Joystiq impressions: Dungeon Hero

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 17th 2007 at 9:54PM }

Dungeon Hero's title is supposed to be a bit ironic. See, the thing in Dungeon Hero is that you're a a human, but you're not actually good, and the dungeon isn't bad. Through a fantastic opening sequence (found after the break) you'll get the premise of what's going on. A dungeon is just another home with various types of creatures trying to live their lives. Although the set-up sounds like developer Firefly is making Stronghold for the Dungeon Keeper fans, it's actually an action RPG title.

The game won't be released until Q1 of 2009 so there is still a long journey to go before we can accurately say anything about this game. The premise is that the dungeon is at war, it's not a place where gold is just laying around and enemies aren't just hanging around for the adventurer to show up. The idea is to twist the conventions of dungeon games like Diablo which have become the norm. Players will level up and choose different easily deployable combat moves, kind of like what Molyneux is talking about for the upcoming Fable 2. The developers have hired an artist to tell the story through Max Payne style cutscenes, but with animation added. If Dungeon Hero keeps its sense of irony, heaps on some solid gameplay, we'll definitely be looking forward to it, despite it sounding originally like another dungeon crawl game. The only thing Dungeon Hero has to worry about is becoming the thing it is struggling against becoming -- the path which the remake of The Bard's Tale stumbled into.

Gallery: Dungeon Hero (PC, Xbox 360)

Tags: dungeon hero, e3, e307, gamecock, impressions

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jerk Face @ Jul 17th 2007 10:24PM

Was...

Was that GOBLIN PENIS!?

Rare Hare @ Jul 18th 2007 3:41AM

Yes. Yes it was.

Jerk Face @ Jul 17th 2007 10:25PM

Also: This game looks average as hell.

RedJoggindSuit @ Jul 17th 2007 10:37PM

The graphics look like a CG cutscene from a 1997 game... Haha they have healthcare. This game looks like it has a lot of character.

Jerk Face @ Jul 17th 2007 10:45PM

Remember back in the 90's when we played games like Final Fantasy VII and we saw the CG cutscenes and we were like, "Oh man, I can't WAIT until games look like this in real time!"

Well guess what - that time is now; and it looks like SHIT!

J.Goodwin @ Jul 17th 2007 11:25PM

I liked the new Bards Tale. Worth playing at least.

phobic99 @ Jul 17th 2007 11:34PM

Why the hell are they even showing it now if it's not coming out until 2009? Seriously... why?

will @ Jul 18th 2007 12:30AM

I thought it looked pretty interesting actually.

Shagittarius @ Jul 18th 2007 12:39AM

I'll keep my eye out for it.

Tony @ Jul 18th 2007 12:52AM

I don't honestly think it looks that horrible. The opening scenes have some really stark lighting, which I think detracts from them heavily, but some later scenes in the video seem much improved over that. I'm not saying it's gorgeous by any means, but it seems to be adequate... I'm under the impression this is really early material, though.