Dungeon Keeper
Discuss Review + Want + Have Contribute

[67 more | add cover]

Published by

Tec Toy Indústria de Brinquedos S.A.

Developed by

Bullfrog Productions, Ltd.

Released

1997

Platforms

DOS, Macintosh, Windows

Genre

Strategy / tactics

Perspective

1st-person, Bird's-eye view

Visual

Free-roaming camera

Pacing

Real-time

Gameplay

City building / construction simulation, Managerial / business simulation, Real-time strategy

Interface

Direct control, Multiple units/characters control, Point and select

Setting

Narrative

Misc

Not an American user?

Description

Dungeon Keeper takes real-time strategy into a fantasy setting. You command a dungeon and its hellish minions, and must take them to glory against the hated good guys. You must use your gold to build a fortress and weapons to attack.

As well as being able to rotate the 3D view, and control the light source, you can enter the direct viewpoints of your men, to see life through their eyes (one character's mode goes into black and white for this).

[edit description | view history]

Screenshots

Dungeon Keeper Windows ... or you can go into the battle to fight.

Dungeon Keeper Windows This GOOD hero is your enemy - from intro movie -

[62 more | add screenshots]

Promo Images

[62 more | add promo images]

Trailer

Alternate Titles

"地城守護者" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
"地下城守护者" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
"Dungeon Keeper: Evil is Good" -- Tag-lined title

[add alternate title]

Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

Dungeon Keeper has been hailed as a revolutionary game and so it is. It has done something new for computer gaming industry.	Windows	Tatar_Khan (676)
It's good to be bad. Really, really good.	Windows	Kaddy B. (796)
A trip down into the heart of evil	DOS	Andrew Grasmeder (228)
It's good being evil	Windows	lamoxlamae (5)
Be the bad guy. Crush the forces of good.	Windows	syd67_67 (4)
Recommended, by all means.	DOS	Tomer Gabel (4643)

[review game]

Critic Reviews

Coming Soon Magazine	DOS	Aug, 1997	93 out of 100	93
PC Joker	Windows	Jun, 1997	91 out of 100	91
Power Play	DOS	May, 1997	90 out of 100	90
Games Finder	Windows	Mar 15, 2014	9 out of 10	90
PC Jeux	DOS	Jun, 1997	88 out of 100	88
Jeuxvideo.com	Windows	Sep 01, 2009	17 out of 20	85
Retro Archives	DOS	Jan 03, 2019	17 out of 20	85
Gamesmania.de	Windows	1996	80 out of 100	80
Old PC Gaming	Windows	Mar 26, 2017		80
JeuxVideoPC.com	Windows	Sep 27, 2001	14 out of 20	70

[see more rankings | add review]

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
has been published by EA, not Tec Toy?	3	Foxhack (30198) May 11, 2020
Additional credits?	1	Pseudo_Intellectual (62519) Feb 23, 2017

[new thread]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Dungeon Keeper appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Jason Musgrave:

On a personal note, at the Software Etc. that I was working at when this came out, the manager felt the tagline of "Evil is Good" may offend some people (we were connected to a Barnes & Noble bookstore) and purposely placed the price tag over the word "Evil" on every box. The result was that the box would read; "Dungeon Keeper.... is Good".

Avatar

The arch-enemy of Dungeon Keeper is the Avatar from the Ultima line of games. In the official hint guide for the game, under the profiles for the Avatar "Lord of the Land", the graphic for him is the same used in the introduction of Ultima Online. (The same visage was also used in Ultima IX: Ascension).

Creatures

Each creature has a different style of sight in first-person view. For example the fly has a insect like hex shape, and the hellhound sees in black and white.

Development

Dungeon Keeper is probably one of the most anticipated games which Bullfrog has worked over three years for its development. It was first shown to the public in the spring of 1995 but was released just before the summer of 1997. Dungeon Keeper was also the last Bullfrog game Peter Molyneux had worked on. He then left Bullfrog and founded its own company called Lionhead Studios(www.lionhead.co.uk)

Extras

In the CD-ROM of Dungeon Keeper you can find some goodies in the goodies directory.

German version

In the German version all specific torture animations were replaced with the generic tent animation.

Monk

The chanting monks seem to sing "norske svin", which is Danish for "Norwegian bastards".

References

One of the most expensive spells in the game is the one that penetrates an opponent's reinforced walls, called Destroy Walls. When you cast the spell the advisor's voice said, "Penitenziagite." This sounds a little like "penetrate" but is in fact an extremely obscure reference to Umberto Eco's novel, The Name of the Rose. "Penitenziagite" was the rallying cry of a (real) heretical 14th-century band of monks who murdered wealthy churchmen on the grounds that Jesus had commanded poverty.

Soundtrack

All of the music for Dungeon Keeper, including the opening movie sequence, are available on the game CD as Redbook Audio.

Awards

GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #42 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
PC Gamer
- April 2000 - #47 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games" poll
PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/1998 - The "Haste Makes Waste" Award
Information also contributed by Andrew Grasmeder, Ernest Adams, Indra was here, Maw, Jason Musgrave and PCGamer77
[edit trivia]

Related Web Sites
- Wikipedia (Information on Dungeon Keeper at Wikipedia)
Contributed to by doj (33) and Sciere (631276)