DUNGEONS
Every so often, a game comes along that asks an important question like “What is the value of a human soul?” Dungeons is such a game. An homage to Dungeon Keeper, it combines tower defense, strategy and RPG elements to give a precisely-calculated answer: “35 soul energy, provided the person died in a good mood.”
That’s the kind of quirk you can expect from Dungeons, where you build increasingly elaborate underground lairs to lure plunder-hungry heroes. But as Dungeon Lord, you actually want those heroes to be happy when they die in order to reap as much precious soul energy from them as possible. The mechanic works a little like fattening up a goose before you cook it.
In sandbox mode, I build a linear dungeon with small rooms branching off. These monster closets, libraries and armories are designed to appeal to the core drives of a hero: fight monsters, access forbidden knowledge and win loot. Fulfill these drives and you’ll increase the hero’s tasty soul energy upon death.
At first, things are going swimmingly. Groups of heroes venture in and slowly fall victim to my wererats and skeleton warriors; I’m even able to send a few to the torture chamber where they’ll provide a trickle of soul energy for the duration of their miserable lives. Once a knight appears, however, the flaws of my dungeon’s design become apparent. He easily trounces the meager defenses and kicks my maniacal teeth in. Had I built branching paths and directed the knight’s interest in multiple directions, I would have stood a better chance.
It’s a hard lesson, but Dungeons’ easy lair creation has me rebuilding a sprawling necropolis in minutes. This time: less skeletons, more sultry succubi.
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