Dungeon Lords

Dungeon Lords is a real time fantasy Computer role-playing game developed by David W. Bradley of Heuristic Park, published by DreamCatcher Games and Typhoon Games, and released in 2005. It includes quests, personal missions, skills and special abilities for customizing the character hero from a small set of races and class specializations. Dungeon Lords can be played either single-player stand alone, or in multi-player group sessions.

Many have criticized the game's initial release as a rushed project, released before it was truly finished. Some have gone so far as to say the game is still in the beta Development stage. One reviewer claimed that "Dungeon Lords marks a new low for how incomplete a game can be and still get released". These criticisms stem from the numerous bugs contained in the 1.0 release, most notably buttons on screen and in the tutorials which do not work. According to the creators, the bug issues are being addressed and are planned to be resolved in a series of patches. Even with the release of the final patch for Dungeon Lords, version 1.4, many features remain missing and gameplay still suffers from numerous bugs. With the virtual demise of developer Heuristic Park and the publisher DreamCatcher Games being acquired and refocused by JoWood Productions any and all further support and development for Dungeon Lords has been terminated.

Dungeon Lords: The Orb and the Oracle, the sequel to Dungeon Lords, was in development with expected release in Q4, 2009. It has since been put on hold indefinitely due to market research results and game engine instability.

Many gamers experienced extensive problems while playing the original release of the game, including quest items disappearing from inventories, NPCs getting stuck, key quests failing, doors that don't work, etc.

Dungeon Lords gameplay features a combat system where weapon combos are controllable by mouse movements, comparable to the combat systems found in Die by the Sword and Mount&Blade.

Version History

 * 1.0 - May 4, 2005. Initial Release.
 * 1.1 - May 13, 2005. Includes bugfixes, gameplay tweaks, and a few added features.
 * 1.2 - May 22, 2005. Later German Release.
 * 1.3 - June 29, 2005. More bugfixes, adds automap feature.
 * 1.4 - Feb 2, 2006. Additional bugfixes, adds customizable characters.
 * 1.5 - Large number of additional quests, NPCs. Extant areas were 'fleshed out', with more rooms, furniture, and treasure. Released separately as a Collector's Edition; there is no upgrade path from 1.4., and a new class is added