Dungeon Keeper

"Dungeon Keeper" is a strategy video game in which the player tries to build and manage a dungeon or hideout, while protecting it from invading “hero” characters who are out to steal the player’s accumulated treasures and slay various monsters. This was Peter Molyneux’s last project at Bullfrog before he left the company in August 1997 to found Lionhead Studios. The player uses a mouse—represented in-game as a hand—to interact with a bar on the left side of the screen. This allows the player to select which rooms to build and which spells to cast. The player can also use the hand to pick up and carry creatures and items in the dungeon, enabling tactics such as assembling an attack force and mass-deploying creatures once a bridgehead has been secured. With the hand, the player can also “hit” objects to interact with them: creatures hurry when struck, some traps are triggered, and prisoners in the torture chamber can be tortured. The game’s main view is in isometric perspective; this view can be zoomed and rotated. The player also has the option to take control of one of their creatures and view the dungeon from that creature’s first-person perspective, as well as use its attacks and abilities. The map is divided into a grid of rectangles, most of which are invisible. A smaller portion of the map is displayed as a minimap in the upper-left corner of the screen. There is also a world map, and at the start of the game, the player is assigned one of 20 regions in a fictional, idyllic land that they are tasked with destroying. As the player progresses through these regions—each of which corresponds to a level in the game—the previously conquered areas appear plundered, disfigured, and evil. Before a new level begins, the mentor briefs the player on the current region and its characteristics. Upon completing a level, the mentor speaks about the “improvement” of the destroyed region: “The streets are covered in the blood of the slain. Screams of pain and howls of agony tear through the night air like the song of a vengeful siren. This really is a place you can take the kids on the weekend.” The Dungeon Heart represents the Dungeon Keeper’s own connection to the world. If it is destroyed, the player loses the level and must start over from the beginning. In addition to the Heart, the player starts with a small number of imps, the generic workforce for all dungeon activities: They can dig tunnels into the surrounding ground, conquer enemy rooms and portals, mine gold and gems, set traps, and even attack when they’re desperate or threatened. If you slap creatures, you force them to work faster for a while, but this costs them some health and happiness. Once the goblins are hard at work, the player must build a basic infrastructure: hideouts for monsters, a hatchery (where chickens are raised to serve as food for the minions), and a treasure chamber to store gold. Once the dungeon has been connected to a “portal,” monsters begin to arrive. As the game progresses, you move through a tech tree and unlock additional rooms. The dungeon features a sophisticated ecosystem: some creatures are natural enemies. Flies and spiders are often at odds with each other, while a “Horned Reaper,” when it goes berserk, attacks any creatures that stand in its way. The objectives for each level are fairly simple: usually, the goal is to defeat the group of heroes or to destroy all other Dungeon Keepers on that level.