Like many gamers born in the 90s, I spent an unholy amount of time playing Dungeon Keeper; the innovative RTS created by Peter Molyneux before he joined the dark-side. A couple of years ago, EA took a literal stab at recreating the franchise, and what we got was a micro-transaction riddled corpse of a game. Thank the devil that Kalypso carried the torch with Dungeons 2.

Despite the fact that my heart leaped with joy when I started playing this game, it really is just a point-for-point clone of Dungeon Keeper, and anybody who has ever played the series before will be instantly familiar with the mechanics.

For those who haven’t, the premise of Dungeons 2 is that ‘The Absolute Evil’ (a.k.a. the big bad guy) has been forced underground by the heroes of the land. In order to wreak his revenge, he has to create a series of sprawling dungeons full of evil creatures.

Each game begins with the player commanding the lowliest creatures, Little Snots, to dig out the budding subterranean domain. This involves mining gold to fund evil exploits and digging out spaces for new rooms.

Each room provides an essential function, whether that be making the beer that keeps your troops happy, or giving your Little Snots a place to store the gold they’ve been mining.

Whilst exploring the subterranean worlds in each level and expanding the base, The Absolute Evil is routinely assaulted by bands of intrepid heroes looking to get their grubby mitts on his treasure. The result is that to succeed in Dungeons 2, the player has to maintain a balancing act between expansion and protection. If you neglect to protect your dungeon adequately, you’ll be beaten into mush quicker than you can say ‘torture chamber’.

Another essential aspect of Dungeon Keeper that Kalypso successfully preserved is the dark humour that made the series a fan favourite. It’s not quite as twisted as Molyneux’s game, but it provides the occasionally chuckle. The Stanley Parable-esque narrator often sounds like he’s trying a bit too hard, particularly with the constant meta-jokes that aren’t as clever as the writer thought they were.

Rather than just recreating Dungeon Keeper with flashy new graphics and features, Kalypso add their own twist on the solid formula provided by Bullfrog long ago. Dungeons 2 is split into two different game modes. The first is classic Dungeon Keeper, i.e. patiently building a lethal underground maze that simultaneously spews money whilst churning up any hero stupid enough to attempt to beat it.

The second game mode comes from an idea that was considered for the ill-fated third addition in the Dungeon Keeper series. Rather than being confined to the underworld, the forces of the Absolute Evil can now embark on savage raids in the over-world.

The idea is that the player builds up their forces before wiping out the human settlements on the surface. It’s a nice idea, and with a bit more polish it could have added another dimension to an already solid game.

Unfortunately, the over-world sections are mediocre at best. When evil troops are sent above ground, they are controlled in typical RTS fashion, i.e. commanding several troops at once and ordering them to stomp all over any enemies that happen to cross your path.

The gameplay is so simple that it doesn’t really provide any opportunity for strategy. Despite this, the over-world sections can be frustratingly difficult and often completing missions becomes an arduous war of attrition.

Each mission is designed in such a way to combine both game-modes. Usually, they’ll be some objective on the surface that can only be realised by building up your dungeon below.

I’d begin each mission with a beaming smile as I began carving my dungeon, but each mission ended with a scowl as I sent wave after wave of soldiers into the slaughtering grounds in the hopes of chipping a little bit of health off of an overpowered boss.

Dungeons 2 managed to replicate everything that made Dungeon Keeper such a ground-breaking game, and if you’re a fan then buying this game is a no-brainer. The new additions don’t shake up the formula, but they don’t ruin it either. Dungeons 2 is hugely satisfying game and assumingly the closest thing we’ll ever get to Dungeon Keeper 3.

So rejoice, Dungeon Keeper fans! The series might have been stomped into mulch under EA’s mighty boot, but it’s demonic offspring lives on.

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