Dungeons 2

Recreating the magic of Bullfrog's 1997 classic (Dungeon Keeper), Dungeons 2 allows you to explore you inner most evil as you build deadly dungeons heaving with traps and raise hellish armies of orcs and demons. Original released on the PC in 2015, the game has now arrived onto PS4 with 11 new maps, added enemies, and a supposed 30 hours of additional gameplay.

Whilst enjoying his reclusive existence from the comfort of his treacherous dungeon, the Ultimate Evil was disturbed by the no good alliance, who stole his gold and slayed his men. Driven by rage, he amassed an evil army and waged war on the overworld, but unfortunately, he was ambushed by opposing forces and banished into spirit form. Years later the Ultimate Evil's spirit was revived and through the power of his disembodied hand, set out to inflict pain on those who led to his downfall.

Dungeons 2 couples classic dungeon building gameplay with light RTS elements. The RTS portion of the game takes place in the overworld, where you must command your army of foul-breathed warriors to complete your sadistic wishes and destroy enemy empires. During combat, you can use the individual abilities of your subordinates, to cast destructive spells, disarm traps, or to heal their wounded allies. These alongside many other abilities offer plenty of flexibility within battles, which is sure to complement a broad range of play-styles.

Gameplay in your dungeon takes place in real-time to what is happening on the surface, allowing you to alternate between the two accordingly. So you'll be tasked with ridding your dungeon of pesky intruders, whilst also ensuring that your army on the surface is equipped to take on the mythical creatures and noble men that stand in their way. Interaction with the two often overlaps, as you'll find yourself nursing fallen troops back to health in the dungeon and sending more out into the overworld to strengthen your attack.

Within your dungeon you'll carve out new rooms where your minions can gather you mana, upgrade soldiers skills, and research new technology. But if you don't fulfil their needs, or if you deprive them of their precious alcohol, they will storm off into the throne room, holding their picket signs high to protest your neglect. As it appears to be payday everyday, you also need to make sure that you have a steady income of gold to cover their expected salaries.

In order to maintain a balance and ensure that things run smoothly in your dungeon, you must harvest gold, rig up deadly traps, and fortify your forces and facilities. Most of the game's enjoyment comes from raising your dungeon up from a despairing pit of nothingness to a thriving realm of destruction and pain. Although once you have stumbled upon the key to build an efficient dungeon, it's unlikely that you'll feel inclined to mix up your strategy.

Over the course of campaign's 11-mission structure, you'll join together with other evil forces, who will lend you their secrets to building all new traps and facilities. The constant stream of unlocks works to add an element of variety to dungeon building, which can often become tedious. By offering its unlocks gradually over the campaign, the game allows you to get fully familiarised with its tools rather than drowning you in content.

Unfortunately, the campaign does start to lose steam during its latter parts as it offers you fewer unlocks and you'll find yourself engaging in the same repetitive tasks. Fending off a mass attack on your dungeon, or eliminating a designated target just isn't that exciting after the fifth consecutive time. Some variation is thrown in when you get to take command of another faction of soldiers, the demons, but it's not long before they are left feeling like just a simple reskin of your original horde.

Voiced by Kevan Brighting, the game's narration is hilariously self-aware and pokes fun at several fantasy franchises. With this role Brighting appears to have take influence from sci-fi classic the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, whilst also adding an air of Monty Python humour. The narration can feel frustrating at times, however, as you'll find yourself victim to a number of sarcastic insults if you take too long on a particular task or don't get things right first time. Also, the narrator doesn't do a great job of guiding you during the earlier stages, as he never fully explains the controls and leaves you to confusedly figure things out on your own.

Standing alongside the main campaign are two additional modes; multiplayer and skirmish. In multiplayer, you can battle it out with up to three other dungeon masters in a ploy to secure supreme control of the overworld. Skirmish is a quick play mode where you can create your own experience free from the objectives of the campaign, by tweaking parameters such as difficulty, map, and faction. While the mode gives you plenty to toy with and the freedom to do as you please, we quickly lost interest, as its lack of quests offered no real sense of direction.

With a severe lack of RTS titles currently on the PS4, Dungeons 2 is certainly worth a purchase for console owners who are also a fan of the genre. Although its overall structure and quests may start to feel repetitive in its later stages, there is still much to be enjoyed, as its narration is continually hilarious and dungeon building remains incredibly addictive.