Dungeon Lords (video game)

Dungeon Lords is a real time fantasy role-playing video game developed by Heuristic Park, originally published by DreamCatcher Interactive and Typhoon Games, and released in 2005. However, many features were left out from the original release in an effort to meet the release date. In 2006, they re-released the game as Dungeon Lords Collector's Edition with more complete features.

Dungeon Lords
Original release box art
Developer(s)Heuristic Park
Publisher(s)DreamCatcher Interactive, FX Interactive, Crimson Cow, 1C, Typhoon Games[1]
Designer(s)D.W. Bradley
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • NA: May 5, 2005
  • PAL: April 7, 2006
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

In 2012, after the demise of DreamCatcher Interactive and subsequent acquisition by Nordic Games, they announced the release of a completely "remastered" version of the game, titled Dungeon Lords MMXII.[2] Dungeon Lords MMXII was released in Europe on September 28, 2012, and in North America on October 5, 2012.

In 2015, a version of the game titled Dungeon Lords Steam Edition was released on Steam.

Gameplay

Dungeon Lords' gameplay features a combat system where weapon combos are controllable by mouse movements. It includes quests, personal missions, skills and special abilities for customizing the character hero from a small set of races and class specializations. Dungeon Lords can be played either single-player stand alone or in multi-player group sessions.[3] The combat was inspired by console fighting games.[4]

Plot

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic45/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
1Up.comD−[6]
CGW[7]
Game Informer4/10[8]
GameSpot6.8/10[9]
GameSpy[10]
GameZone(Coll. Ed.) 7.7/10[11]
7.6/10[12]
IGN4.5/10[13]
PC Gamer (US)45%[14]
PC Zone56%[15]
X-Play[16]

Many gamers experienced extensive problems while playing the original release of the game, including quest items disappearing from inventories, NPCs getting stuck, key quests failing, doors that do not work, etc.[7]

The game received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[5] Many reviews criticized the game's initial release as a rushed project, released before it was truly finished. Some have gone so far as to say the game is still in the beta development stage. Steve Carter of Game Over wrote, "Dungeon Lords marks a new low for how incomplete a game can be and still get released."[17] Dan Adams of IGN wrote, "Dungeon Lords is a disaster. It's an unfinished, unpolished, and un-fun game that I thankfully never have to play again."[13] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot wrote that the game, though fun, is unbalanced and was missing key features at launch.[9]

Legacy

An Xbox version was planned, but was later cancelled.

Dungeon Lords: The Orb and the Oracle, the sequel to Dungeon Lords, was in development with expected release in Q4 2009. It has since been put on hold indefinitely due to market research results and game engine instability. Later the game was cancelled and replaced with Dungeon Lords MMXII.

gollark: Why would it do that?
gollark: I must remain synchronized with the internet hive-mind.
gollark: But then my autoschedulers wouldn't work.
gollark: This is unlikely to change these factors.
gollark: Acquiring time to read it would also require getting my automatic scheduler algorithms to acknowledge it, but I don't really have documentation so I forgot how to operate that entire system.

References
  1. "Heuristic Park Presents - Dungeon Lords". Heuristic Park.
  2. "Nordic Games joins forces with RPG mastermind D.W. Bradley and Heuristic Park". Nordic Games. April 13, 2012. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  3. Ocampo, Jason (May 14, 2004). "Dungeon Lords E3 2004 Impressions". GameSpot. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  4. Aihoshi, Richard (April 8, 2004). "Dungeon Lords Combat Interview". IGN. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  5. "Dungeon Lords for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  6. Lee, Garnett (June 30, 2005). "Dungeon Lords". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  7. Cook, Denice (September 2005). "Dungeon Lords" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 254. p. 69. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  8. Biessener, Adam (July 2005). "Dungeon Lords". Game Informer. No. 147. p. 125. Archived from the original on November 18, 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  9. Kasavin, Greg (May 13, 2005). "Dungeon Lords Review". GameSpot. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  10. Abner, William (May 27, 2005). "GameSpy: Dungeon Lords". GameSpy. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  11. Eberle, Matt (March 16, 2006). "Dungeon Lords Collector's Edition - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  12. Eberle, Matt (May 8, 2005). "Dungeon Lords - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  13. Adams, Dan (May 31, 2005). "Dungeon Lords". IGN. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  14. "Dungeon Lords". PC Gamer. August 2005. p. 66.
  15. PC Zone staff (July 3, 2005). "Dungeon Lords review". PC Zone. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  16. Stevens, Tim (June 17, 2005). "Dungeon Lords". X-Play. Archived from the original on July 11, 2005. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  17. Carter, Steve (June 16, 2005). "Dungeon Lords". Game Over. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
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