Step Right Up: Dungeonland Out This Month
I got a chance to go hands-on with Paradox's Dungeonland some many firework-and-goblin-giblet-obscured moons ago, and I actually had quite a time with it. That said, I don't think it's made its way onto many radars, and that's a shame. No, it didn't strike me as particularly earth-shaking, but playing as the dungeon master (or maestro, as he's now being called) against a hapless group of friends could at least rattle a mid-sized landmass or two, I think. So yes, you should keep an eye on it. Here, I will even help you - free of charge and everything. After the break, you'll find a trailer. Now, I'm not saying it's necessarily a magic mountain of Dungeonland footage, but when I note that it would make almost zero sense for it to be anything else, I might be implying it a little.
So basically, it's Diablo-lite versus highly hands-on tower defense. Three players storm various nefarious ariouseas, and the dungeon maestro attempts to dissuade them by summoning screen-engulfing armies and possessing the odd ninja rat or cow monarch as they see fit. Whether any semblance of depth can keep up with Dungeonland's frantic pace remains to be seen, but there's definitely at least a bit of gold in these here exceedingly purple hills.
Paradox has pegged its merry skip into the jaws of certain death with a release date as well, and it's right around the corner. Come January 22nd, the poison-spewing park will be open for business. There's also a pre-order-based "Grimoire Pack," which I suppose packs a few extra perks for the dungeon maestro, but mainly serves to make me wish the word Grimoire hadn't fallen out of popular usage. It's so much better than boring old "book." I mean, imagine if we read e-Grimoires on our Amazon Kindle-pendiums of the Dark Arts. Wouldn't that be such a more interesting world?
Right. Dungeonland. It's looking pretty solid, I think. How about you?