Dungeon Keeper 2
Description official descriptions
Dungeon Keeper 2 is a "god game" which introduces the series to an entirely 3D engine (as opposed to the original's engine with 3D environments and 2D unit sprites). As before, the player is tasked with the construction, expansion and maintenance of dungeons, as well as attracting, managing, and utilizing various evil creatures to fight the forces of good. Several creatures, spells, traps, and rooms are new to the series, while others received a visual redesign at most, and some were even replaced. The series' trademark unit, the Horned Reaper, is now only called through a special support power and only one can be found on the map at a given moment. Spells are now cast using mana (an auto-generating resource proportional to the size of the dungeon) instead of gold, and can be upgraded once there are no new spells to research. Dropping creatures now stuns them (unless thrown into the new Combat Pit room).
The game's campaign has the player enter the land of good and conquer it region by region while staying in the underworld. Enemies either stay in fixed, protected areas, or execute sneak attacks from inopportune directions. The boss of each level holds a portal gem which is used to access the overworld (off-screen) and claim the region. The game also features skirmish and multiplayer modes, as well as a sandbox mode titled "My Pet Dungeon", where enemies only attack if the player wishes them to.
As of patch 1.61, the player can attract elite creatures, which are statistically more powerful than their standard counterparts and have a slightly different appearance, if rooms are built in specific layouts. Patch 1.7 also added another new unit, the Maiden of the Nest.
Spellings
- ผู้พิทักษ์แดนอสูร 2 - Thai spelling
- ダンジョンキーパー 2 - Japanese spelling
- 地下城守护者 2 - Simplified Chinese spelling
- 地城守護者2 - Traditional Chinese spelling
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Credits (Windows version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 87% (based on 37 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 99 ratings with 11 reviews)
One of the only RTS games I ever liked.
The Good
I haven't played the original, so I can't make a comparison, but I can say that I am not, as a rule, a fan of RTS games. This one made me forget that. Every once in a while a game comes along that addicts me, usurping all my attention for several days or weeks. This is one such game.
The graphics, the sounds, the music, the cut-scenes - all deserve high praise.
I love the theme, though I was a little disappointed to be so often fighting fellow evil "Keepers" instead of good guys from above. I understood the game was to be about play evil vs. good, but more often it was evil vs. evil.
The campaign was great, with each mission growing progressively harder. Some levels took me several attempts to beat, building on what I had learned the previous time, and bringing me back more eager than ever each time anew. The campaign doesn't overwhelm you, though, since each new level introduces a new monster, room-type, trap, etc. Your knowledge base grows as you play.
The first-person aspect was well handled, I must admit, and sometimes quite important to victory. But contrary to all the other praise, it was my least favourite aspect of the game, and something I avoided as often as possible. I hated the inability to command the rest of my troops, monitor my torture victims and cast spells when I was in 1st person mode.
The Bad
I already mentioned the evil vs. evil aspect in the above section.
While the My Pet Dungeon concept really appealed to me, you have to build your own challenges in (I made up a random table using dice to determine when heroes would appear). Also, in the My Pet Dungeon mode, if you torture and convert an enemy, that enemy type is no longer available to come rampaging through your dungeon. Somebody messed up an "if-then" clause in the C code there.
I hated that mana was limited to 200,000. With the size of my dungeons, my mana was usually at that level, and it became almost pointless capturing enemy mana vaults or converting their tiles to yours (though I guess it does limit their mana).
The campaign was huge, but I wish it was even huger.
The Bottom Line
A wonderful and unique concept very well executed.
Windows · by Jeff Sinasac (391) · 2001
The Good
There is simply nothing out there like this game. Well, that's not true -- Black & White and Startopia come close -- but DK and DK2 were first. It's a RTS, it's Sim Dungeon, and more! And the evil narrator who advises you as the game goes on is wonderful, dryly funny when you're doing well to downright threatening when your game is going poorly...
The Bad
It's got a sharp learning curve, and demands careful perusal of the manual. Even then, you can have fun in the "My Pet Dungeon" mode, that lets you tunnel around and learn as you do.
The Bottom Line
The game is basically a real-time-strategy game, viewed isometrically, with some interesting twists thrown in by the ability of you, the Dungeon Keeper, to add traps to the tunnels you dig. You must recruit creatures through Portals you capture, and mine gold to pay them, and build rooms to house, feed, and entertain them while you get them to achieve your nefarious goals.
Windows · by Dr.Bedlam (55) · 2002
More RTS's should be like this
The Good
I liked many things about the game, but I LOVED the ability to take control of one of your units and view the world you created through the first person perspective. This feature should be implemented into many many more RTS games in my opinion. I also liked the humor in this game and the over all fun I had playing the campaigns. For the first time ever, I wanted to beat the campaigns, regardless of how hard they were. The reason for this is because each time you beat a level in the campaign, a very comical video becomes available to you(there is a video for each level).There are also several patches that add to the game's flavor on the DKII web-page.
The Bad
Like many RTS games, micromanagement can sometimes be a pain. Although there is considerably less micromanagement in DKII than in other games in its genre, it's still enough to make you frustrated at times.
The Bottom Line
I strongly recommend this game. This game is usually available for around 10-20$ and it is worth the money. This game is probably one of the most beautiful RTS's I have played.
Windows · by xTSx (13) · 2001
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
DK3 | Indra was here (20756) | Aug 20, 2010 |
Trivia
Dungeon Keeper 3 trailer
A game trailer for Dungeon Keeper 3 is available for viewing from the Main Menu-->Extras page. An official Dungeon Keeper 3 has never been released.
Gags
- Dungeon Keeper 2 can keep tabs on the system time. Play too late into the night, and the advisor will tell the player (out of the blue and with no warning): "Your nocturnal presence has prompted the following secret hint: GO TO BED!"
- If the player doesn't do anything for a while, the game will say: "The very rock yawns in expectation of your next, fascinating move."
- If a dungeon attracts almost exclusively Dark Mistresses, the advisor will say: "You have an excess of Mistresses... There's a word for Keepers like you..."
German version
In the German version the blood around corpses was removed and the torture animations were changed so that the torturing itself can't be seen. This is normally
Horny
Unlike in the original Dungeon Keeper, the Horned Reaper in this game, Horny, cannot be summoned in every level where the player has the right ingredients. In Dungeon Keeper 2, Horny is a unique character who must be specially summoned, and cannot appear more than once at a time.
References
Whenever the player selects a spell, an eerie voice says the spell's name in Latin. The Latin name for the Create Gold spell read by the advisor is Expressus Americanus. This is an obvious joke referring to the American Express credit cards.
Secrets
Build a casino and set the bar at "generous". When one of the monsters wins the jackpot, the advisor loudly announces: "Jackpot winner!" and Disco Inferno begins playing throughout the dungeon. In addition, all monsters inside the casino will begin disco-dancing, each with their own style and moves. This little moment of evil frivolity lasts a couple of minutes.
Playstation version
At the end of the 1998 reveal trailer (Horny's Interview, [https://youtu.be/ZVVa84gacqY mirror available here]), Dungeon Keeper 2 was announced to be "Soon available for PC, Playstation and TV. The PlayStation version was eventually cancelled, and so was the TV version (whatever it was intended to be).
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Voice Acting of the Year (for The Keeper)
Information also contributed by Bhatara Dewa Indra I, DreamWeaver, Jake Beasley, Jason Musgrave and Kasey Chang.
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Related Sites +
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Dungeon Keeper 2
Official site -
Dungeon Keeper 2 Europe
EA Europe Dungeon Keeper 2 site -
Keeper Klan Forum
A still active DK2 community, with many tips and solutions for technical problems.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tony Van.
Additional contributors: Yeah No, Michael Dionne, analoguedragon, Paulus18950, SGruber, Barbarian_bros, Patrick Bregger, Plok, Abhisit Chanmana.
Game added December 5, 1999. Last modified March 31, 2024.