War for the Overworld Preview

The lack of an HD remake or third edition of Bullfrog Productions’ Dungeon Keeper has left an obvious rift in peoples’ lives since the late ’90s. That’s why people felt so let down by the mobile version, which kicked off the whole ‘In-App Purchases are pure evil’ campaigns in the media. Kalypso’s Dungeons and many others have come and - although tried - it wasn’t what people had hoped for.

So in comes War for the Overworld, which has been endorsed by Bullfrog’s Peter Molyneux as a “true spiritual successor” to Dungeon Keeper. It even has the voice of Richard Ridings - or it will have, once they record it - as the Mentor, the same role he took on in Dungeon Keeper.

Okay, so you’ve never played a dungeon management sim before? You’re the all-powerful demon-spirit who has awoken after having a nap for a couple of centuries. Started right around the time you were defeated by blasted heroes - but you’ve consolidated your powers and have returned. You have to use the minions, who are drawn to your power, to construct a dungeon fit to gather, feed and train a legion of evil big enough to take on the heroes and the forces of good.

Make some workers carve out an area, select a 3x3 area to become, say, a forge to bring in some beings who like to construct traps for you. There are also druids to help create upgrades, beasts to maul knights, mad professors… There are many types of units implemented already.

So far there are only three campaign levels with a placeholder voice for Mentor, but they show some good stuff. Being early in development, there are a lot of bugs present, but they didn’t affect these levels too badly: the feel of the game is present and correct as you gather forces before tunneling over to the goody-goodies and slaughtering them. You can eventually use some spells, however unless it’s healing, they can only be cast on tiles you’ve captured.

Other game modes include Skirmish, Sandbox, Survival and Multiplayer. I couldn’t try out multiplayer as there were so few people online, but I imagine it’s just like skirmish - two people go against each other in a fight to whomever loses their dungeon core first. Survival has only one mode right now, where wave upon wave of enemies come from three sides against your pre-built dungeon, and you have to place rooms and defend it. Sandbox has a few modes, but basically just gives you everything you need to build a massive dungeon.

Now, as the game has a release date set as the start of April and the current Early Access build is from December, I’m guessing they’ve ironed the bugs out. This build is fun to play, but the full game will be something spectacular indeed. After a two year development, it has every right to be. Some of the sound effects are tediously repetitive and the music isn’t memorable, but the graphics and humour all go towards making it a great experience. Don’t get it yet - but definitely get it upon release.