War for the Overworld

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 130 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 130
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 130
  3. Negative: 18 out of 130

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  1. DV8ER
    May 12, 2015
    10
    This game if fantastic, the only complaint I have (and I believe it's being worked on!) is that currently 98% of the campaign is timer based. While this isn't implicitly an issue as a timer doesn't automatically imply it's bad, however, some of these campaigns maps are small. It's also some what frustrating to have so many rooms and not really take full advantage of them as you're busyThis game if fantastic, the only complaint I have (and I believe it's being worked on!) is that currently 98% of the campaign is timer based. While this isn't implicitly an issue as a timer doesn't automatically imply it's bad, however, some of these campaigns maps are small. It's also some what frustrating to have so many rooms and not really take full advantage of them as you're busy trying to beat the clock.

    All that aside, the game is FANTASTIC and extremely well done. It truly is the *REAL* spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper unlike Dungeons II which for some reason was given this title. Others have commented about the incomplete nature of the game and while this is true, the developers are for sure working on wrapping it up and fixing the issues. I am also hoping to see some relief regarding the fact that the campaigns are timer focused.

    All in all the game is worth it and it's a lot of fun to play!    … Expand
  2. Vnetherlands
    May 26, 2016
    10
    A lot of negative comments below are from last year when they launched in a Beta stage. Now they are at the point that it all works (no bugs etc.) and even an expansion on the 26th of may 2016. It's a really good and fun game and if you like DK, then this is really one you should purchase !
  3. Joobajegouchi
    May 28, 2015
    9
    Dungeon Keeper re-imagined, this game iterates on the features of its predecessor by adding new tools and rooms and creatures to provide even more options to inflict pain and misery on your hapless goodie-two-shoes opponents (or rival evil "underlords"). Everything that made you love DK2? It's here. The new additions take away none of the fun but add heaps of replayability giving you aDungeon Keeper re-imagined, this game iterates on the features of its predecessor by adding new tools and rooms and creatures to provide even more options to inflict pain and misery on your hapless goodie-two-shoes opponents (or rival evil "underlords"). Everything that made you love DK2? It's here. The new additions take away none of the fun but add heaps of replayability giving you a variety of options to pursue: do you want to start with beasts and push hard for an early rush? Do you want to take it slow and and train up your normal minions for a traditional DK army? Do you wan to focus on teching with cultists. moving towards a powerful ritual or construct? Do you want to turtle up with defenses and potions?

    If you like DK1&2 or Evil Genius or other management games (theme hospital?) you will love this game. Be warned it's still not fully finished (lacking many tooltips, not a lot of documentation, frame rate drops and general engine sluggishness.) But the campaign is working well, you'll certainly be getting your money's worth. Hopefully development continues to move in a positive direction.

    I was an early alpha backer and I have to say I'm glad I was. Looking back they've come a long way. I wish Subterannian good luck wrapping out the development cycle. New Features are coming down the pipe (survival mode. map editor) once the game is feature complete it's going to be a real bargain at current price.    … Expand
  4. darkangel017
    Aug 26, 2015
    9
    This game deserves better reputation than it does now perfect for dk fans who can't get enough thanks for the hardworking developers who made this nostalgia once more possible
  5. vuckoland
    Dec 5, 2016
    9
    This is so underrtaed game by reviews. Its a fun well made game and I have a feeling that I am playing Dungeon Keeper 3. I recommend it to all Dungeon Keeper fans this is a must play !! Welcome back Underlord :)
  6. Lich_Master
    Jan 8, 2016
    10
    Great game.
    True successor to DK franchise + A LOT of features which were missing in DK 2 are now implemented (also great ideas).
    I bought the game in December, so I missed bugs present at release.
    Anyhow: buy the game! Developers are still polishing it and adding new content
  7. snodgrass
    Jan 8, 2018
    10
    Runs pretty well now. Great fun, very much the spirit of the original. I can think of things I'd like to tweak but it doesn't stop me wasting far too much time playing it. Team have added a lot of major content since the launch which has added greatly to the whole experience.
  8. Csefff
    Jun 22, 2018
    9
    A solid and expansive dungeon management sim with deliciously dark comic tone.

    + Main campaign pushes players through lots of different play styles and strategies. + Atmosphere created by VO characters is excellent throughout, especially the main campaign. + Great AI and difficulty levels for engagement of any experience level. - Cool modes like the 1st person 'possession' can be a    A solid and expansive dungeon management sim with deliciously dark comic tone.

    + Main campaign pushes players through lots of different play styles and strategies.
    + Atmosphere created by VO characters is excellent throughout, especially the main campaign.
    + Great AI and difficulty levels for engagement of any experience level.

    - Cool modes like the 1st person 'possession' can be a little hard to find - it's a spell...
    - Loads of content and play modes - can get a little lost sometimes.
    - Some optimal pathways and game exploits, however somewhat mitigated by relentless 'Master' Ai setting.    … Expand
  9. bassgirl90
    Apr 8, 2015
    8
    Short version:
    Pros:
    -Same voice actor from the original Dungeon Keeper and Keeper 2, Mr. Richard Ridings, who does a great job! -Looks like a Dungeon Keeper game -Gameplay generally feels like a Dungeon Keeper game -Play the "bad guy" -Dig out a dungeon and stock rooms to attract creatures and then attack the enemy -Torture Chamber is fully operational -Devs are patching bugs and    Short version:
    Pros:
    -Same voice actor from the original Dungeon Keeper and Keeper 2, Mr. Richard Ridings, who does a great job!
    -Looks like a Dungeon Keeper game
    -Gameplay generally feels like a Dungeon Keeper game
    -Play the "bad guy"
    -Dig out a dungeon and stock rooms to attract creatures and then attack the enemy
    -Torture Chamber is fully operational
    -Devs are patching bugs and paying attention to player requests

    Cons (at the time of this review):
    -Some features are not available yet (sandbox mode & multiplayer)
    -Creature path finding can be somewhat haphazard
    -Rooms and creatures do not have enough detail about what they do (still calls things "prop x")
    -Possession can be difficult to control and once in possession mode no clear explanation about the controls
    -Memory Leak? Game tends to slow down a lot over the course of playing and occasionally crashes (devs stated they are looking into solving this problem)

    8/10 Due to missing advertised features at the time of release.

    War for the Overworld is a refreshing change in the standard RTS genre given that you build a dungeon and attack the "good guys". As many know, WftO is the spiritual successor to Dungeon Keepers 1 and 2. This is the game I have been looking for since finishing DK 1&2 in 2000 (15 years!). I am sincerely happy that EA has allowed Subterranean Games to create this clear clone of the Dungeon Keeper franchise.

    Do not get me wrong, War for the Overworld is not just a facelift for Dungeon Keeper 2. It does have it's own story if you are a plot addict like me. However, the look and gameplay feels just like DK2 on the surface, but is a bit buggy with path finding which I expect will get ironed out. If you have been looking for another Dungeon Keeper look no further and pick this game up since it is what we wished that "Dungeons" was or "Overlord 1&2" were. It is certainly worth the $30 USD (half of what EA would charge if they made it, and it would not be as good) even though it does have some flaws as detailed above. I expect that these flaws will be polished away with a bit of time since these devs are extremely devoted to supporting their product and are enthusiasts themselves for the Dungeon Keeper series.

    Buyer with a low-end system beware (i.e. less than 8 GB RAM and less than a Quad Core processor running at 2.0 GHz) as this game is somewhat CPU and definitely memory intensive which manifests itself particularly during battles. I know this because I recently had to upgrade my system to run smoothly (I was capped at 3.25GB RAM and it bottlenecked my Quad Core AMD Phenom II @3.2GHz processor). If your system does not meet the minimum requirements, either upgrade or expect slow downs, stability issues, crashing, and even unplayability during gameplay, and don't downvote simply because your PC cannot handle it (I see this too often).

    All these things being said, I cannot recommend this game enough. WftO is exactly as advertised with regard to being the spiritual successor to DK 1&2. I played this game when it was in early access and enjoyed it then and now even more. This is the only game that I have ever been happy with after purchasing in early access, and I have purchased a fair few.    … Expand
  10. DaniDE
    Apr 6, 2015
    9
    Excellent nostalgic successor of the Dungeon Keeper games. Feels like playing Dungeon Keeper 3. Despite not being technically polished to a 100%, its still fun and immersive gameplay. Voice-over and sound make for a great dungeon atmosphere. The Developer is extremely active and communicative. 9/10 with a potential change to 10 points when all remaining issues are fixed.
  11. Can7onaLegend
    Oct 22, 2018
    9
    This is Beautiful.. as a BullFrog fan from the very Beginning and still a regular player of Dungeon Keeper 2 i admit to feeling sceptical about this game and worried it would be a cash in, i was wrong. It 100% Delivered. All that charm remain's along with some massive improvement's.
    My Genuine only Criticism would be the Metacritic Trailer above does not do anything for this game.
  12. TheBlue_Dragon
    Dec 24, 2015
    10
    Subterranean Games is working hard on this game. Bug and optimisation issues are fixed. Game is in much better state than at release. Sadly most of reviews and irritation from start cannot be undone.

    Gameplay is great, recalls old DK. Recently developers introduced third major patch which introduced map editor. Game goes in good direction and deserves better reputation.
  13. The_Good_Critic
    Dec 9, 2018
    10
    Good game if you liked Dungeon keeper 2, albeit not as good
    only giving it a 10 because all the other "sequels" are terrible and this is the only good one that could be called a "successor" to the original.
    If there were other actually good Dungeon keeper clones out there i might not call this a 10.but rather a 9.
  14. sanmcheng
    Apr 4, 2015
    10
    Finally the true successor (spiritual) of dungeons keeper ..
    the launch has been difficult due to several bugs, but in two days the developers have released dozens of patches (about 3 GB of patches), listened to the problems of the community and worked hard for 48 hours in a row.

    hear the voice of Richard Ridings takes us back 15 years in a fantastic atmosphere.
  15. Dethstar
    Jun 10, 2015
    10
    Updating my review following the release of the latest 1.1 patch. This is more like it. Many of the issues which should not have been there have gone. Lots of nice new content added and it really is a true successor to Dungeon Keeper. Great job and a must have game.

    Performance issues addressed. The game runs much faster and loads in a quarter of the time it used to. Multiplayer is    Updating my review following the release of the latest 1.1 patch. This is more like it. Many of the issues which should not have been there have gone. Lots of nice new content added and it really is a true successor to Dungeon Keeper. Great job and a must have game.

    Performance issues addressed. The game runs much faster and loads in a quarter of the time it used to.
    Multiplayer is now properly implemented.
    There are a lot of new maps for skirmish modes.

    Possession of minions is now very much more fun.

    General defence rebalancing worked out well.    … Expand
  16. ogre
    Dec 14, 2015
    10
    It's Dungeon Keeper in all its glory. If you loved DK1 and DK2, this is the DK3 you were waiting for, except definitely with a lot more of an indie feel.

    I've been waiting for a good remake, and this is it. You build the rooms, put up traps, perform dark rituals, cast spells... everything you remember and more, with modern graphics. Comes complete with vile narrator, giving you silly,    It's Dungeon Keeper in all its glory. If you loved DK1 and DK2, this is the DK3 you were waiting for, except definitely with a lot more of an indie feel.

    I've been waiting for a good remake, and this is it. You build the rooms, put up traps, perform dark rituals, cast spells... everything you remember and more, with modern graphics. Comes complete with vile narrator, giving you silly, morbid facts.

    It has a very indie feel. Don't except a AAA title, expect a very well polished DK remake from an indie studio.

    To everyone complaining about bugs, I've yet to run into any. Maybe upgrade to windows 10 and have decent hardware, but the graphics are great, the game is performant, and I've yet to run into a bug and I've been playing since early access.    … Expand
  17. zivs
    Apr 18, 2015
    8
    Thanks to Richard Ridings voicing and enthusiastic developers team, Dungeon Keeper 3, ehr ... War for the Overworld has done a great job keeping the good atmosphere known to DK franchise.

    As of downside - it's still a work in progress, therefore - expect some glitches and missing features. Then again - patches are served almost every week, fixing all of what's been asked for.    Thanks to Richard Ridings voicing and enthusiastic developers team, Dungeon Keeper 3, ehr ... War for the Overworld has done a great job keeping the good atmosphere known to DK franchise.

    As of downside - it's still a work in progress, therefore - expect some glitches and missing features. Then again - patches are served almost every week, fixing all of what's been asked for.

    Definitely recommend it in it's current state to all DK fans, but the rest (who are not familiar with Horny) can wait just a month or two before buying it.    … Expand
  18. DanMan3395
    Jul 18, 2015
    10
    This game is an AMAZING replacement for DK2. Great game for casual dungeon management with the same great humor. Hopefully they add some great paid DLC or steam mods soon, it can only get better! A+
  19. Adx
    Oct 21, 2015
    10
    The only problem with thing game is there are so few playing multi player in my time zone. Late night so many late, late nights. And more content coming. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
  20. Gargohl
    Jul 7, 2015
    9
    good old dungeon keeper, It does it although the game is not really finished. It is a good nostalgic and fresh dungueon keeper experience. there is more to to but the game lags if there is too many people on the screen wich is a bummer.
  21. frankcub2
    Jul 17, 2016
    10
    Wow. What a great game! I've been playing the DK series since its inception, and this version captures the spirit of the game and so much more!! Bugs have been squashed, development team is definitely in tune with needs and desires of the community. ENJOY!!
  22. Drakman
    Aug 12, 2020
    8
    This is one of the best love letters to the Dungeon Keeper series(R.I.P. and shakes fist angrily at EA ). It has it's flaws, but overall I love the hell out of War for the Overworld, and if you liked Dungeon Keeper, or similar styled games, you need to check it out.

Awards & Rankings

73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 31, 2016
    79
    War for the Overworld fixes some minor problems of the original Dungeon Keeper games, but does not innovate further when it comes to dungeon building. [March 2016]
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 29, 2015
    45
    There’s a decent game in there somewhere, but it’s hard to notice it under all those bugs and shortcomings. [06/2015, p.75]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    May 30, 2015
    50
    Based heavily on Dungeon Keeper 2, this title with its twelve year old trappings has ignored all the innovations that have come since. [June 2015, p.62]
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