. I did make 1 vampire in a skirmish map but never used it during the campaign. I sacrificed 3 low level minions since they would be easily replaced by the gateway. The vampire was functionally equivalent to the horned reaper in that is was an extremely powerful creature that was difficult to appease and meant to be constantly fighting. The map I played (Kira's temple) had human gateways in the center that could not be captured, so there was a continuous supply of prisoners to feed the vampire. I sent him and the titan to the enemy base to deal as much damage as they could. Even the level 1 vampire did well against traps and multiple opponents due to health restoring attacks. He even restored hp by hitting doors but he eventually went down. A downed vampire was at risk of being captured by enemy workers during the several seconds it took to respawn back in its lair, so I was lucky. Still it was good xp. I did not use the other rituals even though I can see their use. Overload would be great for any big battle while the others could built traps faster and help with breaching fortified dungeons.
All intelligent creatures fell unconscious rather than dying instantly, much like the optional prison mode in DK. I liked this because it allowed workers to save units, making it much less of a risk to use weaker units in battle. They were pretty good at automatically saving my units but I still occasionally lost some, especially when fighting far from home. So it was a good idea to manually drop imps nearby, both for saving and for dragging enemies off to the prison. It was fun making use of prisoners and they did not eventually die from starvation. They could be turned into food at the tavern but I saw no point. I put weaker enemies into the arena to fight my units as this gave tremendous xp. I usually power leveled my strongest units in this way, like augers and beastmasters. Ogres (because screw the actual spelling) were essentially bile demons; high hp tanks that also worked in the foundry. They were attracted by the garrison, which made nearby walls and traps more durable. The garrison was best built 3x3 at the entrance to my dungeon in a kill box area with traps. The beastmaster spent most time at the arena making beasts fight, and fought best with and against beasts. Pretty sure they also responded to the beast rally flag, which was annoying if I wanted the beasts to hold the line while everyone else went for payday. Another good use of weak prisoners was the spell that turned them into gold. Great combo with the gold ritual but pointless when gold was infinite. Most prisoners I sent to the torture rack to be converted, which was a fire and forget process as opposed to having to babysit with food or healing on DK. Converting was the best way to increase overall power, so much so that I think it was even more overpowered than in DK. There was no chance of failure or any kind of risk involved, and even a level 1 succubus could convert a level 10 high tier human or creature. I think there should have been minimum level requirements for the succubi to be able to convert, possibly even requiring multiple succubi for the strongest enemies. There should also be a chance of failure; either the victim holds out long enough to die and become a ghost, or breaks out in berserk rage attacking the succubus. Due to the frequent fighting in most stages I put succubi into the peace band so they would continue converting instead of going to the rally flag. I only had a 3x3 torture room and thus converting was slow going. In battle the succubus was like a rogue and was incredibly effective at 1vs1 due to their charm preventing 1 target from attacking them. Weak prisoners could be killed by switching the mode of the torture room and becoming a ghost. Ghosts did not fight and were invincible, instead being scouts. As such I seen little point to make more than 1 or 2. I built a fairly large barracks and absolutely loved how training did not cost gold and how every non beast unit would train without being told; even the cultists and succubi. They were somewhat lazy about it though so I often dropped minions in to train. Gnarlings loved training and were pretty much orcs/goblins. As such they were often the my highest level units, though they were mediocre overall.
The chunder was a silly creature that mostly worked in the foundry. I found them rather weak in combat and often among the 1st to fall, even though their attacks had useful debuffs. Doors were decent ways to block minions from going to dangerous places and to delay enemies. I almost never bothered to use them though. Traps reduced max mana so there was significant trade off for using them. It was tough to decide how much to invest in static traps vs having more mana available for more flexible spells. I liked having a gargoyle at my entrance because it increased damage from all sources. I also liked a bone chiller there to slow enemies, and relying on my units for damage. That allowed more xp for them but could result in trouble if enemies attacked from multiple directions. Since minions could not be picked up at all outside owned territory it could be useful to have traps and/or different warbands for different tasks. Blade traps were good for holding enemies off while bombards shot them but I found that these were easily destroyed and tough to have in adequate numbers to do much without support from minions. I never tried the well of souls but read it even works through walls, so it could be used against enemies trying to break through walls. Or possibly even set up outside the enemy walls. Never tried sentinels either but they were tough when I fought them on 1 stage. They cost a lot of gold so would be more useful on infinite gold maps or those without the gateways needed to attract proper minions. Constructs were more support based traps that did not require the foundry. The conduit increased mining speed so it was a no brainer to put 1 on each gold shrine. The ward totem and outpost both interfered with enemy workers and were thus important to prevent the little bastards from stealing rooms and other valuable land. The ember rift gave disposable fire elemental enemies that were good vs traps. They did not level up and were replaced for free so they could be used to wear down the enemy with no risk. I did not really use any other construct though they all had niche uses. The beast lair attracted simple minions that did not need pay, could not train and died instantly. They were effective disposable troops that did not cost much but died often. It was extremely unlikely that any would reach high level. The lair itself had to be at least 3x3 but did raise beast population for every tile so it could be expanded into irregular shapes. Not sure if there was any benefit from one less than 3x3 that was not attached to another 3x3. All 4 beasts were useful in their own way though I preferred the ranged ones as a group of them could inflict serious damage and they were fast enough to flee. Unfortunately they were often not smart enough to flee.
I did not use the alchemy lab or spirit chamber much and have little experience with their units and abilities. Potions cost money and could not be used in enemy territory. They also need a prop to store each portion just like the archive stored artifacts. The transmutation potion drew my eye but I never used it because I wondered if fools gold would upset my minions or if it was meant as bait for enemies. It does work as gold and works on solid tiles so it could be a good idea to use these to fill earth with gold before mining out areas for new rooms. Wisdom juice essentially converted gold into xp so it would be good for infinite gold maps. The other potions all had temporary effects on economy or combat. The spirit chamber I only made once and did not understand how it worked until reading online. It power leveled minions in exchange for gold or destroyed ghosts by giving their xp to a minion. The former would only be good on maps with lots of gold while the latter was more convoluted than simply fighting the prisoner in the arena. I assume going the longer route gave more xp. Both the crackpot and witch doctor were ranged support healer types. The first time I made a titan was in the campaign stage vs 3 other underlords. I made the archon and used it to snipe 1 enemy's units while safely hovering over a chasm. The archon's ranged attacks, life drain and minion summoning made it excellent at fighting large groups. I used the behemoth for the final mission. It was devastating against traps, burning them down in seconds just from its passive fire aura. I would say it did better damage to creatures than the archon and was a front line tank that could protect minions while the archon did better at hit and run, and lasting longer without support. I did not try the eternal but it was the most common choice for the AI. It was the tank and defensive support titan that worked best at helping minions stay alive. It also took damage for the core which was a clear pvp mechanic as the AI was not really clever enough to bypass minions and go straight for the core.
One of the biggest changes to this game over DK was the inability to pick up minions from enemy or neutral territory. This made the game far more strategic and made rally flags more important. Unfortunately it was difficult to make minions retreat from combat and to stop being so spread out during large battles. The recall spell teleported minions back to base but it was interrupted if they took damage. I played each mission slow and steady and did not bother with the optional objectives. The first several missions were pretty much tutorials. The one that introduced necromancers was a non base mission, which I found very odd for this kind of game. It was tedious but had some hilarious dialogue. The 1st mission I had to restart was against the 3 other keepers, which was because I spent too much time possessing the archon to snipe the sentinels of the girl Keeper. I dug through a wall to gain access to the chasm so the archon could fly there without allowing them to attack me. The 2nd attempt I focused on establishing my base and training up forces. The north keeper broke into my dungeon and I sent my entire army after him. His forces were laughably weak even though he had a massive dungeon to steal. Not long after that the girl breached and there was a lot of tough fighting. She had an eternal and her imps were bypassing my minions to steal a couple of my rooms. It took a lot of lightning and an outpost to fix that, then I directly targeted her core instead of defeating all of her minions. Putting the rally flag directly on the core seemed to make my guys prioritize attacking it. Not long after the final enemy broke through and he was the most difficult of all. I lost if I fought in his territory due to lightning, so I made sure to lure his units into mine. I cast a lot of healing while micro dropping imps to ninja his fallen units to my prison before he could save them. It was a battle of attrition but converting his units allowed me to come out on top and the rest of the battle was easy. One thing that annoyed me was these battles going on for so long that my guys missed payday and got angry enough to revolt and even leave the dungeon. This happened in later missions too such that it was important to time major assaults to begin shortly after payday and hopefully to be over before the next. It was way too tedious to try and figure out which specific minions were angry and manually give them gold without being able to check while paused.
I did restart the final mission once. When the 1st enemy attack came I was shocked at how difficult it was. I had a behemoth, decent complement of minions at low level, and no traps. Gold was an issue and I had both gold shrines being mined. I tried several times to defeat that attack but could not mandge it. They slaughtered my minions and I could not kill them fast enough with lightning while also keeping the behemoth alive. Save scumming somehow bugged out the attack to not happen but I was still in no position to defeat the next wave. Next try I avoided digging out the path where those enemies attacked and instead dug around the long way to access to the gold shrine and used fortify ritual. The enemy instead broke through at my training room in the north and I somehow defeated them without much trouble. All my minions and the behemoth fought in a small L shaped area and I later put a gargoyle there to blast down the hallway. The only thing I can think of to explain the difference was maybe the enemies spread out more. Whatever happened though, converting most of the enemies from that 1st attack made the rest of the mission trivial. Then I did the 1vs1 skirmish on Kira's temple. I rushed to the temple itself to take out traps and humans so that I could convert them for massive advantage against the enemy keeper. I even got a level 10 priestess. Sacred land prevented claiming anything beyond my base so I sent my archon and vampire to the enemy base to do what damage they could. I figured there was some way to remotely claim land but I did not need more gold. After the vanguard was doing well against the enemy I rallied everyone to wipe them out. They were weak. Then I did a tundra 1vs1 with frost weavers trapped in the center of the map, but they were very easy to avoid. There was a lot of gold so I tried out the spirit chamber to power level 2 witch doctors to level 6. I think it would be best to let minions train to level 4 before doing any spirit power leveling. I waited for the enemy to come to me. Again I lost if I fought on their territory, so I set my rally flag well inside my own area and used possession to force my minions to fall back. I found possession to be somewhat offputting and confusing, despite how little I used it. Seemed like they went overboard giving creatures visual effects that made it more difficult to see, and the abilities were not nearly as intuitive. In DK clicking always did a basic melee attack while pressing the number for an ability cast it, whereas here pressing the number selected the ability and clicking performed it. A mini map would have been helpful in 1st person too. The enemy had a lot of beasts and ember demons with a behemoth. I used the archon and focused on killing what I could. The doctors were very useful with healing and I let everyone fight until payday. After that I converted enemy minions and used uprising and the archon to hold off the enemy while everyone else got pay and some rest. I had intended to get a vampire by sacrificing 3 level 1 minions that I captured but I beat the match before that completed as I mustered everything to attack their core.
Just like classic Dungeon Keeper the biggest flaw of this game was that there was not more to play. Skirmish maps are not my idea of fun but I will play more. I did not buy any of the expansions but that is on the agenda for the future, as is playing custom maps. My windows 7 gaming pc has steam on permanent offline mode though so I may have to download them outside steam or use my other pc to access steam workshop. I do think this game is a little more fun than Dungeon Keeper, due to its refinements and increased combat focus, but that is also compared it to a much older ground breaking game.
8.5/10
